I sleep very well
2.9.06 - 1.10.06

Rooms
4.08.06 - 26.08.06

Amish Friendship Cake
30.06.06 - 30.07.06

2005
2004

also see:


takt at alice gryphius


takt at exhibeo


takt at alte feuerwache


takt at berliner kunstsalon

A Collaborative show:

Jordan Tate
Carlos Tobar
David Dotson
Isabela Prado
Ryan Mandell
Bredan Jansen
Ann Thompson
Anthony Ragucci

Inspired by the tradition of the Amish Friendship Cake - a chain letter of the culinary world that celebrates friendship, interconnectivity, and community by saving a cup of batter when making a cake and passing along that batter to friends for inclusion in a new cake(s).  In the end, traces of each cake, each kitchen, and each hand are retained in all subsequent cakes - hence, the show Amish Friendship Cake, is a collaborative effort of eight international artists in an exploration of the concept that all art has a relationship with the art that has come before it.  

The initial impetus launching the process was Anthony Ragucci's questioning of the validity of words. Ann Thompson responded to Ragucci's question with a text piece, 'I'll lie, but it don't make it real. I'll be real, but it might be a lie'. The writing on the wall questions the constructs of personal identi ty, how it is projected and received within the constantly shifting parameters of contemporary experience.

Carlos Tobar picked up the thread of Thompson's work by creating a free-standing cage form with an inflated plastic volume respectively contained within and surrounding the bottom and top halves of the form, suggesting in a physical form the dichotomy Thompson explored between self and exterior environment.

The inflatable form was then integrated in Isabela Prado's balloon intervention.  Prado had 1000 balloons of all colors imprinted with the word 'estrangeiro', meaning 'foreigner' in Portuguese. Prado orchestrated a crew of uniformed assistants to carry the balloons out into the community and distribute them to pedestrians, cafe patrons, and park visitors. The colorful progression along the streets of Friedrichshain was Prado's way of communicating her experience in a foreign culture, the mingled joy and frustration of experiencing something new yet not always being able to comprehend all elements.