MIROSLAW BALKA, ETTI ABERGEL, YUDITH LEVIN AND MARIANNE BERENHAUT AT ART BIESENTHAL, BERLIN

ART BIESENTHAL, BERLIN
Dvir Gallery is happy to announce the participation of Mirsolaw Balka, Etti Abergel, Yudith Levin and Marianne Berenhaut at ‘The Poet’s Folly and the Sovereign’s Hand’ in Art Biesenthal 2023, curated by Alexia Timmermans. Exhibition dates: June 3-July 30, 2023.

Folly has long fascinated as a subject. The fool has evolved as a metaphor conveying the dichotomy between insanity and common sense. While the fool may lack reason, it possesse hidden or prophetic wisdom that is unattainable to the sane. Its most prominent representation, perhaps, is that of a ship with dysfunctional crew aimlessly crossing the ocean. The allegory of the ship of fools can be traced back to Plato’s Republic, and by the sixteenth century, penetrated Western literature and visual arts, with notable works including Sebastian Brant’s Das Narrenschiff (Ship of fools), Hieronymus Bosch’s The Cure of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus In Praise of Folly, and more recently, Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, which has revived critical attention to this enduring theme.

 
 The term ‘folly’ originates from from the french word ‘folie’ which can refer o ‘madness’, ‘lack of good sense’, or ‘false belief’, but can also connote ‘delight’. Over time and across cultures, the meaning of folly has evolved, with interpretations often lying in the eye of the beholder. In theater and architecture, follies are typically characterised by formal by formal eccentricities and excesses, aiming at activating the viewer’s perspective. In visual arts, however, folly can convey expressions of imaginations or self-definition, while also serving as an agent of truth that holds up a mirror to contemporary issues, including the very notion itself.
 
The exhibition The Poet’s Folly and the Sovereign’s Hand presents the work of 35 international artists who explore the multifaceted nature of folly, through mediums such as paint, sculpture, film, fabric, photography, etching, performance and sound.
 
More information here 
June 3, 2023
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