Photos: Roland Schmidt

The exhibition "The Sky's The Limit" explores the boundaries of comprehension. Knowledge is conveyed through epistemological models and their visual or linguistic formulation. The exhibition looks at space - in the sense of an abstract concept as much as physical quantity - as a case study, since scientific discovery, technological innovation and philosophical deconstruction have resulted in a thorough revision of conventional ideas of space. The artworks brought together in the exhibition visualize these observations via various metaphors - from Plato's Cave to black holes.

The exhibition is the first European solo show for the artist, who was born in 1973 and who lives and works in New York City. Conceived and installed especially for the exhibition space in the Kunstverein Langenhagen, McConnell floods the walls of the long, narrow room with associative and sensuous, imaginative projections. The simplest of materials are utilized old paint cans, motor oil, florescent light bulbs, mouthwash, cotton swabs, small magnifying glasses and electric cables. These are sculpturally formed and installed to create low-tech projectors based on the optical principles, among them the camera obscura. Nothing is concealed from the viewer's sight and all materials and techniques are easily recognizable and identifiable. With the help of the viewer's memory and imagination, the surprising results consist of suggestive forms projected directly in real-time creating the spatial illusion of landscapes similar to those in the American West.

The perception of the reality and the illusion of reality play in central role in McConnell's piece for the Kunstverein Langenhagen. What we see is magnified light that has passed, among others things, through liquid and glass. However, what we also see are stereotypical forms implying nature in a visual language that artists through the centuries also used to pictorially represent sky and mountain ranges. The images remain romantic and mystical although they simultaneously demystify and deromanticize our concept of nature and the representational capabilities of art. By using objects traditionally associated with art and artists, like the old paint cans, McConnell reminds us of earlier means of representing nature, for example, as practiced her artistic predecessors, who also created illusions of reality by means of the image. In this way, the work is also a homage of the creative process.

Everyone likes to hear a story. The exhibition "Erzähl mal was ..." (Tell me something …) unites seven international artists, who each deal with dreams and wishes in various ways:

The New Zealander David Hatcher (born 1973, lives in Los Angeles/USA) had the idea for his mural "Ludwig und Hugh" (2004/05) shortly after moving from Berlin to Los Angeles, the city of angels and bunnies. The work is based on the logo of the American erotic enterprise Playboy as well as a picture puzzle that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein used to illustrate the conditions of perception.

In "Briefe an Mike" (Letters to Mike - 2005), a collage comprising letters, Polaroid's and drawings, Bettina Hutschek (born 1977, lives in Berlin/D) tells about everyday, seemingly commonplace occurrences in an unfamiliar city. Mike, the fictitious pen friend, becomes a projection surface for a personal cartography dealing with the search for love and happiness. During the course of the exhibition, the artist will interview residents of Langenhagen about their wishes, dreams and dreamlands.

"Vinta" (2004) by Sven Johne (*1976, lives in Leipzig/D) takes a narrative look at the efforts of personages whose utopias failed entirely. Their destinies seem closely related to the island "Vinta". Using researched scurrilities as a starting point, Sven Johne combines photographs and texts in such a way that there is hardly any doubt about the truth of the events they describe.

For her video "Eine warme Farbe" (A Warm Color - 2004), Caroline Labusch (born 1969, lives in Berlin/D) requests uniformed policemen to reveal their wishes and dreams. She asks them, for example, what they like most for dessert, where they would go if they won a trip and what their dream job would be.

Marit Lindberg (born 1961, lives in Malmö/S) collected countless dreams about art for her video "Have you ever dreamt about another artist's work" (2005). She interviewed artists as well as other persons with a professional interest in art from around the world.

Shana Lutker (born 1978, lives in Los Angeles/USA) fits out a room that could be a kind of research laboratory, history museum or film set. In it, the artist examines art works, dreams and psychoanalysis using self-made books, newspapers, objects and drawings, in it.

David Zink Yi (born 1973, lives in Berlin/D) deals with cultural practices and their connection to the corporeal in his works. These include, for example, cooking, making music, dancing and much more. In his video "Ahumm" (1999), a hand can be seen writing something while a voice intonates what has been written: Ahumm.