English:
Four Wall Drawings, Eight poems, Introduction to the exhibition, at the Quattan Foundation, Ramallah, June 2004,
Places have a way of weaving themselves into our sensibility, and this is very much the case with the work of Aurore Reinicke. The wall drawings, poetry and video work have all arisen out of the experience of location and dislocation. They represent a study of place and the space of art, for they were created over the last three years, several years after the artist arrived in Jerusalem in July 2001. She found the themes of her work evolved in tume with experience of the fragmented landscape and paradoxes of Palestinian lives in these territories. Being an outsider she felt she was able to distill elements of the harsh terrain of borders and enclosures and in doing so pushed her own creativity to new spaces and limits. Her work creates a visual poetry of place which through its deliberate minimalism captures an essence where we are invited to view the horizon line from a new perspective.
TINA SHERWELL
Dr. Tina Sherwell is of British and Palestinian origin and is a writer and artist who studied in London at Goldsmiths College and who currently lives and works in Jerusalem. She completed a Ph.D on Palestinian Art and Popular Culture from the University of Kent and has written numerous articles and catalogues on contemporary art. She has worked with many Palestinian cultural institutions and local artists.
About the series “POOLS” (2001-2002) and the video “Not only Water, Wires” (2003)
Vision of a Square
Dr. Tina Sherwell
Light, water and grids form the main elements of the artist Aurore Reinicke’s muse in her photographic series “POOLS”. The images, which were originally taken in Tunisia, speak on many levels carrying both a metaphoric and aesthetik tension. Through the photographic medium Reinicke captures the transcient and ephemeral qualities of light on water and water´s continuous metastasis. The artist freeezes moments in a seductive dance of water and light´s as they play of one another and interpelates our fascination with the intangible. Her works retain the impression of capturing a split second. They touch on the primal magnetism that draws us to watching water and light and the hypnotic effect that comes from observing these elements where the distinction between reality and abstraction is blurred and our thought drift into other dreamscapes. Reinicke´s images entrance the viewer not only through their beautiful composition and the sense of movement of the grids within the frame but also through the realism whereby one feels that one can dip one´s hands into the surface of the cool translucent water. The water, itself, was photographed at different times reflecting the sky and furnishing us with the subtle spectrum of blues. Infact, within the smooth slick surface is a depth of space in which the cubic pool becomes a cavity for capturing a reflexion of the dome of the sky and making almost tangible a shaft of sunlight and containing the translucency and fluidity of water.
From a particular angle, the frame of the pool, like the frame of the picture, captures those elements that precisely defy the borders of a square.
The irony of the images, however, is their artifice, for they have been digitally manipulated. For example, the grids of the pools have been traced out through pixel work, thus we look at a view that would be impossible for the natural eye to see. It is a deception, a new reality, realer than the real that gives pleasure to the eye. For Reinicke´s art is involved with illusions and the realm of vision, for the eye of the spectator is easily deceived by real appearance of the image. The creation of illusion has been a hallmark of artistic works for centuries. Infact the square, which is a fundamental unit of the grid, was to revolutionize ways of seeing with the invention of perspectival representation. The grid would be used for creating the imaginary space of the picture, for dividing land into property and for mapping the world for the ambitions of empires.
The issue of artifice also operates on another level if one contemplates the spaces themselves. Noteworthy is that while in the Mediterranean Reinicke chose to photograph not the sea but man-made landscapes. The artifice of the space is brought out through the absence of human figures in these vacant pools. A certain melancoly pervades these lonely places of perfection, where still waters wait to be disturbed. Instead they become unlikely spaces for contemplation and a meditation of water, light and grids.
Surrounded by the continual permutations of the grids one finally becomes disoriented. The grid structure cannot escape its association with containment and segregation. Their constant shifting surfaces create an imbalence, confusing our sense of depth and space. We feel trapped at times in between the surface of water that has almost turned to mercury and we become confined by the unknown. Showing the work in the context of the Occupied Territories, where grids have a particular resonance, the works take on a new metaphorical position on the nature of confinement. They speak of barriers, of how barriers are not necessarely something always clearly defined but can also be the unknown, the unstable, the ever changing, a place in which there is no horizon, where one no longer can distinguish the sky from its reflection, or the blue of water from digitally enhanced colouration. All reality is an illusion/ delusion.
Alongside these seductive images the artist displays her recent poetry and art video “NOT ONLY WATER, WIRES” in contrast to the “POOLS” series these new works deal with a harsher reality. Both the poetry and video inhabit a dystopic virtually colourless, baren landscape, filled only with dust, disregarded plastic bags, barbed wire and cement and where the horizon is empty and desolate. In her poetry the wires become living objects, growing in the cracks of the earth almost replacing nature. While in the video the camera is restless, constantly shifting over the surface of the wires leaving us uneasy and entrapped by the squares and the grids. The sounds of israeli soldiers, ambulances, voices and cars become the only telltale signs of place. The burden of distance and an impression of the artist´s distress at such landscapes can be read in the lines of her poetry where fingers central to making art are frozen and crushed and where the human face is redrawn.
Dr. Tina Sherwell, Jerusalem, 2004
Vein Fences: The Reality Of Aurore Reinicke
At the beginning, Reinicke is a spectator she keeps away the fences and the gratings with fine red lines, wants to overcome and get rid of them. Soon, though, these wires and iron are inscribed on her own face. The running ink is drawing rings round her eyes. Her blood is running in baring veins. The brushes and fingers become one with the wires and they imprint on the memory. However, the experience of the past has a strong effect on the future. All of a sudden, Reinicke’s plain lines turn into scars on the skin; and these scars grow deeper, they turn into breaches on the surface of the earth and capture life in rusty wires. Reinicke is not only prolific in terms of her artistic interpretation and inspiration with regard to her works on paper, wall drawings, poetry and paintings, photos or collages. She lets her own reality in Jerusalem and the surroundings proliferate into the eyes of her spectators. Eventually, not only the eye of the spectator keeps hanging on the gratings. The ears are suffering from the voices of that nauseating music that the wind is playing with the barbed wire. The space is becoming more narrow; there is no mental freedom left. There seems to be no hope shimmering through, until Reinicke finally soaks the wires with the saving power of water, and all of a sudden, there is again a prospect.
For three years, the artist has been living in Palestinian reality. She came from a Europe where the liberty of swimming-pools projects cheerful curls onto the surface of the water, flitting squares on sea-blue ground. These were impressively alienated photographs, intelligent illustrations. However, they were not necessarily deeply arresting. Then, there was Palestine. The curls must have stuck in Reinicke’s own throat, because suddenly things did no longer go on with the same reasonable observation, the joyful, clear mixture of colours and shades. The curls at the surface of the water became a grating between a dry desert ground and a steel-blue sky, between the Palestinians and the Jews, between Islam and Jewry, between freedom and occupation. Near the check-point at the border fence Qalandia between Jerusalem and Ramallah, an art video was produced which captured as a wound this dividing fence between Israelis and Palestinians. There were voices to be heard, shots and cars. There were still boots or shoes to be seen. But nothing more. Gaza still has an even greater impact on her. ”No more than a wedge of sky” as a poem says, a road corroded into the desert. The barbed wires lead you where they will till the end. Do you know death? Are you the decomposing plastic bag, hanging on the barbed wire? During her exhibitions in the spaces of the Qattan Foundation in Ramallah, these experiences are once more filtered. The space is not only shaped but it invemts itself as a grid in word and image. Even the ground takes up the breach, Reinicke is describing in her poem. Certainly, the experience of Palestinian reality, of barbed wire and border fence is aesthetically refined in a space artificially cooled. Sweat and blood seem to have been washed away. Perhaps, it even has a good smell. The existing gratings seem to be subjugated by a structure. In fact, the artist makes use of another language in order to get rid of the same message. A sensitive person may be less bewildered, a stranger less touched. This systematic language of art objectifies at the same time the mordant experience and makes it less vulnerable to those, who could reproach Reinicke for exaggerating with her experiences on Palestinian reality. For all the refinement, for the visitor in the exhibition spaces the message remains clear.
In these spaces, however, the artist’s presence is reticent. The wide space starts to have an effect, her painting or the poem are given a frame by the space, they are contained. The reality of the wires and gratings suddenly obtains a new, more reconciling face. This accords to the artist’s spirit; because, in the end, a smile remains, a prospect of reconciliation. While still drawing the barbed wire and, to all appearances, being entangled in it, she is already dreaming of a coloured net, of an oriental dance, of a pale sky-blue, of a large room without soldiers. Reinicke offers hope, the possibility that these gratings which seem to put life under arrest might nevertheless one day dissolve into water and perhaps even form a uniting power.
If the artist captivates us, she also releases us again, enriched by profound experiences.
Dr. Jörg Bremer
Deutsch:
Vergitterte Venen: Wirklichkeit bei Aurore Reinicke
Aurore Reinicke bleibt zunächst Beobachterin, hält sich mit roten feinen Linien die Zäune und Gittern fern, will sie überwinden und loswerden. Doch schon bald schreiben sich diese Drähte und Eisen in ihr eigenes Gesicht. Die rinnende Tinte zeichnet Ringe unter ihre Augen. Ihr Blut fließt in vergitterten Venen. Die Pinsel und Finger werden eins mit den Drähten und prägen die Erinnerung. Das Erlebte aber wirkt schwer auf die Zukunft. Plötzlich werden Reinickes einfache Linien wie Narben auf der Haut; und diese Narben wachsen tiefer, werden zur Rissen auf der Erdoberfläche und fangen das Leben in rostige Drähte ein.
Aurore Reinicke wuchert nicht nur mit ihrer künstlerischen Übersetzungskraft, nicht nur mit ihrer Inspiration auf Papier und an der Wand, in Text und Gemälde, als Photo oder Collage. Sie läßt ihre eigene Wirklichkeit in Jerusalem und Umgebung in die Augen ihrer Betrachter überwuchern. da bleibt nicht nur das Auge des Betrachters an ihren Gittern hängen. Die Ohren erliegen den Stimmen und Geräuschen, jener widerlichen Musik, die der Wind mit dem Stacheldraht spielt. Der Raum wird immer enger; es gibt keine geistige Freiheit mehr. Es scheint keine Hoffnung mehr durchzuschimmern, bis dann Aurore Reinicke mit der rettenden Kraft des Wassers die Drähte aufweicht, und plötzlich entsteht doch wieder eine Aussicht.
Drei Jahre lebte Aurore Reinicke in der palästinensischen Wirklichkeit. Sie kama us einem Europa, wo die Freiheit der Schwimmbäder fröhliche, zaunerne Kräusel auf die Wasseroberfläche wirft, huschende Vierecke auf wasserblauem Grund. Das waren eindrucksvoll verfremdete Phots, gescheite Illustrationen. Aber packen mußte das niemanden. Dann kam Palästina. Aurore Reinicke müssen sehr bald ihre Kräusel im eigenen Hals stecken geblieben sein. Denn plötzlich blieb es nicht bei der nüchternen Beobachtung, beim fröhlichen Spiel mit Farben und Nuancen. Die Kräuselü auf dem Wasser wurden zum Trenngitter zwischen trockenem Wüstenboden und stahlblauen Himmel, zwischen Palästinensern undd Juden, Islam und Judentum, Freiheit und Besatzung.
Um den Kontrollpunkt am Grenzzaun Kalandia zwischen Jerusalem und Ramallah entstand ein Kunstvideo, das diesen Trennzaun zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern als Wunde einfing. Da waren noch Stimmen zu hören, Schüsse und Autos. Da sah man noch Stiefel oder Halbschuhe. Doch sonst nichts. Stärker noch wirkte Gaza auf sie: nicht mehr als ein Keil vom Himmel, heißt es in einem Gedicht, eine in die Wüste festgefressene Staße. Die Stacheldrähte führen dich ihren eigenen Weg bis zum Ende. Kennst du den Tod? Bist Du die zerfressene Plastiktüte, die an den Stacheldrähten hängen geblieben ist?
Bei ihren Ausstellungen in den Räumen der Qattan-Stiftung in Ramallah werden diese Erfahrungen noch einmal geläuterrt. Der Raum wird nicht nur gestaltet. Er entwirft sich selbst als Gitterraster in Wort und Bild. Sebst der Boden nimmt den Riß auf, den Aurore Reinicke in ihrem Gedicht beschreibt. Gewiß, die Erfahrung der palästinensischen Wirklichkeit aus Stacheldraht und Grenzzaun wird in einem künstlich gekühlten Raum ästhetisch verfeinert. Schweiß und Blut scheinen abgewaschen. Vielleicht riecht es sogar nach Parfum. Eine Ordnung scheint die herrschenden Gitter bezwingen zu können. Tatsächlich greift Aurore Reinicke damit jedoch nur zu einer anderen Sprache, um dieselbe Botschaft loszuwerden. Der Feinfühlige mag weniger betroffen, der Fremde weniger gerührt zu werden. Diese geordnete Kunstsprache objektiviert zugleich die ätzende Erfahrung und macht sie gegenüber jenen weniger angreifbar, die Aurore Reinicke vorwerfen könnten, sie übertreibe mit ihren Erfahrungen der palästinensischen Wirklichkeit. Bei aller Läuterung, für die Besucher in den Ausstellungsräumen bleibt die Botschaft klar.
Aber Aurore Reinicke nimmt sich in diesen Räumen etwas zurück. Der weite Raum beginnt zu wirken, ihr Bild oder das Gedicht werden von ihm eingerahmt, in seine Grenzen gesetzt. Die Wirklichkeit der Drähte und Gitter erhält plötzlich ein neues versöhnlicher wirkendes Gesicht. Das paßt zu Aurore Reinicke; denn letzlich bleibt doch ein Lächeln über, eine Chance zur Versöhnung. Während sie noch den Stacheldraht zeichnet und in ihm gefangen scheint, träumt sie schon von einem bunten Netz, von einem orientalischen Tanz, von blassem Himmelsblau, von einem großen Saal ohne Soldaten. Aurore Reinicke bietet Hoffnung an, die Chance, daß sich diese Gitter, die das Leben in Haft zu nehmen scheinen, eines Tages doch in Wasser auflösen und vielleicht sogar eine verbindende Kraft bilden.
Aurore Reinicke nimmt gefangen, sie entläßt aber auch wieder, um tiefe Erfahrungen reicher.
Dr. Jörg Bremer; in Düsseldorf geboren; seit 1991 Korrespondent der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung in Jerusalem; wurde über ein Thema zur Neueren Geschichte in Heidelberg promoviert. Autor mehrerer Bücher zu Polen, Israel und den palästinensischen Gebieten.
Jörg Bremer