Between June 26-29th 2019, SomoS hosts the solo exhibition Spielraum by Spring/Summer 2019 Artist-in-Residence, US-based Brazilian artist Marcia Vaitsman. Spielraum presents playable artworks that highlight the importance of cooperation and empathy, usable in the exhibition space under her guidance.

Spielraum presents five sets of physical art-game designs, hand-crafted by the artist. Unique objects situated between artwork and politicized ethical proposition, they result from Vaitsman’s ongoing historical and practical research on games of cooperation.

Games can be far from innocent, given their ability to symbolize life, to validate and propagate ethics, ideology and behavior. Studying games since 2001, Vaitsman is interested in games that concentrate on cooperation and empathy, as opposed to competition, accumulation and winning.

The underlying connection between these games is the consideration of how we, individually or collectively, organize meaning. Located within the traditions of Conceptual- and Social-art, and building upon the legacy of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark and German artist Franz Erhard Walther, Vaitsman’s pieces trace how the experience of playing together relates to aesthetic-ethic aspects of art.

Next to the sensual and visual aspects of the games’ intricate and evolved aesthetics, there is a political aspect to Vaitsman’s works, as they are designed to foster open-minded and playful examples of cooperative behavior, that Vaitsman views as antidote to current societal trends.

Spielraum is a mixture of playroom and wiggle-room in which the perimeter of your visit is marked by three keywords: art, play and collaboration, all of which, as Vaitsman’s presentation argues, should be crucial aspects of all of our lives.

---

Booking a Private Game Session

One of the propositions is the Game of Islands, Rivers, Airports and Ghosts, about trust and alterity, that invites the public to make an appointment with the artist for a one-on-one game session outside of the opening hours. View the schedule to see available dates. To reserve a time slot, please write to marciavaitsman[at]gmail.com.

Guest Appearance: Oliver Dougherty – A World with No Name

On June 29 at 1pm, artist Oliver Dougherty is invited to play with the public his original game A World with No Name; a social performance about love and capitalism that involves affectionate decision-making and collaborative survival. To help build this love-based world, the public is invited to RSVP to ollie.dougherty[at]gmail.com.

---

About Marcia Vaitsman

Marcia Vaitsman, PhD, is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Brazil and currently based in New Jersey, USA. Her key interest is in the practice of games as perceived experiences, and how games relate to art. This she has been exploring through themes of displacement, migration, and how both the body and the mind cope with disorientation during her 3-month residency at SomoS.

Marcia Vaitsman holds a PhD in Contemporary Art, Multiculturalism and Feminism, with distinction, from the Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal (2017). Additional academic awards and qualifications include a Diploma in Audiovisual Art from the Academy of Media Arts of Cologne (KHM), Germany (2002), a Bachelor of Social Communication with a major in Broadcast from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil (1998), and an MFA in Photography with the additional award of a 2 year Frances Larkin McCommon fellowship from SCAD, USA (2000). Further acknowledgements include the Prize Mostra de Artistas no Exterior from the Biennial of Sao Paulo Foundation, several project grants from FUNARTE, Brazil and from UNESCO-Aschberg, France. She also completed a six-month artist in residence at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Art and Science), Japan. In 2003 Vaitsman was the winner of the Projeto Cria de Casa photography award at Espaço OPHICINA, São Paulo, Brazil.
More information ->

---

Marcia Vaitsman -Spielraum
June 26-29th 2019,, 2-7pm, and by appointment
Opening reception: June 25th 2019, 6-9pm
Entry free
Facebook Event Page [ics_button subject=”show title” description=”Exhibition” location=”SomoS, Kottbusser Damm 95, 1OG, 10967 Berlin” start-date=”2019-06-25 18:00″ end-date=”2019-06-25 21:00″]Add to Calendar[/ics_button]

This post is also available in: German