In times when crises dictate the norm, apocalyptic predictions are equally a part of our reality. In “powers,” Amy Ball addresses this precarious condition, which results from every individual being caught up in, and at the mercy of, global power plays. The exhibition’s accompanying symbol of two hands with linked thumbs illustrates this and can be interpreted as an allegory for two powers simultaneously together and against one another, but also as a symbol for a fictive community or movement.

Amy Ball’s artistic practice is characterized by an insightful sense for the abstrusity of human existence, often rooted in and resulting from her short stories and anecdotes. Her installations, short films, performances and sculptures are usually based on humorous and diversely told situations. Amy Ball’s works rarely come to a close, but are altered, newly compiled and adapted according to context and with regard to architectural surroundings. Her work possesses a charm in its provisional nature, without ever falling victim to arbitrariness. Instead, every detail is crucial and all material used is attributed individual meaning. For her exhibition at Kunstverein Göttingen, the artist stages a balancing act between powers and materials. Amy Ball reacts to the architectonic circumstances of the historical Künstlerhaus with an in situ and space-consuming installation. The focal point is a new video work, which makes use of classic stop-frame animation techniques. “Nothing Has Happened Until Eventually It Does” (2017) shows street scenes at night, in which human shadows have a conversation about preparations for their upcoming departure. Inspired by science-fiction stories, this short film and entire exhibition invents a post-apocalyptic scenario, which cannot be reduced to linear interpretation. It is here that past and future can collaborate in a vernacular and temporally dilated present day. She hereby makes a certain condition experienceable, located somewhere between certainty and the unknown – between that which is already there and that which is to come.

Amy Ball (*1987 in Dawson City, Canada) studied Fine Art at the Concordia University in Montréal and at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. The Kunstverein Göttingen is pleased to present “powers,” Amy Ball’s first institutional solo show in Germany.

In Collaboration with the Embassy of Canada

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