The double-bill exhibition Drift and Shift, shows works by artists Ayami Awazuhara und Dunja Herzog, which address various aspects on the topic of cultural transfers of resources, commodities and meanings.

Awazuhara’s artistic practice encompasses numerous types of media, including photography, performance, installation, as well as video. Her works are connected by their demonstration of cultural transformation processes, which she seeks in the everyday and the ever-present. The artist dedicates her exhibition at the Kunstverein Göttingen to the element of water and its philosophical connotations. Using this as a starting point, she researched on the topic of Fontana di Trevi in Rome, as well as the fountains in anonymous shopping centers worldwide, resulting in a photographic work. Awazuhara also deals with the phenomenon of shop, restaurant and cafe names in Berlin, which reference far-away cities, regions and countries, such as the grocery store ‘Bagdad’ or the cosmetic salon ‘USA Nails’. The artist takes on an observant position to develop a topography of Berlin in a video work, in which she combines the longing for faraway places and the diminishing memory of a home with its everyday scenarios and interactions, occurring in the context of trade, commodities and services.

The artistic work of Herzog is influenced by the effects of colonial history on personal narratives, bodies and materials, which come together to become mindful and poetic spaces. At the Kunstverein Göttingen, the artist presents a series of brass objects, which she produced in cooperation with the workshop of Phil Omodamwen; a bronze-casting workshop in its 7th generation from Benin-city, Nigeria. Some of the works are part of a jewelry collection called „red gold import export“ made of material extracted from e-waste, which is a long-term project of Herzog. Together with the artists Jeremiah Day and Hilla Steinert, she also reflects on the historical background of the conduction properties of copper, which act as the basis to a body-based performance translation thereof. The performance will take place on October 7th at 12am in the Old Town Hall.

Ayami Awazuhara (*1985, Nagano, JP) lives and works in Berlin. She studied Fine Art at the Berlin University of Arts and finished her studies as master student of Manfred Pernice. Solo and double shows were exhibited at Despacio, San José, CRC; Kunsthalle Lisbon, PT; Jupiter Woods, London, GB. Awazuhara also participated in numerous group shows at Parallel Oaxaca, MX; Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE, amongst others.

Dunja Herzog (*1975, Basel, CH) lives and works in Berlin and Basel. She has had solo shows at 1646, The Hague, NL; New Bretagne/Belle Air, Essen, DE; Piano Mobile, Geneva, CH; Istituto Svizzero, Milan, IT. She also participated in group shows at Swiss Art Award, Basel, CH; Lagos Biennale, NG; Blok Art Space, Istanbul, TR; MAXXI Museum, Rome, IT; Kunsthalle Basel, CH.

Funded by
Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung und Sparkasse Göttingen
Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung

The work of Dunja Herzog is supported by
Aargauer Kuratorium
kulturelles.bl