signs and symbols

February 8 - March 8, 2021

Opening Online: Monday, February 8, 6pm
Closing: Monday, March 8, 6pm

signs and symbols is pleased to present The Epic, a video exhibition by Pola Sieverding as part of the gallery’s series of online-only solo presentations of video works.

Sieverding writes:

"In The Epic, the camera circles around two boxers like a group of sculptures, thus defining the space in which their bodies collide into one another. At the start of the video, the boxers each look in the direction of the camera with a frontal body posture, drawing attention to the solitude of the ring. In the shots that follow, the camera moves and gradually rotates 360 degrees around the boxers in motion, as they first size each other up with their eyes, then dance around their foe and partner, and at last begin fighting with fists. The camera follows the fight slowed down by a factor of eight, filming at 200 frames per second.

"The result is to make it possible to understand the forces acting on the bodies, shaping them and laying bare their anatomy. The interplay of the two bodies is like that of a dance, and calling to mind archaic sculptures, their flesh tone glistening with sweat. The film’s third act concentrates on the moment in which the fighters are in each other’s arms, in what is called a clinch. This clasping is a moment of ambiguity: a flickering between exhaustion and feint, getting closer and giving up. It is also a moment of immense sensuality. The opulence of the images is critically supported by the film’s soundtrack. This is made up of the sounds of the blows, footfalls, breathing and heart frequencies as recorded during the actual fight, generating an acoustic space using sound waves to convey the physicality of the fight onto the viewers’ bodies."

*Please note that Sieverding’s video will be viewable online from Monday, February 8 at 6:00pm until Monday, March 8 at 6:00pm. Following the end of the exhibition, the video will only be accessible via private link and password. We trust that given our current circumstances, everyone will act in good faith and good will, understanding that these are primary artworks by our artists that are collected and which would otherwise be password protected.

pola sieverding (b. 1981) is a visual artist working in the field of lens-based media. With photography, video and sound, she investigates the physical body as bearer of historical narratives that shape a contemporary discourse on the social body. By defining the body linguistically as an alternative to words, she exploits the classical ideal of the body as locus of pleasure and power. She is attracted to extremes and socialized emotions, something felt when the body switches between looking and being looked at, touching and being touched. Her images explore the body as an expressive element, the way we alter our behavior when we feel ourselves to be acting, a performance of just being. Sieverding studied at the University of the Arts Berlin, CMU Pittsburgh and Surikov Institute Moscow. She was a visiting lecturer to the Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah and an assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich from 2016-2020. She has received a number of grants including a DAAD travel grant in 2008 and the Arbeitsstipendium by the Senat of Berlin in 2014. She has exhibited internationally at Art in General, New York; dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel (with Natascha Sadr Haghighian); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (with Orson Sieverding); Lumiar Cité, Lisbon; Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; Dubai Photo Exhibition, Dubai; NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; and MAK Museum für Angewandte und Gegenwartskunst, Vienna. Sieverding lives and works in Berlin.