Solstice Reading, 21.06.2023

On the evening of the summer solstice, we will gather in a forest glade within an urban center to reflect on cycles of change and the potential for regeneration. The longest day of the year is an occasion to celebrate the sun and to prepare for the dark. As the day ends, a series of readings will explore the politics and poetics of time, asking what role the solstice can play in modern, technologized societies.

Global capitalism strives to operate continuously, all day and night, every day and night, unconcerned with the natural cycles caused by the rotation and revolution of the earth. By gathering on the solstice, we hope to challenge the temporal logic of capitalism. We want to imagine different ways of organizing production and consumption while remaining vigilant against pastoral romanticism.

The current geological era, known as the Anthropocene, is defined by the impact of humankind on the earth’s climate and ecosystem. But despite the terrifying transformation of the planet, the sun remains relatively constant, offering a reminder that every system has an outside; the ecosystem is embedded in the solar system. Turning our attention to the solar economy, we seek a vision of luxuriance rooted in nurturing, rather than ravaging, the natural world.

With readings by Alice Creischer, Hannah Gregory, Lingji Hon, Wojciech Kosma, Thomas Love and Markues as well as a special tea blend by Jess Zamora-Turner.

Entrechambre

Aribert von Ostrowski

Jonas von Ostrowski

Friday September 26th, 5 - 8pm

Aribert and Jonas are father and son. They were born in the same village and even had the same midwife. Yet the frame for being an artist in their respective times was very different, and left a mark on their artistic paths.
What unites them, however, is values passed down not by institutions but by lived practice: hospitality and generosity, openness toward others, and a disdain for hierarchy.

Aribert’s generation was assured of a better future: the end of war, economic growth, and a stable world order had created a social climate in which even post-bohemian artists could make a living and raise a family. Free artists helped legitimize the liberal prospect of the Federal Republic and after 1968, the general agreement was: fascism never again.
It was a good time to make imaginative, confusing collages, peppered with references to monumental sculpture. Works often unsuitable for the market, yet full of love and freedom to stand in the open. Against the manageable black and white backdrop of the Cold War, colorful minds spinning complexities had a rich time.
Then came the cuts. First: “the end of history”: no more debate, no more criticality. Then: the dogma of efficiency, professionalization, corporate identity with a dose of relaxed yet aggressive PR. A harsher wind blew through the hemispheres, reshaping aesthetics. Digital portfolios, medals, and networks replaced chance and openness. Did you go to the right school?
Well, if there are no launch platforms left, you have to invent one.

In Günsterode, a village in the middle of Germany, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Near the great grand mother’s house where Aribert was creating art forty years earlier, Jonas built a constructivist-style wooden house, perched on a hillside. More than a dwelling, it is a hospitable sculpture, thanks to a network of friends and the village community itself.
Since 2021, this fruitful microstructure has become an artistic hub called Los Angeles; a place where city and countryside intersect, where urban artists shift their focus, where hospitality and generosity continue, adapted to a new era.
From outgrowing collage and bursted fantasy to useful sculpture and pragmatic poetry, from the promises of prosperity to the politics of austerity, openness and hospitality are like water: they always find their way.