In the exhibition ‘The White, the Green, and the Dark’, presented by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, artists Ingrid Torvund and Jonas K. Mailand currently exhibit all three films from their ‘Under Earth’ trilogy: ‘Magic Blood Machine’ (2012), ‘When I go out, I bleed magic’ (2015) and ‘I found you under earth, under blood’ (2019).

Torvund and Mailand have collaborated on the creation of these visionary narratives, which are rooted in the natural landscape of Telemark. The pair’s unique cinematic storytelling mixes Christian mysticism with magic and folklore. Often, Torvund’s costumes, props and sets are exhibited alongside the films themselves, creating a holistic picture of the universe built up in and around these stories. The intricate embroideries and hand-carved creatures are part of a wider sci-fi vision that underlines the trilogy. We spoke to Torvund and Mailand about their process, the evolution of characters and how their films have been received in the art world.

Video by MONA, Produced by Monica Salazar, Filmed and Edited by Peter Cairns

Berlin and Los Angeles-based artist Jonas Wendelin’s first solo exhibition at Dittrich & Schlechtriem, titled ‘Only,’ engages in manufacturing an alternative reality, pursuing futuristic narratives and themes of hope in dystopia. A fictional architectural installation made up of found objects and jarred preserves gives the illusion of a space quickly abandoned in the aftermath of a life-changing event. Using collaboration as a tool to build the exhibition, Wendelin's show also includes the exposed archive of the gallery, a publication compiled and edited by the artist, called ‘The Allusion,’ as well as a series of otherworldly ceramic sculptures. Wendelin walked us through the exhibition, now showing at Dittrich & Schlechtriem until August 29th, 2020.

Video by MONA, Produced by Monica Salazar, Filmed and Edited by Peter Cairns

‘Dhaka Art Summit 2020: Seismic Movements’ was the fifth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit, which brought together artists, curators and thinkers from different points of the globe to discuss, reevaluate and created work surrounding issues within the normative structure of the art world. This year’s theme of ‘Seismic Movements’ alludes to the inherent connection between culture and place that goes beyond geological and geographic constraints. The exhibition was divided into seven groups: geological, colonial, independence, collective, spatial, modern, and social movements and feminist futures.

Video by MONA, Produced by Monica Salazar, Filmed and Edited by Peter Cairns

Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno’s Berlin studio is a space for experimentation and testing out intricate ideas. It contains a room devoted to his spiders, who form the basis of Saraceno’s ‘Arachnophilia’ project. Since 2006, Saraceno has been engaged in arachnid research from the perspective of the web. We spoke to the artist during his recent exhibition ‘Algo-r(h)i(y)thms’ at Esther Schipper gallery, about the complexities of these creatures and how they inform his acoustic installations.

Exhibition video of ‘Alliga’ at SFER IK in Tulum, Mexico, which features work by artists Cecilia Bengolea, Aki Inomata and Sissel Tolaas and is curated by Claudia Paetzold.

We spoke to James Ostrer during his studio residency at Melior Place, where he developed the exhibition ‘Post Apoca-Lips’. The space in Bermondsey will become Kristin Hjellegjerde gallery’s new London home in 2021. Ostrer’s work analyses sexuality and the body in society, through a focus on biopolitics. His repeated patterns and cartoon-like figures, made from various found objects, act as commentaries on late capitalism and rampant over-consumption. From a psychological viewpoint, Ostrer is interested in probing the limits of self-help and wellness ideology, positioning himself as both the therapist and the client. His interest in transgressive behaviours and examining our own place in the contemporary food-chain forms a crucial aspect of his practice.

Created to mark the 2019 anniversary, this video profile follows the 30-year history of Esther Schipper’s contemporary art gallery: from its founding in Cologne in 1989, to its relocation and expansion to its current space in Berlin, through collaborations with dozens of artists, including Angela Bulloch, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Liam Gillick, Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno, among many others. MONA created the video profile in collaboration with BoomEar Art Podcast for Financial Times China.

This year, Germany is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus. The exhibition series ‘Unbekannte Moderne’ at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst (BLMK) considers aesthetic and social utopias in painting, photography, printmaking and design of the 1920s and 1930s through five complementary exhibitions in Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder). Museum Director Ulrike Kremeier spoke to us about the exhibitions – entitled ‘Bild der Stadt / Stadt im Bild,’ ‘Im Hinterland der Moderne,’ ‘Das Bauhaus in Brandenburg,’ ‘Neue Städte – Neue Menschen’ and ‘Frans Masereel’ – which reflect the BLMK’s collection and present over 80 artists.

Housing the Human took place on October 18th and 19th at radialsystem in Berlin. The two-day festival showcased five selected prototypes by participating architects, designers and industry professionals – Certain Measures, Mae-Ling Lokko, Simone C Niquille/Technoflesh, Lucia Tahan and Dasha Tsapenko – which addressed the future of human living, shared resources and collective spaces. In the video, the Art Directors of Housing the Human, Freo Majer and Jan Boelen, speak about the festival’s aims, and the designers shed light on their individual proposals for future living.

In celebration of Peaches’ 20-year stage anniversary, the Kunstverein in Hamburg and the Summer Festival at Kampnagel put up the first institutional solo exhibition of the artist, featuring new sculptural, photographic, film and text works touching on topics of sex, feminism, queerness, gender, and new millennium politics. Video by MONA for Peaches’ solo exhibition ‘Whose Jizz Is This?’ on view at Kunstverein Hamburg from August 9 to October 20, 2019.