Opening Reception | Saturday, September 16, 7pm

Schinkel Pavillon is pleased to announce the opening of alumnus Geoffrey Farmer’s The Care With Which The Rain Is Wrong, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Berlin. On the occasion of Berlin Art Week he will present two large-scale, site-specific installations in the Pavillon’s rotundas in the souterrain and on the first floor.

Fascinated by art and the cultural history of humankind, Geoffrey Farmer explores its narratives and imageries. By meticulously collecting images, objects and sounds of different subjects over often long time periods, Farmer develops detailed installations that sometimes remain in a continuous state of transformation, such as Boneyard, which will take up the almost entire souterrain octagon of the Schinkel Klause using photographs as sculptural material. An auditorium will be created consisting of over 1,200 miniature paper cut-outs including paintings, sculptures, and characters from different eras, contexts and materials. Arranged as a circle at the center of the rotunda the grouping will come together as an art historical cabinet or collegium. For his display at Schinkel Klause, the artist will make additions to the already existing paper cut-outs and will redevelop the text as an integral part of the work. Free-standing or on pedestals, facing and at the same time turned away from each other the narratives of the presented individual bodies and characters intertwine, creating a comparison or competition between their makers, contemporary witnesses, and world views.

In the glass pavilion on the first floor the artist will present Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been; I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell, a digital, computer-generated projection compiled of an archive of over 15 000 images, which he continuously modifies and expands. The vast range of snapshots is gathered from politics, ethnographic studies, anonymous portraits, lifestyle and business scenes, agriculture and other industries. A computer-generated collection of images and sounds is combined into a synchronized hypnotic installation, inducing a seemingly overwhelming richness of impressions while at the same time offering room for endless associations and interconnections. A computer algorithm reshuffles each sequence, creating an entirely new projection and taking on a different shape for each visitor. Geoffrey Farmer will add a significant volume of images to the archive that will specifically relate to the historically charged location of the Schinkel Pavillon and the city itself.

Geoffrey Farmer lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. A 1992 graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, he currently represents Canada in the 57th Venice Biennale. He has had solo exhibitions at the ICA Boston (USA), 2016; Vancouver Art Gallery (CAN), 2015; Kunstverein in Hamburg (DE), 2014; Migros Museum, Zurich (CH), 2013/14; Barbican Art Gallery, London (UK), 2013; Redcat, Los Angeles (USA), 2011; Witte de With, Rotterdam (NL), 2008; The Drawing Room, London (UK), 2007.