Curator: Michaela Richter

Arnold Dreyblatt’s most recent work deals with a special mode of reflection – the short phases in which attention shifts from the current situation and focuses on experienced and possible future events. The state between spontaneous memory, imagination, analysis and projection is an essential part of individual consciousness and is explored by neurologists as a special form of information processing. The cognitive moments recurring at intervals, in which free association, introspection and the blending out of restrictive circumstances play a central role, constitute an important basis for creativity – at the same time they represent a moment of retreat from external productivity. Dreyblatt’s exhibition The Resting State at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) brings to mind various aspects of this cognitive process and at the same time induces it. Based on a rhythmic composition of visual and acoustic elements as well as text fragments from scientific studies compiled by the artist, the installation directs the focus onto the role which narrative techniques play in consciousness research.

Arnold Dreyblatt (b. 1953 in New York City, living in Berlin since 1984) in his practice as a visual artist is deeply engaged in the processes of collecting and archiving information, as well as making it accessible. In large-scale performances, extensive installations, multi-layered wall pieces and interactive research projects, he brings to light hidden or forgotten narratives and revives them. Dreyblatt’s work as a composer also informs his visual oeuvre. In 2007, he was elected a member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin; since 2009, he teaches as a professor of media art at the Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel. Solo exhibitions and projects in public space include: Museolaboratorio, Città Sant’Angelo (2018); Stiftung Schloß Leuk (2018); Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2017); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2015); Women’s Concentration Camp Memorial Ravensbrück (2015; 2013); Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial (2013); Science Museum, London (2010); Jewish Museum, Berlin (2008); Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (2007). Group exhibitions (selection): Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016; 2011; 2009; 2008); Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek, Berlin (2016); Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen (2015); Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague (2012); Jewish Museum, Berlin (2012); German Hygiene Museum, Dresden (2011); Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (2009); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2006; 2000).