BERLIN.- KÖNIG TELEGRAPHENAMT presents EEUWEN by Joana Schneider, the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery.

Joana Schneider’s works seem to come from another world. They hover between classical media such as painting and sculpture and are created from textiles and fabrics, which Schneider produces from found materials like fishing nets and other marine waste before further processing them. One thinks to recognize something organic: mushroom-like blossoms sprout from the walls, meandering forms resemble cross-sections of tree trunks or aerial views of marshlands, waterfalls and fabric-covered canvases from which richly colored flowers burst. The forms appear to be in a state of growth and becoming, occupying an in-between space and a realm of dreams.

A central work of the exhibition—WADDENEINLAND—recalls a classical landscape in both color and format. Through the textile ropes characteristic of Schneider’s practice, which she dyes herself, an impression of blurring emerges, as if the landscape were being viewed through a veil.

For this work and others in the exhibition, Schneider drew inspiration from the dune landscape De Slufter on the island of Texel, in the Netherlands, the artist’s adopted home. This unique landscape is the result of a dam breach in the 19th century, which caused land and sea to merge, creating a kind of lagoon landscape. Both visually and symbolically, this phenomenon serves as a source of inspiration for the artist. As the result of a catastrophe, a landscape emerged that today forms a unique ecosystem and diverse habitat: out of chaos and destruction came beauty, and the landscape is shaped by constant processes of becoming and passing away. This openness of form also characterizes Schneider’s works, which appear both strong and delicate, functioning like portals into the imaginary and the collective unconscious.

Joana Schneider (b. 1990 in Munich, Germany) is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Right after she graduated, she received the ‘Keep an Eye Textile and Fashion Award’. Her work has been shown internationally in exhibitions and fairs such as VOLTA Basel, PAD Paris and London, PULSE Art Week Miami, Enter Art Fair Copenhagen, Masterly Milano, Fite Textile Biennale, and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. She is currently living and working in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Joana Schneider creates spacious installations and sculptural environments that intertwine themes from natural and fictional realms. Her work initiates a dialogue concerning nature and the human body. By creating fantastic environments that reference non-human and human-made worlds, Schneider explores how these elements shape humans’ perceptions of beauty. Schneider’s playful use of exceptional materials merges with her love for the textile craft.