Exhibition in the castle – Gray zone. Marlen Tennigkeit
MARLEN TENNIGKEIT
2022 – 2023 Master student with Prof. Caroline Achaintre, Textile Arts, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle 2022
Diploma in Fine Arts/ Sculpture with Prof. Andrea Zaumseil, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
2019 – 2020 Study of Sculpture with Prof. Dominik Lang, UMPRUM, Vysoká škola umělecko-průmyslová, Prague (CZ)
2015 Start of studies at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
Awards/scholarships
2024: Exhibition funding from the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung Scholarship from the Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt and the “Kloster Bergische Stiftung”
2023: Nomination for the Ketterer Art Masterclass Award Scholarship from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S.
2022: Kahnweiler Prize for works on paper Residency scholarship from the artist city of Kalbe
2019/2020: Erasmus+ scholarship to study in the Czech Republic
Gray zone:
an intermediate space between two polar opposites and yet related dual forces – black and
white. A field of tension between light and dark, positive and negative: opposing forces that both complement and oppose each other. An
intermediate area of contradictions and ambivalences, in which clear boundaries become blurred and a space of uncertainty and ambiguity emerges. The gray area is neither
black – nor white. This indeterminacy calls for decisions to be made and positions to be found in the space in between. Marlen Tennigkeit’s artistic practice manifests itself
within this specific area. Her creative process is characterized by a profound dedication to the exploration of the uncertain. She moves in the
field of tension between intuitive recognition and the deliberate abstraction of the unknown, without, however, revealing it completely. The choice of materials and the realization of her ideas in form and image are the result of an intensive dialogue with experiment and chance. Her works are created through a complex process of graphite painting, in which she creates large-format pictorial spaces that exhibit a remarkable three-dimensionality. Her painterly works can be understood as visual “x-rays” of the psyche, revealing the hidden layers of the human interior. Tennigkeit’s sculptural works unfold like beings that originate from an alien, possibly transcendent sphere
. Their anthropomorphic quality fluctuates between an almost endearing cuteness and a disconcerting, mysterious character. They are made of foam
and are characterized by a recurring form that is reminiscent of a repeat due to the folding of the material.