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Krista Beinstein, Tarik Kentouche
Krista Beinstein (b. 1955) based in Hamburg Germany, represents a rebellious contemporary voice. For over forty years, this steadfast non-conformist has explored the subversive potentials of female and lesbian sexuality infused with deep humor, a passion for eccentricity and camp, and an unerring instinct for themes that defy prevailing trends
Tarik Kentouche (b. 1994) is a Berlin based artist. In his work, he employs materials, forms, and processing methods to expose ideologies that shape our understanding of art and our perception of everyday life. He plays with the expectations placed on artists as producers of objects and the significance of the trace of his hand on the material. He studied Art at HBK Braunschweig (2014-2016/2018-2020), ArtCenter College of Design Los Angeles (2016-2017), Akademie der Bildenden Künste Vienna (2020-2022) and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2021-2024). His work has been shown internationally.
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Recalling an exhibition in Köln where Tarik and I accidentally showed the inklings of a collaboration of ours, the first of the “civilians” I had seen exhibited were beneath a text piece spelling out “citizen”, (also notable in the show was Albrecht Becker’s post-Nazi veteran body modification collaged nudes in conversation with our respective works, in a corner section of the show, “Hunter” at Lore Deutz). There seems to be a triangulation occurring between Kentouche and I in our recent collaborations, with the dialogue of an earlier (German) generation that attempted to reconcile with, or, address eros (or the lack thereof) after National Socialism and later the sexual revolution, as expressed through Art and culture (“Sex Wars”, culture wars, etc.), corresponding with Becker formerly and now with Krista Beinstein.
“Urban” As withheld in urban-ism
Enter the cosmopolitan world.
With the urban city, for the first time in history would one encounter others outside of the families they grew alongside in provinces with. I should note that during the French Revolution some conscripted young men would die, surprisingly not from war battle, but from the shock of city life itself. This is similar as to why with the transpiration of the modern city, pocket-sized books were made to keep on one’s personage which detailed information on the other types of people one could encounter on the street in 18/19th century Paris, books on general physiognomy of the inhabitants of different societies; so that a transparency laid bare where modern citizens would be able to see beyond difference and could still fend for themselves.
The coexistence of citizens is one of civilization’s demands, and according to Freud, the death drive proceeds to successfully repress the threats that might exceed the limitations or stated necessities of the culture— hence we (us Westerns) have sex laws against incest and laws governing age of consent, murder, etc. We may find ourselves or other Others, at odds with some of the quorum required of coexistence and by now in the 21st century this much is expected, adolescence now extends into at least one’s late 20s, after all. But who or what wins out?
The transfigurative quality of the photographed image, recalls the mental burned image of a fixation, a lot like the regressive aspect found in our latent sexualities and tendencies if we continue with Freud. The ephemeral “transient beauty” found in cities, has the possibility now to become the object of secular worship via being a subject in a photograph (perhaps less secular when it is taken tenderly by a lover’s intent, as with Krista). The provincial task of distillation for a fixed nature. But, the cosmogony of our time relies on recalling information that we are indeed intended to forget again, like Nietzsche’s forgetful cow— a lot like the ritual of song and dance that conjures itself up and then dissolves in space and time, (indeed crystallized through memory and later artifact). Or is it that the memory is the matter?
Amongst childhood experience and in cartoons one might forget the naivety required to register the innocent way in which Winnie the Pooh is drawn with permanence to be missing his bottoms, and there’s a corrective here with stained glass trousers and overalls on a plushie— more cagey and normative, begging the question of the significance of the anal phase, where we begin to conform and mature if all is successful. It would be an impossible order to ask primary school teachers to give a constructive analysis of the various generational wholes whose names will soon be forgotten in a blur of totality (especially in a city). Instead, an individual status report concerning standardized quotas is generated which is the particular job society demands of them today, in fact. The urban city center as the demiurge of the cosmos.
Exit the Urbanite.
- Anaïs Morales
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