Art and Science. Encounter by Prof. Dr. Anatoliy Kharkhurin
26.04.2024 from 19:00 Opening
at 20:00 Art Performance Experiment
“The Encounter in Everyday Life“ (feat. Dr. Agniya Pasechnik)
03.05.2024 19:00 Lecture “Paradox of Creative Thinking”

A dialog between art and science. We merge the formal language of science and the metaphorical language of art into a coherent method of creative expression.
Anatoliy Kharkhurin, Ph.D. is a blend of artist, poet, and scientist. As a Professor of Psychology, his academic work delves into the interplay between creativity and multilingualism. His research has been published in monographs, edited volumes, scientific journals, and encyclopedias. But his influence extends beyond academia: he has developed the innovative Plurilingual Intercultural Creative Keys (PICK) educational program designed to enhance multilingual, intercultural, and creative competencies. Anatoliy’s vibrant literary presence is evident in his initiation of the GOROD literary project in New York City and his extensive poetry publications in Russia, Europe, and the USA. His poetic endeavors have evolved after his poetry book “BCE,” merging cognitive psychology with poetic text and various art media. Currently, his experimental work straddles visual art and poetry, with exhibitions in Berlin, Vienna, Dubai, and Moscow.

Agniya Pasechnik is a psychotherapist renowned for her innovative integration of hypnotherapy into clinical practice. With a deep interest in the psychological phenomenon of Encounter, she explores this concept’s applications in everyday life and effectively incorporates empirical research into her therapeutic approach. Dr. Pasechnik is also a co-author of the PICK educational program.

BAS CS Gallery
Soldinerstr. 103, Berlin

NI versus AI

Bas CS Gallery (in the frame of Kolonie Wedding e.V.) invites everyone to the group-exhibition Natural Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence, NI versus AI.
The opening of the exhibition will take place on February 23 at 18:00.

The exhibition will last until March 22.
During the exhibition, various master classes, lectures and workshops will take place. Look for info on insta, fb and so on.
Gallery open hours, Sat, San, from 2 to 8 pm.

Denis Oding. Zeitgeist
Exhibition opening 25.10.2024, 18:00.
BAS CS Gallery Berlin
Soldinerstraße 103, Berlin

Denis Oding is an artist based in Saint Petersburg and Berlin, also known as the creator of large-scale light media installations and massive rave events. Perhaps the sound of the surname Oding and his German roots somehow foreshadowed his fascination with Germanic-Scandinavian mythology. He began to study sources and track news on his favorite topic — from scientific books and magazines, to the world-conquering industry of Viking serials, fantasy blockbusters and computer games. 

Today, Denis Oding can be considered the last master actualizingGermanic-Scandinavian mythology in Russian art of the twenty-first century. The talent of Oding was formed in the era of cultural revolution at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The artists of this generation stand out due to the absence of dogmas and dynamic development of forms and means of creativity. Denis started his career in art at the famous artistic squat in Svechnoy Lane, 1, where he and his friends created fluorescent paintings in bright «acid» style and designed spaces where the once unseen social life flared up. 

In 2010's Oding «gets infected» with mythology and sagas, travels through Norway and works on the «Midgard» cycle («Middle Earth» — in ancient legends — a world inhabited by people). These were meditative landscapes of majestic fjords in pastel tones.

Artists are often attributed with visionary abilities, and indeed, in 2020-2022 Oding, as if anticipating the outbreak of war in the center of Europe, suddenly begins to work on a new cycle dedicated to the kingdom of fire — Muspelheim. Edda describes the origin of life as follows: "In the beginning there was nothing but the black abyss of Ginnungagap, on both sides of which lay kingdoms: mist — Niflheim (personification of cold and darkness) and fire — Muspelheim. Muspelheim was guarded by a fiery giant, Surtr, with a flaming sword in his hands. (...) On the day of Ragnarök, his hordes will move north «like a southern wind» to fight against the Æsir gods. In the final battle Surtr will kill Freyr, his sword will cut down the world tree Yggdrasil, and this will be the beginning of the death of the whole world».

The calm, contemplative mood of Oding’s paintings is now replaced by an alarming dynamic, contrast and bright color flickering. The artist has created several dozen different works on paper and canvas in oil pastel technique. One of the four main world elements is presented by the artist in different hypostases: fiery Gehenna, family hearth, spirit of fire Salamandra and so on. The stylistics of the master are equally diverse: from photorealism to stenciling under a runic ornament, graffiti and imagery close to the genre of fantasy.

At this exhibition, Denis presents seven works depicting fire, which can be stylistically defined as both hyper realistic and semi-abstract. In these paintings sophisticated audiences can feel formal signs of what the creator of the «formal method» of art study — the great art historian Heinrich Wölflin — describes as «German» and in general «northern» «sense of form». In the book «Italy and the German sense of form» (1931) Wölflin writes: «In German art emphasis is placed on the general movement of forms, a movement that depends (...) to a very substantial extent on the play of light and shadow. This general movement of the forms in the North is manifested in everything: in the drawing of hands and feet, in the drawing of wood and bush, in the drawing of waves on the surface of water and atmospheric phenomena occurring in the sky. (...) You see not the individual shape of one toe next to another, but a moving cob of forms, and with all the precision of the transmission of the leafy plant of the German can always be recognized by the peculiar sensation of life in the tangle of leaves. (...) Germans also discover early a tendency to draw one single in the common current».

There is a story by Oding himself about how the original theme of fire arose in his work: «I worked in Misha Barkhin's workshop (a famous architect - A.K.) in Moscow. Once, I bought a luxury edition of «Younger Edda» and began to read it with pleasure. Never before had I paid attention to Surtr. He was somehow always in the shadow of Ymir, Odin, Thor, Loki and even the cows of Auðumbla. Although, in essence, Surtr is a firstborn god, and he also destroys everything and everyone in the end. “That’s it, real power”, I thought. And a week later the workshop burned down». 

Surprisingly, Oding is not the first St. Petersburg artist to kindle the archetypal fire: "the Moscow fire roared and burned...". In the 1990s, the capital was abuzz with rumors of a dashing arsonist, the artist-actor Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe. His unique performance in this genre was the incineration of the apartment of the Russian oligarch of the 90s, Boris Berezovsky. I repeat, artists are dangerous with their simple-minded prophetic gift.

Andrey Khlobystin

The musical design of the exhibition will be provided by the Leipzig-based sound producer Evgeny “ClerWolf” Shapovalov. Especially for this project, ClerWolf has prepared a series of urban remixes of medieval Scandinavian chants.