Category Archives: Installations

Goldgräberstimmung (Gold-rush Mood) Upcoming Exhibition

Whoohoo – It’s exhibition time… please save the date! Book a ticket and come to Berlin!

My next solo exhibition “Goldgräberstimmung” will be on show in Germany’s capital, Berlin, on Saturday, the 16th of June (17h30) at the Grafik Studio Galerie Neumann. Jens Garling will give a brief introduction to the works.

On show will be a small selection of land art works and public art actions (in form of photographic and video documentation) which I have created in April12 in the Namib Desert and some mixed media works.

Goldgräberstimmung/Gold-rush Mood by Imke Rust

Goldgräberstimmung/Gold-rush Mood – an exhibition by Imke Rust

About the works: “Imke Rust uses her art to draw attention to the human exploitation and destruction of the Namib desert. The works are loosely based on ancient shamanic traditions and symbols, while the artist worked in and with nature, in order to establish a more direct connection between humans, nature, art and the spiritual world. The Namibian-German artist will show video, photography and mixed media works.”

The exhibition can be viewed until the 16^th of July.

Opening times of the gallery:
Mon – Tues: 10h00 – 17h00, Wed: 9h00 – 14h00,
Thur 12h00 – 18h00 and Fri 9h00 – 13h00
If you would like to view the exhibition after hours or on weekends you can make an appointment with me via email: imkerust(at)iway.na

Please feel free to invite your friends along and also to purchase some of my works.

I hope to see you there!

Artworks shown on the invitation:

SubRosa (Under the Rose)
Temporary installation in the Namib Desert Dune belt south of Swakopmund.
22° 43’ 01” S – 14° 33’ 47” E
Original dimensions: 90 x 270 x270cm
99 roses made of black rubbish bags, barbed wire, wire
April 2012 ©Imke Rust

and

Toxic Rocks
Temporary installation at the “Black Rocks” close to Wlotzkasbaken, Namib Desert.
22° 25’ 55” S – 14° 27’ 42” E
Approximate original dimensions: 200 x 2500 x 2000 cm
Rocks wrapped in neo colored tulle
April 2012 ©Imke Rust

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Tokoloshe Trap (or How to Catch Creatures of the Night)

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(Update 21 March 2013: To see pictures and a description of the final artwork, please click here.)

I am hard at work preparing for a land art project which I am planning to do at the coast soon, and have been spending much time finding and cutting white thorns. These long, straight, white thorns, growing in pairs at an about 90degree angle to each other, are something I typically relate with Namibia. Different kinds of trees and bushes grow them and they look stunning, but are also really painful if you step into one.

I plan to use many (as in thousands) of these thorns, so I have been spending my past few days cutting these thorns off their branches. To get a break from this tedious task, I decided to arrange some of the cut thorns in my garden to see what it looks like. I decided on a simple circle shape. And this is what it looked like.

My cat is in the second picture, since she took great interest in my arranging the thorns and continuously interfered, thinking it is great to bite the thorns, rub her chin on them or walk straight through them. All of which was not very helpful and after I have pushed her away too often, she gave me the cold shoulder. (This picture also serves to give you an idea of the size of the thorns, and these one’s are medium-sized!)

Since it was late in the afternoon, I decided to leave the thorns in the garden and wait till the morning to get some of the morning sun for some extra pictures. When I came back to it early in the morning, I realized that some animal walked into the thorns. The circle was damaged and it was surrounded with tracks.

First I thought it might have been my cat, but the strangest thing is that judging by the size of the scratch marks and spoors, the animal must have been huge, something like a big dog. I know that a mongoose often comes to visit at night and stalk around my compost heap, but other than that, there is no large enough entry into my yard, for anything bigger than a cat. Unless it can fly…

Festus, who sometimes helps me in the garden and whom I called to ask if he could identify the spoor, was not sure what it could be either. But for some reason he thought it might be the perfect time to ask me what the word “Tokoloshe” means.

Wikipedia describes it as follows:

“In Zulu mythology, Tikoloshe, Tokoloshe or Hili (from the Xhosa word utyreeci ukujamaal) is a dwarf-like water sprite. It is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by swallowing a pebble. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others. At its least harmful a tokoloshe can be used to scare children, but its power extends to causing illness and even death upon the victim. The way to get rid of him is to call in the n’anga (witch doctor), who has the power to banish him from the area.”

So, maybe it was a Tokoloshe?

Hmm, I am still puzzled by what it could have been, but at least I know one thing for sure: whatever it was, it stepped right into the thorns and will surely remember the pain and not come back soon.

And if I ever should need an additional income to my art, maybe I can patent this as a form of Tokoloshe Trap and catch some evil spirits roaming the land. 🙂

Waiting in an ashtray…

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Everyday waiting for the bus or the S-Bahn I witness one of the most intriguing phenomena: the careless-flipping-away-of-cigarette-buds.

In most smokers minds’ cigarette buds do not seem to be classified as litter. No, I do not hate smokers, I just do not understand this part of their actions (and yes, I do feel a bit offended by it). Has it ever occurred to you that cigarette buds are litter and belong into a bin or ashtray and not on the public floor?

It is not as if the person looks around for a rubbish bin, then cannot find one or thinks it’s too far to walk to, and then decides to rather drop it on the floor. It seems to be a totally unconscious act. Maybe somebody can explain this to me? It is a mystery to me. I assume, you do not just drop the buds on your floor at home – or do you?

I salute the few smokers who carry a portable ashtray and use it to store their ash and buds or those who are conscious enough to make use of public rubbish bins.

As I found this so intriguing, I thought I have a bit of my own fun:

Smoke Victims

Drawing

Smoke Victims (close up)

In search of elves and fairies and green, green grass

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Yellow Heart - Yellow flowers and moss on a rock

As a Namibian desert girl I recently had an interesting and exciting time in the very green and lush mountains of South Tyrol. All the dense vegetation was amazing, the little mountain creeks with their clear water fascinating and I especially fell in love with the soft moss growing everywhere. I was reminded of childhood stories of dwarfs, fairies and elves living in the forests and sleeping on beds of moss, carrying sweet forest berries as decoration and giggling under red and white mushrooms… as a child I did not know these things and wonderful places and my imagination ran wild. Now I walked through such magical forests in awe and wonder like a little child, eating some forest strawberries and making some art. I did not see any elves or red-capped dwarfs, but still I had lots of fun with the invisible spirits of nature and art.

Ok, I do not want to bore you with long stories, but rather just share some pictures of my small interventions in nature. So, here they are:

Location: Oberperflhof, approximately 1,500m above sea level, close to Katharinaberg / Monte Santa Caterina – in the Schnalsvalley (Val Senales), Italy.

Date: July 2011

Yellow Heart (close) - Yellow flowers and moss on a rock

8m garland woven of small cedar branches

Sprial on stone wall (8m garland woven of small cedar branches)

Rock, branch & grass

Light, leave tips and wood

Berlin Stages

Art in the Park (Berlin)

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Summer has arrived in Berlin, with lovely warmth and sunshine. So it is the ideal time to get out and make some art outside. As i still do not have a studio, working outside is another great way of being creative.

There is a small community park just around the corner from where we live, so while the others played Badminton I kept myself busy with this…

For a change, not so much text and rather more pictures. Enjoy!

Untitled land art intervention by Imke Rust.

(Gemeindepark Lankwitz, Berlin, 7 June 2011)

Still Weeping – Four Years Later

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Shortly after completion 2007 – still standing tall

Transformation, change and a tribute to an old myth were the central topics of my land-art installation “Weeping Women” (2007). Based on the San myth about the origin of the huge salt pans at the famous Etosha National Park in Namibia, the artwork consisted of seven tall figures made out of rock-salt. The figures, representing the women who have cried so much for their murdered men and children, that their tears collected into a huge salt-lake, which eventually dried out, were intended to symbolically cry every time it rains. The pure raindrops would mix with the salt and create a natural tear solution, while at the same time also wear away the figures. The “Weeping Women” were meant to cry for all the sadness of the world and slowly wash away. Once they are gone, I hope, enough tears have flown and the world will be a better place.

By recreating the myth through my artwork, I hoped to raise the awareness about the myth, the violence we inflict on our fellow human beings and the pain and sadness of this world in general. But I also hope to offer a solution: although we need to be aware of the history, we should not get stuck in it with blaming and revenge, as this continues the vicious cycle. And just like the Christian myth of Lot’s wife, who could not let go of her past, we will turn into rigid, dry and bitter salt-pillars, unable to move forward. Through acknowledging our pain and emotions and releasing them through the salty tears we cry (and not through calls for or acts of revenge), we can mourn and heal.

The “Weeping Women” have now mourned for four rainy seasons, most of which were unusually heavy rains, with record rains recorded in Namibia during the past four months…. Maybe the world needs to cry a lot in our current times? Most of the “Weeping Women” have “done their duty” and have transformed, cried away and returned to the soil. One is still standing about 50cm high, hopefully crying her last tears during the next rainy season, after which the artwork will have disappeared and with it, hopefully also the need for further tears. I know, I am an eternal optimist and idealist…., that’s just me, but maybe I am not alone?