STRONG DUO. Berlin women art professors and their FLINT master students

STARKES DUO presents eight internationally renowned women art professors with their FLINT master students. The professors Tina Bara, Karin Sander, Monica Bonvicini, Valérie Favre, Friederike Feldmann, Corinne Wasmuht, Ina Weber, and Jorinde Voigt were invited to select one or more of their master students. The result is a cross-generational and medially diverse presentation in which established and emerging FLINT artists enter into a dialogue.

The concept of the exhibition is based on the questions that are highly topical for art and its institutions: Why do forms of discrimination such as the gender pay gap and the gender show gap, still exist in the art world? How can the canon, which is still cis-male-dominated today, be changed? And: (How) can art be taught and learned?

STRONG DUO represents the beginning of a new era. The invited professors are pioneers who were the first women to be appointed to professorships in their fields. As a result, they became trailblazers for a new generation of students and opened up access to networks, art institutions, and markets for aspiring FLINT artists. The exhibition shows that with the appointment of established women artists as professors, the artistic field becomes more inclusive. The works on display are not restricted in terms of content or style. The focus is rather on the enormous range of individual artistic attitudes and forms of expression. The media spectrum ranges from painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and performance to sound and video works. The collaborative presentation emphasizes the flat hierarchies that promote artistic dialogue.

Participating artists: Professors/master students Tina Bara/Nadja Bournonville, Larissa Rosa Lackner, Sandra Schubert, Barbara Proschak; Monica Bonvicini/Kim Bode, Tabea Marschall, Johanna Käthe Michel; Valérie Favre/Carola Ernst, Stella Meris, Marlene Hundt; Friederike Feldmann/Charlotte Dualé, Shira Orion; Karin Sander/Jana Debrodt, Sophia Pompéry; Jorinde Voigt/Anne Pfeifer, Sanja Henning, Paula Hoffmann; Corinne Wasmuht/Franziska Wolff, Johanna Wagner, Lea Gocht; Ina Weber/Teresa Mayr.

Haus Kunst Mitte is a new exhibition center for contemporary art in Berlin, centrally located near the main central train station and the Hamburger Bahnhof museum. The building complex, dating from 1870, was not damaged during World War II and offers 700 square meters of exhibition space on two floors. One focus of the exhibition program is Berlin-based artists. The size of the building makes it possible for artists' associations and artists to also use the building as a place to work. It is owned by the Asyl der Kunst Stiftung, which aims to preserve this place permanently for art in times of increasing commercialization.