Epaminonda & Cramer: Early Summer

Daniel Gustav Cramer and Haris Epaminonda first met in 2001. An experimental internet project, 'The Beehive', was released in 2005, which lasted for two years and eventually led to the collaborative project 'The Infinite Library'. 'The Infinite Library' is an ongoing book project which is primarily an expanding archive of books, each created out of pages of one or more found books and bound anew. Today, about 50 books exist. An online catalogue serves as a preliminary index.

Both artists' individual work appears fragmentary, creating constellations in the space. In 2010 Epaminonda and Cramer created an exhibition environment in which both practices were shown together, in communication with each other, yet again creating a single image/ atmosphere. Certain themes, such as water in motion or a sense of displacement and reorganization connected the individual elements. Cramer’s overall practice is comprised of mainly photographs, but at times also objects such as sculptures, books and videos that form a visual system. The works appear and reappear in different constellations within various exhibition spaces, creating an ongoing narrative of overlaps, loops and poetic interludes. The different themes that connect the artist’s images, objects and texts are testimony of a complex universe, which stands in constant dialogue with the world itself. The intricate system of references and fragments of visual and textual accounts expands and transforms, and in doing so, echoes essential criteria of human existence – memory, love, death, time, knowledge, doubt and belief – and their representation. Epaminonda's works touch upon similar perspectives of wonder and mystification. The artist’s pictorial, filmic and spatial compositions all share a similar sensibility and texture. Her subtle and yet strangely emotive language opens up a space in which one can lose oneself in a realm of relations and gestures. Her small collages, her carefully considered and precise installations and measured films – many of which are created using found images, objects or pre-existing clips – appear to hold a solution, a clear explanation but ultimately unveil a boundless sea of possibility and uncertainty. The feeling is akin to stepping into a mirrored maze, where reflections show endless new vistas, leaving us in awe and puzzlement with only a shallow conception of time and space, with neither beginning nor end.

For the exhibition in the Kunsthalle Lissabon, the two artists will create an open narrative using found images, photographs, books, a video and small sculptures. The exhibition will continue the series of exhibition titles inspired by Japanese film-maker Yasujir? Ozu (Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Early Spring (1956), Late Autumn (1960)). An artist book will be published as part of the project.

Daniel Gustav Cramer was born in Neuss, Germany, in 1975. He lives and works in Berlin. A selection of his recent solo shows include Works, Kunsthaus Glarus (2012); Daniel Gustav Cramer, BolteLang, Zurich (2011); Eight Works, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund (2010) and Twelve Works, Vera Cortês, Lisbon (2009). His work was featured in numerous group shows, namely Salon de Lecture, La Kunsthalle Moulhouse (2011); End Note, Tanya Leighton, Berlin (2011); The Happy Interval, Tulips and Roses, Vilnius (2009); Playtime, Betonsalon, Paris (2008); A principle of Assumptions, Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul (2008); 5th Berlin Biennial and Art Sheffield 08.

Haris Epaminonda was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1980. She lives and works in Berlin. A selection of her recent solo shows include Projects 96: Haris Epaminonda, MoMA, New York (2011); Haris Epaminonda, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main (2011); VOL. VI, Tate Modern, Level 2 Gallery, London (2010); VOL. IV, Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul (2009); Haris Epaminonda, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö (2009). Her work was featured in numerous group shows, namely Green Light, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London (2009); Solaris, Gio Marconi Gallery, Milan (2009); Deste Prize 2009, Deste Foundation, Cycladic Museum, Athens (2009); The Generational: Younger than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009); Provisions for the Future, 9th Sharjah Biennial and 5th Berlin Biennial (2008).

Haris Epaminonda and Daniel Gustav Cramer have presented their work collaboratively on several occasions: documenta XIII, Kassel (2012); The Infinite Library, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2011); Late Autumn, Samsa, Berlin (2010); The Infinite Library, Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna & Museo Aldrovandi, Bologna (2010); The Infinite Library_book #16, with Rodeo Gallery at solo projects, Arco, Madrid (2009); Daniel Gustav Cramer & Haris Epaminonda, BolteLang, Zurich (2009); The Infinite Library_book #14, with BolteLang at Nada, Miami (2008); The Infinite Library, Moufflon. Nicosia (2008); Daniel Gustav Cramer & Haris Epaminonda, Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia (2006).

The exhibition Early Summer is generously supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Cyprus Embassy in Lisbon and the ambassador Thalia Petrides, and the Goethe Institut.

Acknowledgments: Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Planetário Calouste Gulbenkian, Fundação EDP and Vera Cortês Art Agency.

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