Platzhalter | Front Row, Donaumarkt, Regensburg
Taking current debates over sausages and national anthems as a starting point, the Kubus raises issues for discussion that receive too little public attention and that could serve as experiments and exercises in (angry) speech. Who is allowed to occupy how much (public) space, who has a presence, who is allowed to convey their messages, and who is heard? What concerns us, which issues are socially relevant, and what is this actually all about?
Gabi Blum asks how public space is distributed and negotiated, who is allowed to occupy how much presence, who are monuments dedicated to, which places are named after whom and which are not. Which issues play a role in this, who is allowed to be grandly staged, which issues are truly important and relevant and must be debated in society, and how sustainable are these (political) debates anyway? Is everyone just waiting to see which way the wind blows, and what values lie beneath the surface?
CV
Gabi Blum, München
www.gabiblum.de | Instagram: gabi.boom
Gabi Blum creates expansive, walk-in installations that often relate directly to their specific location and context. She translates images from pop culture into three-dimensional settings, creating immersive spaces where reality and fiction intertwine.
In her work, she explores the mechanisms of icon formation, myths, and staging. Familiar-seeming places and situations from film, photography, pop culture, or art history are reinterpreted, alienated, and linked to personal or site-specific narratives. This creates spaces that deliberately shift expectations and cast the familiar in a new light.
Figures - embodied by the artist herself, other performers, or visitors - become part of these installation-based scenarios, transforming the works into living, constantly evolving situations.
An important component of her practice is the revelation of the creative processes: the “making-of” is just as significant as the result. Using simple materials and techniques, Blum makes visible how images and spaces are constructed - and invites viewers to continually reexamine their perceptions.
