Mareike Jacobi explores the possibilities she finds within self-limitation, asking herself what is actually more confining–the framework she has narrowly defined or, even the limits of her own imagination? Jacobi’s graphic works are based on an aleatory form-finding process: using a complex set of rules, the artist defines intersections in a grid by using a dice. From this basis she creates variations of geometric patterns. It is an interaction of chance, conscious decisions, and unconscious preferences. Jacobi’s serial work resembles a line of thought that takes different directions and yet finds its way back to the starting point. Patterns are repeated, modified, developed further– sometimes translated into objects or installations, revealing references to related contexts such as play, architecture, or ornament. The drawings and objects on view in the exhibition “The Unexpected Can Occur as Long as It Follows the Logic of Things” are based on patterns that can also already be found in the artist’s book “Pattern Book”. In the exhibited drawings, the artist adds at least one more
rule to the set of rules for generating these patterns. The titles of these works refer to the supplemented rules: “Bei ungeraden Zahlen die Form im Feld schwarz malen” or “Bei einer 6 oder 5 bleibt das Feld frei”. In the installation “Spontane Unordnung” the artist translates shapes from a two-dimensional drawing into three-dimensional objects–Flummis, which due to their different angles and surfaces can jump in different directions and may be used by the visitors of the exhibition. The work “o.T. (Schiebepuzzle)” also actively involves the visitors of the exhibition: by shifting the individual picture elements, new form contexts are created again and again. Is there a correct solution or are all outcomes of equal value? The ability to recognize patterns is part of the basic cognitive equipment of humans. Jacobi is interested in the possibilities in this process–the moments in which a decision could turn out one way or the other.

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Artist Talk
Sun. 20 June
15 - 16 hr
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hi@mareikejacobi.com
@mareike.jacobi