SHELTER – Love in Tough Times is the current project by artist-couple Asef-Burckhardt consisting of multimedia works that will be exhibited at “HAUNT/Frontviews“ (Berlin, G), “Kunstverein Göttingen” (Göttingen, G.), “MOS“ (Gorzow, Pl), and “Wild Palms” (Düsseldorf, G.) in 2024, ‘25 and ‘26.
“SHELTER-BONE (To Anna and Lawrence Halprin at The Sea Ranch)”, Asef-Burckhardt, video installation, 4K, stereo, 5 drawings, 28:02 min, 2024
Their works ask: What does “shelter” mean today? Emotional shelters are essential for survival, especially in times of crisis. How do society, nature, the body and emotional health interact with utopia-critical questions against the backdrop of global climate change and its economic and political consequences? This project shows that it is not isolationism but communal refuge that generates resilience, respect and resistance. Shelter and love are therefore among the most important political factors for action in the future.
The works were created during two research trips to the historic site of “The Sea Ranch” in California. Built in the 1960s, The Sea Ranch continues to set international standards for the interplay of architecture and nature – in other words, “shelter“ and “environment“. But what remains of its utopia (“to live lightly on the land“) and the idealism of a sensitive approach to the environment?
Asef-Burckhardt visited The Sea Ranch in 2018 and 2023 and were fascinated by its ambivalence: the clear lines of the houses in soft wooden tones stand at the breathtaking Pacific coast with crashing waves and forests of redwood trees. Yet the beautiful coastal paths are only officially accessible to a privileged audience of homeowners. Many homes are made up of redwoods that have been logged to a minimum. These same houses are threatened by wildfires every year due to climate change. Nearby towns, like “Paradise”, were razed to the ground in 2018. Climate change, privatization and privilege collide with utopia here. These contradictions are exemplary of global crises and will be artistically highlighted in the exhibition.
DOCUMENTATION
SHELTER-BONE-Kunstverein Göttingen – Download PDF
MOTHER-BURN-MOS Gorzow – Download PDF
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Walk-through the exhibition at HAUNT/Frontviews by the artists (3:48 min):
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Video installation “MOTHER-BURN” is the second video of a trilogy by the artist-couple Asef-Burckhardt. It was filmed on-site in the burned remains of a Redwood tree grove in the ecologically avantgarde architecture project “The Sea Ranch” in Northern California. Based on extensive periods of research there, Asef-Burckhardt created videos, drawings, paintings, performance, sound, photographs and…
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The video “SHELTER-BONE (To Anna and Lawrence Halprin at The Sea Ranch)” is a series of 5 drawings and a 28-minute one-shot video at the rough Pacific coast. It is a dialog of movement between Asef behind the camera and Burckhardt in front, both navigating dense fog and heavy wind, between attraction and resistance. Asef-Burckhardt…
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Instead of following a linear storyline, the installation “Script” offers a storytelling by the spatial arrangements of its elements – photographs, poems, sound. The 16:9 photographs were taken on various sites within and around a private home at The Sea Ranch, the poems were extracted from diary entries during Asef-Burckhardt’s research stay at this home,…
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immersive sound walk Around the “Old Barn”, which served as the model for the entire architecture of The Sea Ranch, Asef-Burckhardt developed an immersive audio experience that can be experienced on site. The aim is to make the audience aware of the environment from a perspective that is “vitalist” (in the sense of Jane Bennett’s recourse…
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“Personal Archive”, Asef-Burckhardt, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2023/25 The archive consists of drawings, books, audios, and prints that offer insight into the artists‘ research and personal archives, probing and contextualizing the exhibition like a thread. The works come from two research trips to the historic site of “The Sea Ranch” in California. Built in the…
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Sound installation of charcoal from burnt redwood trees Redwood trees are land dwellers that are among the oldest living beings on this planet. Some trees are 2000 years old. Today, their numbers have been reduced to a few percent by their use as building material, also at The Sea Ranch. Wildfires accelerate the CO2 problem…
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series of drawings, 70g paper, ink, 2023 The movement of the ocean washes various organic materials onto the beach at The Sea Ranch. In an archaeologically sensitive manner, Asef-Burckhardt appropriate this material as objet trouvés to record traces with ink on paper on site. In this series of 25 „drawings“, Asef-Burckhardt seek „handwritten“ encounters with…
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Performance and video with pieces of burnt redwood trees In the video performance “Hand-Charcoal-Song”, Burckhardt sings an impromptu song to and inspired by a piece of burnt wood while standing in the hollowed trunk of a burnt redwood tree – the largest and oldest trees on earth. They have gone nearly extinct due to logging,…
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A series of videos on love Sharing dreams and nightmares – could that summarize a love relationship? Being a couple challenges you to expose your vulnerabilities. We have been documenting our talks and images that expose the unfiltered psyches of lovers. ”Conversation 01“ is the first of an ongoing series of video works compiling conversations…
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A series of videos on love The second video in our series “Conversation” tells a story of loss and longing. It contemplates why we can or cannot finally let go what we hold dear. Just like memory maps our identity, it asks how time feels to a ruminating goat. Inspired by Borge’s poem “The Keeper…
