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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A series of videos on love The third video in our series “Conversation” exposes what happens when our two artistic signatures meet. Layering one drawing onto another, we enter an ad hoc story-making of what we see. In this process, our conversation turns into an “architectural” exchange as one builds on top of the association…
