Tandem / Lebensraum-Living Room

Tandem / Lebensraum-Living Room
April 14 – May 31
Atrium Gallery 1

Lebensraum-Living Room

Tandem / Lebensraum-Living Room is a bi-national photography exhibition consisting of 12 students of artists, photographer and instructor, Sandra Mann, at the Academy of Visual Arts, Frankfurt; and 12 current and former students of artist and instructor, Ichiro Irie, at the Santa Monica College Art Mentor Program (AMP).

Lebensraum is the literal translation of the word “living-room”, but Lebensraum actually means: biotope, habitat, living space, or living environment.  The correct translation of “living room” as it is referred to in English is instead “Wohnzimmer”.  Wohnzimmer (living room) and Lebensraum (also living-room) are not the synonymous.  

The presentation of these 24 photographic works examines the semantic relationship between signifiers and what they stand for, their denotata.

~ Sandra Mann



Serendipitous Events Happening in Tandem

This show is about happy accidents.  I met Sandra Mann in Mexico City in 2003.  What were we doing in Mexico City?  I was on an extended residency, she was traveling and taking pictures.  She stumbled upon a show I curated at a then well known space called Art & Idea.  This was the beginning of a very important professional relationship for that would continue to the present day.  By coincidence, we were both making work about smog at the time, and we made a two person show in Offenbach called “In the Air” in 2005.  Just last year, she curated a show for me at JAUS, an artist-run space I direct in Los Angeles.  Now we both teach in art schools, she at Academy of Visual Arts, Frankfurt, and I at Santa Monica College.

Sandra approached me about doing this collaborative exhibition, and I jumped at the opportunity to present works of not just our colleagues and ourselves in our respective communities, but of our students as well, so they might have a chance to share their work and to grow as artists.  The exhibition is aptly titled Tandem, with the subtitle Lebensraum-Living Room.  I see this show as a means to reveal how each photographer conceptualizes personal space on a physical level and on a mental level, and how the accidental juxtaposition of works of 24 creators (12 from Frankfurt, 12 from Southern California) can stimulate a dialogue, and expand the concept of a Lebensraum inside all of us.

~ Ichiro Irie