the group show skyscraper takes its name from a novel written in the same year that the empire state building opened its doors. the novel is a romance tinged with feminist ambition and an homage to aspirational architecture – motifs that the artists here display a common regard for. chicks on speed, madelon vriesendorp and pelican avenue all share a fantastical approach to design that leads beyond utility towards the articulation of desire and absurdity. far from the earnest pronouncements of 1970s feminism, skyscraper is a joyous declaration of independence from conservatism, logic and category distinction; for the show pelican avenue has made a wall hanging from printed fabric that, while suggesting computer-generated imagery, seems to describe a plan for the fantastical realm of an enchanted forest or a lost city. 4 September - 11 October 2009; Kate McGarry Gallery / London

it is the reaction / counterpart to the previous pelican avenue project calyx. whereas calyx deals with the idea of
an artificial  organic world, intakt is about utopic and surreal architecture.
the video shows human as a negligible part of a powerful machine.

as well the collection as the video are part of the cycle fiction trilogy  and sequel to the previous pelican avenue project day-01: the very new beginning after the apocalypse, desolation, pureness, hope…
the flags showing video stills of day-01 could be interpreted as nostalgia, a perspective, but also history repeating,…  

the project focuses on families and their cultural traditions. in western urban centers people with a variety of ethnical and social backgrounds live close to each other. transformed by mass media and internet, individuality is replaced by a “mass-subject” and traditional structures of human relationships are inevitable changing. whether the family and its entity, as the center of human interactions can bear this development is questionable.
can family structures, determined by tradition and cultural heritage, maintain the function of shaping the character of individuals and sustain a differentiated society? what is the identity of modern families, the values and norms it is creating? does migration and increased social and cultural interaction undermine formerly fixed traditions or does it stimulate the awareness of the individual identity? is there a distinction between families formed by immigration and intercultural exchange on the one hand and a mere homogenous family concept?
for the Erben collection three singular family crests, each integrating the subjective perception of the family’s character were created. they are printed on t-shirts and embroidered on jeans shirts. finally each family is portrayed wearing its crest.
selling these items, the chosen families get kind of a star status and the clothes and posters work as “fan items”.
Erben was firstly presented at “le salon de chicha” during Paris fashion week in october 2005.

the objects of édition dame are restricted to a simple geometric form, the ellipse, which functions more like a decorative accessory, than a specific piece of clothing.
middle-aged Viennese women serve as models for the presentation since their everyday lives and biographies formed the inspiration for the series. they seem strong not only in an intellectual way but also in a sensual one. whe women are filmed in their own living room, surrounded by music of their choice, dressed in their own clothes with the ellipse as single outer element. like this the object serves as a frame for the personality of the women wearing it.
the édition dame videos are created in order to be presented as an audiovisual installation with several monitors spread over an empty space. turning the screens towards the same direction creates a movement and a composed floating image and underlines the differences between the environments.