Often, all it takes is a small shift within states, one could also say a change in perspective, and suddenly the previously invisible threads reappear, to which our worldview and perception of reality are anchored. The arbitrary and random nature of the reality we experience in everyday life as given and self-evident reveals itself to the observer in such a moment – for a moment, they pause and marvel at the contingency of the world. And perhaps a new thought emerges in the process.

Such a shift is achieved by the artists Alicja Kwade and Jorinde Voigt in their exhibition “Shift Matters” at Villa Schöningen. The title itself indicates that we are dealing with at least a twofold form of displacement, as its double meaning directly refers to the central difficulty of being able to grasp meaning and meaning-making at all.

Thus, the formula “Shift Matters” could be read as an invitation to the observer to focus on the importance of such “shifts,” or alternatively, the title (in its essence) could also be understood and translated as “shifting materials” – depending on how one interprets it, the two words change their function, sometimes acting as a verb and sometimes as a noun. “Shift Matters,” the choice is up to the observer.

Alicja Kwade’s works, created in Berlin, have always pointed to a reality behind the obvious. In her conceptual art, she breaks physical laws and reliably subverts trained viewing habits; she duplicates objects that would otherwise only be considered singular, she separates and unites things that cannot be separated and united, or she transforms materials from their original state into an unexpected new one.

In their expansive presence and materiality, Kwade’s works assembled in the exhibition usually communicate directly with the observer: a rock cut in half by a glass pane, an abacus whose balls – detached from their function – are no longer lined up on the rod but are on the floor in front of it, a table quadruply mirrored, divided yet always whole, which only finds its true form through this reflection; there is no need for any analytical skill to experience this stunning aesthetic encounter. What if the world looked as Alicja Kwade presents it?

In addition to this direct form of perceptual shift, we also experience a kind of shift within the exhibition itself – it arises precisely through the juxtaposition of the works of Alicja Kwade and Jorinde Voigt. While Kwade’s sculptures and installations penetrate our perception abruptly and instinctively, causing unrest, Voigt’s paper works target the observer’s subconscious.

The works of the classically trained musician can be read as visual compositions. Again and again, shapes and structures appear that the observer believes to recognize, but in the next moment, the ensemble of colors and forms has escaped conventional understanding. We see finely drawn lines, repeating structures and patterns, akin to scores and notations that can be read as the subtext of the works – yet a definitive deciphering must be omitted, cannot and should not succeed.

These are works that the critic Niklas Maak once sought to describe as “graphic world-perception machines.” Perhaps the complex visual-text associations of Voigt precisely target our subconscious because they originate from her own.

Thus, the exhibition “Shift Matters” derives its dialectical power from the visual and conceptual contrast evident between the two artists. Where they meet, there is something yet undiscovered, an open space of possibilities in which, through playing with one’s own perception, we might even be enabled to flip an inner switch.

Because “to shift” also means: to switch.

The fact that Kwade and Voigt meet in a joint exhibition is not solely due to conception: the two artists studied together for a while under Christiane Möbus at the University of the Arts, they share a special friendship, mutual support, and a great fascination with each other’s work.

Timon Karl Kaleyta