PRESS RELEASE

In Fynn Ribbeck’s solo exhibition Lesson of the Airplane, the juxtaposition of virtual creative works (a 3D animated film) and tangible artistic techniques (textile sculptures) pushes the limits of outdated genre boundaries.

The focus of this visually narrative world is a fictitious dream of the real-life Red Army Faction founder Ulrike Meinhof. Despite knowing much about her politically-motivated acts, access to her inner life is blocked. By diving into her imagination, Ribbeck merges these contrasting public and private spheres, which he shows in tension with each other, in order to deconstruct the meaning of Meinhof as a political figure. Notable examples of this interplay are the private apartments on display as well as the exaggerated depictions of architectures of power.Furthermore, the use of a 3D animation provides flexibility in portraying body surfaces while simultaneously questioning forms of spatiality and personal experience. Against this background and in order to visualize the interactions of these processes, virtual-looking figures with pixel-like geometric surfaces materialize as sculptures in the exhibition space. Shaped and made of sewn plastic, the figures, reminiscent of avatars, emerge into the tangible world via the visitors’ own lived experience.

With Lesson of the Airplane, Ribbeck thus creates a narrative based on a digital experience – in the form of a dream world – in which the narrative strands refer both to the inner and outer manifestations of the protagonist’s psychological state. Accordingly, Lesson of the Airplane presents alternative storytelling as a critical act of creation.