„The otherness of KAI’s artworks makes us recognize the otherness in ourselves.“– Marcel René Marburger
Steel, fire and the immense beauty of the monstrous – KAI’s art transports us into poetic machine worlds, into an avant-garde oeuvre of kinetic metal sculptures. Since 1983, the multimedia artist has been breathing life into technology in a creative act – KAI’s metal art has become a trademark of an individual art movement. The book KAI (Cologne: Edition_, 2023), which has just been published, reveals in German and English his oeuvre of decades of metal sculpture and performance art, which has shaped the spirit of authentic Berlin avant-garde ever since and has made a lasting mark on the local art and cultural scene. Thus KAI’s central position as a player in Berlin’s independent scene also becomes clear, for example as a co-founder of the artist group Dead Chickens, the independent cultural house Haus Schwarzenberg and the artists‘ club Eschschloraque Rümschrümp, or with WERK.STATT.44 and the Dead Chickens‘ Monsterkabinett.
KAI’s work, however, also stands for networks of artists and cultural workers that are constantly developing anew – this is precisely what the exhibition accompanying the book presentation illustrates: In the midst of his equally somber and aesthetic art, a presentation platform is developing for other artists and actors, allowing various fields such as sculpture, painting, photography, and drawing, as well as word and writing, to enter into dialogue. Special events will not only provide insights into the history of KAI’s work, for example with a view to the legendary Dead Chickens, but also into central locations and production sites that have helped to shape Berlin as an art and culture location to this day.
Last but not least, the otherness in KAI’s art designs its own realities, which we encounter on a direct path to our own inner selves – raw and sharp-edged, poetic and touching. Thus he transforms the neurotitan gallery into a pulsating world of aesthetic extremes that invites us to trace his art, on the aesthetically abysmal trip to ourselves.
Text: Vera Fischer
KAI – Artist, performer, sculptor, maker of kinetic metal sculptures and installations. Founding member of the artist group Dead Chickens (1986), artist gallery Dead Chickens Warehouse (1990), art association Haus Schwarzenberg (1995), artist’s club Eschschloraque Rümpschrümp (1995), Dead Chickens Museum Monsterkabinett (2010) and the artist’s workshop WERK.STATT.44 (2011). KAI, born 1966, lives and works in Berlin.
His kinetic sculptures are to be found in various places, such as: „Feuergarten“, Hunsrück, Germany (2017 and „Schnabelschere“, Haus Schwarzenberg, Berlin, Germany (1997). He also makes various kinetic sculptures for events such as „KAI’s Computer Press“, Chaos Communication Congress, Congress Center in Hamburg, Germany (2014), and „Feuer Aus Dem Rohr“ for the opening of Wingas, Erfurt, Germany (2005). He has participated in numerous exhibitions, including Vom Funken Zum Pixel/Kunst+Neue Medien, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (2007), and Tag des Denkmals, Teufelsberg, Berlin, Germany (2013).
As Dead Chickens he made many exhibitions and shows, such as: X-Position, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (1994), Theater Festival, Polverigi, Italy (1997) „Chimech, A Mechanical Creatures Odyssee“ for Haupstadt der Kulturen Lille 2004, France, (2004), and Dead Chickens at Big Day Out Festival, Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Gold Coast, Australia (2007). He often collaborates with artists from different disciplines, making performances and organizing exhibitions such as „Beton, Stahl, Taube“, Galerie Neurotitan, Berlin, Germany (2015).
BOOK INFO
Layout / Graphic Design: Sandra Christine Dick
Translations: Anna Kuom & Lisa Smith
Editorial support: Dr. Vera Fischer
Editor: Prof. Dr. Marcel René Marburger
Publisher: Edition_
Printed by: druckhaus köthen
Printed in: Berlin
Release Date: 2023
ISBN 978-3-9814246-4-5
Distribution: KAI: kai@bykai.net; https://bykai.net
Köln: Edition_, 2023