A guest room is a temporary home, a place that accommodates guests, gives them a bed, a blanket and, in the best case, a feeling of security. The Sammlung Pohl in Marburg opened its doors, furnished its guest room and invited three artists to exhibit various works of art under its roof and gave them financial support: Since 2020, the Sammlung Pohl – in cooperation with the Städelschule – has been awarding work scholarships to students who have completed their fine art studies in Frankfurt am Main. Within this context, the exhibition series “Im Gästezimmer” was created. It shows current and previous works by the award winners. Following the first "Im Gästezimmer" solo exhibition of 2002/23 by Nadia Perlov, this year's exhibition showcases works by Alex Chalmers, Ziva Drvaric and Conrad.

The three artistic positions are all winners of the same grant – but is that enough to form an exhibition? Do exhibitions generally need to have an overarching theme or is it enough for artistic positions to speak for themselves? Perhaps a forced dialogue between artistic works isn't always necessary, potentially it can arise by itself. Let's find out!

Alex Chalmers – Exploring everyday objects and time

Upon entering the large exhibition hall, visitors immediately notice three large steel boxes, making them curious regarding the purpose of these objects. As they walk around the three pieces they see themselves reflected through the mirrors inside the steel boxes, the observer becomes part of a work of art that slowly reveals itself. The interiors of the three discarded elevators (Untitled 2020 - 2021), which the artist Alex Chalmers has cut from buildings in Frankfurt and reconstructed to stand free in space without the supports of the tracks and shaft. The elevator cabins reveal scratches, stains, rust, and wear and tear which they have collected over the years. These are objects that transport different people; and, for a brief moment, blurs time and anonymity, creating a sometimes indescribable intimacy and sense of confinement due to its size. Long and short cables, cut wires and steel constructions refer to its past use as a transport machine that has been removed from its original surroundings. Elevators are symbols of urbanity, of life in a big city like Frankfurt, where Alex Chalmers graduated as a student in Haegue Yang’s Class in 2021.

Around the exhibition hall, there are large canvases on each of the three walls (Untitled 2023-2024). They appear to have been painted with precise lines that cover the entire surface. On closer inspection, however, it becomes evident that these are industrially fabricated awnings, originally used to protect people on their balconies against the weather. Like lifts, awnings are part of the urban landscapes. Alex Chalmers stretches the fabrics on wooden stretcher frames transforming them, like the lifts, into autonomous works of art. They show wear and tear as they are marked by the elements. Based between Rome and Frankfurt, Chalmers took inspiration from both cities: Frankfurt inspired the series of elevators, Rome the series of awnings. In conversation, Alex Chalmers mentions the “Marburger Stadtaufzug”, a glass elevator that transports residents to Marburg's upper town. The glass lift connects old and new and layers history and time. People go up and down, not only in the elevator, but also in technology and time.

Hovering between the paintings the visitor can see spheres, roughly the size of human heads, reminiscent of bowling balls. The untitled artworks are 20 cm in diameter, made out of metal, painted with hues of oil, the surfaces appear like dry riverbeds or veins. These details allow the metal to shimmer through the paint, so that the viewer's mirrored image is reflected in the surfaces (Untitled 2021-2024).

Alex Chalmers makes the viewers ask themselves: What am I looking at? Who was transported by these elevators, who looked at themselves in the mirrors in front of me, fixing hair or lipstick, looking for a lost key? Who was protected from the sun by the awning?

Chalmers shows the audience what they do not see in everyday life. The exterior of the elevator emerges as willful sculpture, the awnings reveal to the viewer their unexpected aesthetic quality. By placing them in a different context, Chalmers asks us to explore forms, materials and everyday objects and to rethink the meaning of time, the relation of private and public space and the connection between technology, postmodern and social life.

Conrad – New identities and visibility through materiality

If you turn your back on Alex Chalmers' works and walk to the back of the exhibition hall, you realise the actual size of the room. This may also be due to Conrad’s twelve reliefs, which are mounted on the walls and in a certain way distance themselves from the room. The large area allows visitors to move freely, take steps back, and give themselves space for art and contemplation, because there is nothing that needs to be bypassed in order to be fully appreciated.

Although occupying the same room as a completely different group of works, he manages to create a new dramaturgy in the same exhibition hall. Two smaller works, "old friends new jacket" (2024) and "Underneath the armour that I wear there's something sweet and full of care" (2023), seem to dance across the wall as they are placed at different heights and at distance from each other. First and foremost, the works are not visually accessible; the relief-like structure of the pieces is barely recognisable from a distance. If the viewer doesn't get closer to his works, they would be led to believe that reliefs are abstract paintings, for example of leaves ("Briefly before I die I'm gonna swallow seeds like pills and lay down in the forest" 2024), cobwebs ("Departure" 2021) or cells under a microscope ("I wish I knew 1,2&3" 2024), fossils, flowers, skeletons. However, when the viewer gets closer to the works, the materiality becomes clear, giving them a completely new identity. Conrad plays with materials such as very stretchy Lycra fabric, acrylic, cotton, stretch fabric, copper cables, glue from hot glue guns, but he also plays with 3D printing techniques. He developed sculptural forms that he attached to his pictures, turning them into plastic, vivid works. For example, he applied lines of hot glue to the back of the Lycra fabric, which create waves due to the tension of the fabric, forming two vases. The materials help Conrad to find new ways of looking at timeless themes such as movement, growth, transition, fossils, feelings, injury or healing.

The exhibited works showcase Conrad's artistic endeavours over the last five years, showing his transition from the Städelschule, which he left in 2021 as a student of Monika Baer, to the life as a working artist. For him, however, it was and is always relevant to be in motion, to make the creation of art visible. He does that by exposing his materials openly and consciously: the copper cables sewn into "Underneath the armour...", the lines of the hot glue gun, the general materiality of his works.

The viewers are challenged with the question of what they are actually seeing, like in Alex Chalmers work. The viewers become researchers who approach something with a microscope and can thus slowly uncover its structure and explore completely new worlds and contexts.

Ziva Drvaric – Intimacy in the everyday

Ziva Drvaric also deals with the use of everyday materials. Although her choice and use of material, as well as her formal language differ, there remains simple similarities that connect the three artists.

Ziva Drvaric´artistic works are located in the "Gästezimmer", the original exhibition space intended for the solo exhibitions. Upon entering the L-shaped exhibition space by Ziva Drvaric, her work “extensions (Nail I)” immediately catches the eye. This optical illusion invites viewers to take a closer look at the artwork:  An oversized nail made out of stainless steel seems to drill through the front wall of the space, at a distance from the wall and along it, emerging from the side, looking like it found its way through the wall.

The other works, some located in the opposite end of the room, are, like the ones described above, all site-specific. Working in-situ, the artist broke up the long, narrow room and created a different spatial dynamic.

At first glance, the work “Secret handshake” (2024) appears to be at the centrepiece of the room. The sculptural work made of oak wood and stainless steel looks like a figurative element at the intersection of sculpture and architecture. The wooden structure consists of narrow frames made of wooden beams connected by stainless steel hinges. The visitors can pass through “Secret handshake” which leads from one wall to the other and acts as a horizontal partition, a navigation for visitors between visible and invisible. Like two doors that hold each other open, the hinges are reminiscent of a handshake, an act of connection. It seems as if the work is part of the exhibition space. Even the two screen prints on canvas, “Between the lines”, framed in oak wood, and “Interiors”, framed in stainless steel, function more as sculptural objects. For example, the dimensions of the bottles on the print “Interiors” are the same as those of the depicted bottle.

One artwork that appears particularly inconspicuous at first and that seems to merge with the exhibition space is “Switch I”(2023). Only at second glance does one realise that the supposed light switch is not a real one, but part of the exhibition and made from paperboard and two small nails. Like the other works, “Notions of belonging (lost and found) VI”, two perfectly matching keys made of coated steel that in the end don´t fit into the door lock, appear almost like everyday objects everyone is familiar with. The same applies to "Rendez-vous"(2024), two sets of aluminium clock hands, which look like they´re holding hands and for this reason stopping time; just like in real life, when love makes you forget time, time flies by.

But with a closer and more focused look , you realise that it’s not a normal switch, key, nail or wooden construct. When you move and interact with the work, you see and feel the intimacy between the works. The closer you get, the more it tells you about coexistence, belonging, function, compatibility and community.

On leaving the exhibition rooms, visitors take away new perspectives on different (everyday) materials, the use of these materials and the general reminder to always look closely at art. To not rely on first impressions, to walk around objects with curiosity and thus allow the artwork to emerge and take shape. The question of what the beholder actually sees is perhaps the one that connects all the artworks in "Im Gästezimmer", even if it is ultimately not important to formulate it. To bring back the striking question from the beginning, whether the exhibition can function without an overarching theme, it can be said that the three positions speak strongly and clearly for themselves, but also function and harmonise as a group. This gives visitors space to focus on each artistic positions and to observe them and their strengths separately; the art takes centre stage, not the exhibition.

It is important to highlight that the Sammlung Pohl, through its scholarships and associated exhibitions, provides emerging artists with financial opportunities and a platform. However, the Sammlung Pohl has minimal online presence and for example cannot be located on Google Maps. This restricts access to individuals who are already familiar with the collection, perhaps through personal invitations from artists or prior knowledge. Visiting the exhibitions is not a matter of chance; appointments must be booked through the following link: https://www.sammlung-pohl.de/besuch. The lack of information about the collection raises broader questions about accessibility in art, which can not be answered in this text. How can art be made visible when entering a museum or gallery seems daunting? Despite these challenges, "Im Gästezimmer" provides aspiring artists with a valuable platform, financial support, and a stepping stone in their careers, regardless of potential criticism. By supporting young artists, the Pohl Collection opens its doors, offers its guest room for accommodation, and nurtures emerging talent.

Im Gästezimmer Zwei

22/04 - 7/06/2024

With works by Alex Chalmers, Conrad, Ziva Drvaric

Sammlung Pohl, Marburg

Zu den Sandbeeten 12a – 14

35043 Marburg