Introduction

Esther Schipper is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Isa Melsheimer’s work in the gallery.

With A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO, the artist, who lives in Berlin, refers directly to the architectural environment of the gallery. With ten sculptures and five gouaches, Isa Melsheimer cites the Neue Nationalgalerie directly opposite, designed by Mies van der Rohe, and abstracts it into an individual component, while also referring to the adjacent architecture of James Stirling, Frei Otto and Oswald Mathias Ungers, which are juxtaposed as isolated modules from the urban area.

This fragmentation is already suggested by the exhibition title, which clearly alludes to Ungers’ and Rem Koolhaas’ 1977 study Berlin as Green Archipelago, picking up the associated concept of urban islands and implementing it in terms of formal aesthetics. In this context, the presence of materials such as concrete, polished steel and mirrors is particularly apparent in the exhibition. But the architectural basis of the materials and forms has also been modified by placing plants and vases on the objects or supplemented with meticulous animal drawings, thus undermining the model character.

With A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO, Isa Melsheimer presents a scenario that filters out and juxtaposes historic architectural structures and even intervenes with the architecture. Possibilities of autonomy and appropriation are formulated, animating the scenario.