Documentation

2015-2018

Selected works and exhibitions

SONIA RAMMER

„Today, the most consistent artistic attitude is that of a tramp. It has many formal [...] or mental varieties (the ubiquitous topics of the road and travel, accepted departures from the rule and the like). Migratory modernity simultaneously penetrates geographical space, the course of history and cultural signs. However, being a certain constructivism, it differs from postmodern eclecticism and the modern path defined by progress. Alter-modernity is labyrinth-like, non-linear, heterogeneous, and presupposes a space-time wandering” *

* N. Bourriaud, Estetyka relacyjna, tłum. Ł. Białkowski,

MOCAK, Kraków 2012, s. 31.

The Island (selected works in portfolio)

Collages (150 works, size: 16x22 cm. - 25x17 cm), 2015

Cycle no. I: 66 pieces, 16x22 cm. single element ; cycle no. II: 25 pieces, 16x22 cm. single element; cycle no. III: 15 pieces, 16x22 cm. single element;cycle no. IV: 12 pieces, 16x22 cm. single element; cycle no. V: 2 pieces, 16x22 cm. single element; cycle no. VI: 4 pieces, 21x29 cm. single elementWax, print, drawing, handmade paper, tracing paper, pigment, paper elements.

Objects, 2015-2016(polystyrene, cement, acrylic paint, black pigment),450 x 350 x 170 cm., 250 x 150 x 90 cm., eight objects 30x20x15 cm. - 50x40x40 cm.

Video, sound - loop 7’, 2015

Video - loop 5’, 2015

On the left: Lanzarote, digital photography

The Island

The project is born out of the experience of an unaccompanied journey. It begins with photographs which document it. Apart from 150 collages / drawings (from 16x22 cm, up to 25x17 in size), it is objects “shooting through” the wall and “entering” the room, destroying space, that constitute a major element ordering the space. Their shapes resemble those of volcanic boulders and forms to be found in the drawings. Therefore “sculpture” is not a simple imitation of nature but only implies, through the spatial arrangement, the imminent catastrophe, which may refer to both the action of nature towards the human being and to the human action vis-à-vis nature.The arrangement and indeterminate form of the objects are to instil anxiety, which is often experienced in an unknown, desert space. The project addresses the universal problem of the human person being part of nature and or nature which has become foreign territory. It attempts to show another landscape and by addressing this topic enters into dialogue with the landscape motif, present in art history for centuries. Moreover, the project refers to the question of the contemporary way of travelling, of popular “tourism”, often without any reflection whatsoever, based on thoughtless exploitation of goods. The set of drawings/collages is a conscious reference to the contemporary “traveller’s” collecting photographs, landscapes and impressions which en masse cease to be individual observations.

Collage (cycle no. 1; digital print, drawing), 16x22 cm

Collages (cycle no. I), variable dimensions, 66 elements, 16x22 cm single element

Collage (cycle no. 1; print, tracing paper, handmade paper), 19x22,5 cm.

The IslandBWA Gallery, Municipal Art Centre, Gorzów Wielkopolski7.03.2015 – 5.04.2015, solo exhibitionobjects (polystyrene, cement, acrylic paint, black pigment),dimensions: 450 x 350 x 170 cm, 250 x 150 x 90 cm, approx. 50x40x30 cmcollages (wax, print, drawing, handmade paper, tracing paper, pigment), dimensions: 18x24 cm - 21x29 cm

Objects in a perspective of the gallery room (frame)450 x 350 x 170 cm, 250 x 150 x 90 cm

Collage (cycle no. 1; digital print, drawing), 16x22 cm

The IslandBWA Gallery, Municipal Art Centre, Gorzów Wielkopolski7.03.2015 – 5.04.2015, solo exhibition

Collages (cycle no. II selection), variable dimensions, 25 elements, 18x24 cm single elementPaper, wax, print, drawing, paper elements, tracing paper, pigment

Collage (cycle no. II), 18x24 cmPaper, wax, print, drawing, paper elements, tracing paper, pigment

Collages (cycle no. III), variable dimensions, 25 elements, 18x24 cm single elementPaper, wax, print, drawing, paper elements, tracing paper, pigment

Collage (cycle no. III), 18x24 cmPaper, wax, print, drawing, paper elements

The Island Wieża Ciśnień Gallery, Konin14.05.2015 – 30.05.2015, solo exhibitionvideo, soundvideo sequence no. 1loop 7’

The Island Wieża Ciśnień Gallery, Konin14.05.2015 – 30.05.2015, solo exhibition

Video sequence no. 2, loop 5’

The IslandMBWA Gallery, Leszno6.02.2015 – 26.02.2015, solo exhibitionobjects (polystyrene, cement, acrylic paint, black pigment),dimensions: 250 x 150 x 90 cm, 30x40x50 cmcollages (wax, print, drawing, handmade paper, tracing paper, pigment), dimensions: 16x20 cm - 18x20 cm

The IslandMBWA Gallery, Leszno6.02.2015 – 26.02.2015, solo exhibitionobject, 250 x 150 x 90 cm

Icelandic Chronicles 2015-2017, (selected works in portfolio)

50 drawings (digital print in some parts), 20x14 cm. single element, 2015-2016

video installation (video, objects, art book), 2015-2016

book - monography (offset print, 200 copies), 2017

collages (pinhole camera photos printed on etched metal sheet, drawing, mounted paper elements), two collages 100x200 cm., two collages 100x100 cm., two collages 80x100 cm., three collages 60x100 cm., four collages 40x50 cm., 2017

Baer Art Center, 2015pinhole camera photography (using of digital camera)

Icelandic Chronicles

The first travel guide to Iceland in Polish, written by a Czech explorer Daniel Vetter, was published in 1638. Reading the book, composed of 15 thematic chapters, it is difficult not to notice, that during the Vetter's time, the trip to Island was not only dangerous but also was connected with discovering the new. Describing habits, food, nature, Vetter paid attention mostly to differences. Similarities were not interresting for him. In this sense Vetter is more like a contemporary traveler, who, going through a new land, is looking for the Other. But is there any possibility, in a global world, to find the Other? I formulate the hypothesis that nature has not change so much since Vetter's time and is still surprising, but people's way of living has changed a lot and now it is not as controversial, for thetraveler from Europe, as 400 years ago. Following the path of similarities and differences I collected material (photographs, movies, texts, stories, sketches, drawings), which helped me in creation of my own project called Icelandic Chronicles.

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 20x14 cm.

Baer Art Center, 2015fragment of the composition shown on the wall in my studio; drawings, pinholecamera photography, prints, texts

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 20x14 cm.

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 20x14 cm.

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 16x14 cm.

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 16x14 cm.

Baer Art Center, group exhibition, after the end of residency, 2015

Baer Art Center, group exhibitionArt book, collection of imprints of found stones.

Baer Art Center, group exhibitionReal and artificial stones, art book

Icelandic ChroniclesCurators'Lab Gallery, Poznań16.11.2017-03.12.2017, solo exhibition drawings (20x14 cm. five drawing), collages (pinhole camera photos printed on etched metal sheet, drawing, mounted paper elements), collage 100x200 cm., two collages 100x100 cm., two collages 60x100 cm., two collages 40x50 cm.,video, objects, autor's book - monograph, fog

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles, printing on etched metal sheet, 100x200 cm, 2017

I feel the end of the journey getting closer and closer...

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles, drawing on etched metal sheet, 100x100 cm, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles, printing on etched metal sheet, drawing, 40x50 cm, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017Passage to the second gallery space

Baer Art Center, 2015drawing (own technique), 16x14 cm.

Icelandic Chronicles, printing on etched metal sheet, drawing, 60x100 cm, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles, 2017

Icelandic Chronicles. Suplement, 2018

PublisherMiejskie Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych w Lesznieul. Leszczyńskich 564-100 Lesznotel./fax +48 65 520 54 27 (Office)tel. +48 65 520 51 79 (Gallery)sekretariat@mbwa.leszno.plwww.mbwa.leszno.plwww.facebook.com/MBWALesznoDirector: Marcin KochowiczCo-PublisherFaculty of Art Education and Curatorial StudiesUniversity of Arts in Poznańwww.uap.edu.pl/uczelnia/wydzialy/weaikAleje Karola Marcinkowskiego 2960-967 PoznańEditordr hab. Izabela KowalczykScientific reviewprof. dr hab. Grzegorz DziamskiPrintingZakład Poligraficzny Moś i Łuczak sp.j.Poznań, 2017Texts, digital photography, pinhole camera photography, drawings, documentationSonia RammerGraphic design/PrepressSonia Rammer/Błażej DuchnikTranslationMarcin Turski200 copiescopyright: Sonia Rammer

ISBN 978-83-65865-00-7 / ISBN 978-83-65578-68-6

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017Author's Book - Icelandic Chronicles, smaller gallery space. Next to the book video projection

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017Author's Book -Icelandic Chronicles, smaller gallery space. Next to the book video projection

Icelandic Chronicles, Curators'Lab Gallery, Poznań, 2017Stone Stories, 2015, Iceland

The Marchant of Búðarbrekkur - stone storiesBased on Jón R. Hjálmarsson, A traveller’s Guide to Icelandic Folk Tales, Reykjavík, 2014, p. 81-84

„On Höfdaströnd there lived a man named Þórður, who was regarded as a rather strange character”. On a winter day he was walking to the market in Hofsós, but he lost his way in a blizzard. During his demanding trip he suddenly saw tall buildings and shops with goods for sale. He was very astonished. He knocked at the door and asked for shelter. The man in a greatcoat answered „Come indoors with your sack of goods. I shall trade with you tommorow and you will find it no worse than at Hofsos”. In the morning Þórður ate a good breakfast and then did an excellent business with the master of the house. He was paid for the goods twice as much as in Hofsós. The merchant gave him also a shawl for his wife and bread for his children and said that this is a reward for helping his son when he was in a great danger. Because Þórður did not remember this, the man told him a story. „One day you were with a group of other man below Þórðarhöfði, waiting for the favourable wind out to Drangey. Your companions started throwing stones , trying to hit a certain rock. It was a hot and sunny day, and my son had lain down to rest below the rock. You forbade the stone throwing and told the men it was a pointless pastime. They stopped and said you had always been a strangeone. But if you had not forbidden the game, they would have killed my son”. Þórður left the settlement and after a while when he looked back, he saw nothing but Þórðarhöfði nearby.

inSPIRATIONS 11 Oxydan, National Museum, Szczecin, 24.06.2016 – 30.09.2016, group exhibition, competition

video, natural and artificial stones, story The Marchant of Búðarbrekkur

Stone StoriesNatural and artificial stones , 2015-2017

Stone StoriesNatural and artificial stones, 2015-2017

Tales from Hofsos, 2016, (selected works in portfolio)

The cycle of collages on canvas (paper, acryl, oil, ecoline, traces paper)

1. 100x130 cm (oil, acrylic paint on canvas)2. 30x25 cm, three collages3. 30x40 cm4. 40x50 cm, two collages5. 60x70 cm6. 160x190 cm (oil, acrylic paint on canvas)7. 100x80 cm

The most important exhibitions:

Pribehy z Hofsos (Tales from Hofsos), Mira Gallery, Planetarium Ostrava, Ostrava Czech Republic (May 2016), solo exhibition (educational leaflet)

Islands and atols. Mapping the imagination, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń (June 2017), group exhibition (catalogue)

Collage on canvas (paper, acrylic paint, ecoline, print on tracing paper), 30x40 cm, 2016

Collage on canvas (paper, acrylic paint, ecoline, tracing paper), 20x30 cm, 2016

Collage on canvas (paper, acrylic paint, ecoline, tracing paper), 20x30 cm, 2016

Collage on canvas (paper, acrylic paint, ecoline, drawing), 40x50 cm, 2016

Collage on canvas (paper, acrylic paint, ecoline, drawing), 50x60 cm, 2016

Patchwork, 2017-2018, (selected works in portfolio)

The cycle of paintings on canvas (acrylic paint, oil):1. Patchwork (Agathonisi)_190x250 cm2. Patchwork (Chios)_190x230 cm3. Patchwork (Kos)_190x300cm4. Patchwork (Leros)_190x270 cm5. Patchwork (Lesbos)_190x250cm6. Patchwork (Symi)_190x190 cmCollages:7. Patchwork_30x40 cm, oil on canvas, life jacket elements8. Patchwork_30x40 cm, oil on canvas, life jacket elements9. Patchwork _ 20x35 cm, oil on canvas, life jacket elements10. Patchwork_33x38 cm, old life jacket11. Patchwork_46x65 cm, old life jacket12. Patchwork_15x15 cm, old life jacket13. Patchwork_30x40 cm, old life jacket14. Patchwork_30x40 cm, old life jacketObjects:life jackets, clothes, fishing nets - variable dimensions

The most important exhibition (January 2018):

Wozownia Gallery, Toruń (January 2018), solo exhibition (catalogue)

Art plays a (non)obvious part in inspiring us to reflect upon these current and crucial affairs. It can appeal to our sense of hospitality without becoming journalistic. Sonia Rammer’s paintings and objects, displayed on an individual exhibition in the lower hall of the Wozownia Gallery in Toruñ, were inspired by photographs of crowded refugees, from the distance looking like colourful patchworks of spots, with orange as a strong accent, distinctive of the life vests. The arrival of these newcomers creates a patchy society which, as Rammer seems to suggest in her works by visual means, can be harmonious, or even beautiful, as a heavenly bird. Her large-format canvases show ambiguous, patchwork forms that not only refer to the shorelines of the isles that the refugees reach, but also are reminiscent of meteorological maps that forecast a more or less stormy future. Rammer does not pretend to be engaged; rather, through her art, she makes us acknowledge a sort of a cold, rutted distance with which we observe the refugees’ struggle through the lens of mass media.(...)

In her works, Rammer shows us that the maps of the promised isles where the refugees head look like multi-part patchworks: beautiful and all but abstract, like dreams about a new, better life beyond persecutions and violence. The paintings draw us in and delude our perception with their purely pictorial quality, challenging the concept of engaged art or the utopian belief in its power. As Nicolas Bourriaud rightly observes: “... any stance that is ‘directly’ critical of society is futile, if based on the illusion of a marginality that is nowadays impossible, not to say regressive.”* Rammer does not pretend, then, that she speaks on behalf of a marginalized group and she

does not get herself involved in the illusion; rather, in her art, she accentuates the ways of perceiving the refugees’ situation. By that, she makes us aware of Derrida’s impossible, aporetic hospitality to an even greater extent. She asks us questions that – even if it is for a brief moment – puncture the balloon of our common-day comfort and European luxury in which we thrive.(...)

Even the so called engaged art, or the art that is assumed to evoke empathy are artistic conventions that are hard to overcome in order to bring about any actions in the reality. The isles depicted by Rammer are also relatively far away from us – both with respect to the geographical distance and to the situation of the gallery visitor who is faced with their painted images. “Patchwork” shows us, then, also how easy it is – for the artist herself as well as her audience – to move within the frames of a convention. Rammer is an artist, so she paints current themes in order to spread some anxiety and discomfort in our comfortable, conformist existence. However, she is inspired mostly by the formal and visual play of colours in the press photos and the fickle shorelines of the isles, meandering on maps, so as to translate these visually captivating compositions onto particular paintings, while using their title, “patchwork”, to create an ambiguous metaphor. She asks what is hidden behind the play of colours and the seemingly innocent cartography. She stretches the material of the life jackets onto frames, creating visually pleasing monochromes. At the same time, she assumes that there is nothing more to be done by means of art. Putting a life jacket on would be only a disguise, and not stepping into the Other’s shoes.(...)*Nicholas Bourriaud, Estetyka relacyjna, tłum. Łukasz Białkowski, Kraków 2012, s. 61.

Marta SmolińskaPatchwork:the limits of empathy in art and the struggle with hospitality.(catalogue text, Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, January 2018)

Patchwork/KosOil, acrylic paint on canvas, 195x300 cm, 2017

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018

Patchwork/LerosOil, acrylic paint on canvas, 195x270 cm, 2018

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018, object - life jackets, fishing nets, ropes, 2018

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018

PatchworkOld stretched life jacket, 33x38 cm, 2017

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018Object – featherbed, fishing net, ropes, 2018

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018digital photography, painting - old stretched life jacket, 15x15 cm, 2018

Patchwork/AgathonisiOil, acrylic paint on canvas, 195x250 cm, 2017

Patchwork, Wozownia Gallery, Toruń, 2018

Patchwork/Lesbos Oil, acrylic paint on canvas, 195x250 cm, 2017