Free Tibet

Like previous biennales, this year’s biennale at Völklinger Hütte offers the perfect occasion to showcase the work of two representatives of local urban art: in this case, Rubin195 and Petas. The work of these two artists centers on writing: two-dimensional letters imbued with a dynamically expressive quality. Geometric shapes, arrows, whorls, and truncated semicircles meet free-floating fragments piled vertically like industrial age sediment. Deliberately rough contours emphasize the spontaneous character of these expressive forms. Dark patches have been inserted into the shapes and indeed cover parts of the drawing, thereby absorbing and intensifying its dynamic quality. Shadows underscore either the surface or the volume. The focus here is not coherence from a central perspective, but rather the free interplay of formations. Their work created on the wall of the former coking plant laboratory is framed by figures wearing Tibetan masks – masks that serve to ward off demons. From the title "Free Tibet", we can infer which demons are meant.