In her paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations, the British artist Emma Talbot (* 1969 in Stourbridge, lives in London and Italy) explores existential questions. For the 20-metre-high Kesselhaus at the KINDL, she is developing a site-specific installation consisting of paintings on silk, sculptural ensembles, and hanging objects, in which archaic voices are brought back to life: Furies, sirens, oracles, witches, and spirits warn of the environmental and political disasters of our present. They tell a story of toxicity and healing and point to alternatives that make a positive future conceivable.

Curator: Kathrin Becker

27.9., 18:00
Curator’s tour POLY. A Fluid Show and Emma Talbot. In the End, the Beginning with Solvej Helweg Ovesen and Kathrin Becker
In German
Free admission

8.10., 10:00 – 13:00
Hexen, Gespenster und Orakel
Workshop on the exhibition as part of KinderKulturMonat
For children from 7 to 12 years of age
In German
Free admission

21.10., 10:00 – 13:00
Hexen, Gespenster und Orakel
Workshop on the exhibition as part of KinderKulturMonat
For children from 7 to 12 years of age
In German
Free admission

28.2., 19:00
Emma Talbot in conversation with Antonia Alampi (Curator, cultural organizer and director of Spore Initiative, Berlin)

Emma Talbot's installation at the Kesselhaus In the End, the Beginning delves into the ambivalences of our era. Adressing our catastrophic times, marked by ecological and political turmoil, it immerses visitors with archaic voices delivering cautionary warnings and overlooked viewpoints, hoping to pave the way for a more positive future.

Antonia Alampi is a curator and director of the Spore-Initiative, an organization that engages with ecological regeneration and climate justice through cultural and artistic initiatives. The Spore Initiative seeks to connect ancient and contemporary forms of knowledge, particularly those that are often marginalised or threatened by erasure, by highlighting the commonalities among various practices of care for the Earth.

In this conversation, Emma and Antonia will explore the importance of storytelling in their work. What would be lost if we didn't have the possibilities of storytelling? What do we gain through creativity, artistic expression and the connections forged through art?

In English
Free admission

Furies and sirens, witches and ghosts are the protagonists of Emma Talbot's exuberant paintings and installations. In her ecstatic paintings on silk and other fabrics and her figures and sculptural groups also created from textiles, she develops a feminist aesthetic between hippiedom and utopia.
[Furien und Sirenen, Hexen und Geister sind die Protagonistinnen von Emma Talbots überbordenden Bildern und Installationen. In ihren ekstatischen Malereien auf Seide und anderen Stoffen und ihren ebenfalls aus Textil entstehenden Figuren und Skulpturengruppen entwickelt sie eine feministische Ästhetik zwischen Hippietum und Utopie.]
monopol-magazin.de, 12.9.23

All around, the painting organises enveloping scenes in multicoloured coils from which emerge floating bodies, dancing silhouettes, faces with bird-like bodies like angels of the apocalypse.
[Tutto intorno la pittura organizza scenografie avvolgenti tra spire variopinte da cui emergonocorpi fluttuanti, sagome danzanti, volti con corpi di uccelli come angeli dell’apocalisse.]
Marilena Di Tursi, artribune.com, 21.1.24

Further Material:
Room Guide Emma Talbot. In the End, the Beginning
Floorplan Emma Talbot. In the End, the Beginning