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Review

Marcellvs L., Amir Fattal,
Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda

GASAG Art Prize 2008

The 2008 GASAG Art Award, a cooperation of GASAG and Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben since 7 years, is given to 1980 born Brazilian Marcellvs L. Israeli artist Amir Fattal, born in 1978, and the American-Japanese artist duo Jay Chung (1976) und Q Takeki Maeda (1977) are given the advancement award.

The Berlinische Galerie features an exhibition highlighting the award winners, which all live in Berlin. The prize carries a value of 7.500 Euros and additionally includes the purchase of an artwork as well as the production of a catalogue. The jury honors Marcellvs L. for his video and sound installations. They are about people meeting people with a special attention to aesthetic phenomenons. That, which is obvious, is often concealed from sight. This is what Marcellvs L. wants us to see.

Amit Fattal gets the prize most notably for his video works. His research in the gay scene works on the border between documentation and self-experiment. In showing rituals like dominance and submission Fattal reflects on similarities between video as a medium and erotic strategies like leather fetish, without denying his own participation.

The artist duo Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda does comprise non-artistic aspects into the artistic production process. The result is not traceable though. With the application of such ambivalent artistic practice the artists are searching for rules, for themselves and -- respectively -- for their artistic practice.