The tie that binds

The tie that binds
Alice Morey & Dietrich Meyer

20th April- 10th May 2023 at Gr_und, Berlin

Vernissage 20th April, 6-9pm, New Moon
Ritual 27th April, 6-9pm
Finissage 10th May, 6-9pm

For this duo show under the title ‘The tie that Binds’ artist colleagues and good friends, Alice Morey & Dietrich Meyer, reflect, transition and hold together an otherworldly gateway to a realm ‘beyond’, one they invite you to be part of, hand in hand, soul in soul, moment for moment.

As they mix together their own self taught belief systems the exhibition forms into two architectural ornamental gates, with a communal fountain in the centre. Each gate holds ceramic tiles with motifs that the artists made together. Inside the gates, Alice’s large abstract landscapes echo the walls, joined by the weaved ropes, dried flowers and hanging sculptures by Dietrich.

The installation functions as a ritual site for the sun and moon. It is a site in a post-climate crisis world where humans have realized their fraught relationship with the earth, viewing her as an-other and something to be conquered or utilized, has been at the core of the problem. Humans have now moved past this position, and a culture of care is the norm. The focus of the sun and the moon takes more of a mystical approach to our relationship with the earth and the cosmos. The sun as the provider of light, life, and warmth; the moon as ever-present, but not always in view, and the arbiter of the tides.

Alice Morey (b.1986) and Dietrich Meyer (b.1987) both live and work in Berlin, Germany where they met and formed a close friendship. Morey uses the passage of time and decay to navigate her working methods, contrasting it with pain and rejuvenation. She mixes elements of drawing, painting, sculpture and performance that evolve into complex site specific installations through ritualising materials and traditional crafts. Connectivity and precarity, between human and nature, is at the core of Meyer’s artistic practice. Through mixing sculpture and photography within site-specific installations, he highlights these interwoven stories while also advocating for a more ecocentric mode of thinking and acting.

Their shared interests in plant life, and the stories of Gaia, inform their separate and collaborative practices. Through bringing aspects of their studio practices together, they create ephemeral sculptural interventions highlighting the intimacy, delicacy, and precarity of the work and the environment they are working in. Alice and Dietrich met during Countdown Grabowsee, a collaboration residency and community that Alice co founded nearly 10 years ago. Through the specific nature of this residency, they became interested in developing a dialogue together finding a pathway to ritualise a practice that coincides with daily life.

The exhibition will be on view until 10th May 2023, with a reading on the 27th April, during Berlin Gallery weekend, where Alice will read a poem and both artists will hand out ceramic amulets.

The exhibition is also accompanied by a text by Cristina Ramos.