Esther Ernst (Switzerland) and Jörg Laue (Germany) are artists-in-residence of IAAB (international studio and exchange program Bale, Switzerland). The residency is locally run by Pro Helvetia Cape Town in collaboration with blankprojects where they presented works that were the direct result of their experiences of Johannesburg and Cape Town. The main focus of [c.t.] is the relationship between varied modes of production, media and techniques in a compact, homogeneous installation, wherein diverse art works become legible as a complex netting of heterogeneous experiences and points of view.

Esther Ernst’s work-in-progress is a large-scale drawing (1,1 x 6,5 m) – a kind of literary multilayer diary. It condenses cartographic and architectural elements, subjective everyday observations and idiosyncratic motives for drawing in a non-chronological way which accentuates an interior view. Jörg Laue’s series of comic-like drawings of a 360°-panorama view from a Johannesburg Inner City roof, combined with a video loop of the same view at night present an entirely distant view, which emphasizes the roof as the only easily reachable secure hideaway, and an unavoidably voyeuristic place at the same time. Surrounded by some transformed noises of the hideaway, both perspectives – interior view and distant view – appear as two sides of an interaction of perception and experience

Esther Ernst (b.1977) lives and works in Berlin and Bale. She completed a Master’s degree in 2006 at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. The scope of her production (exhibitions, performances, projects and residencies) reflects her background in fine art and stage design.

Jörg Laue (b.1964) studied Applied Theatre Studies at Universität Giessen. Soon afterwards he founded LOSE COMBO in 1994 through which he has since realized live-art-projects on the borderline of stage-performance, visual arts and contemporary music. His solo artistic practice includes sound- and video-installations, writing and lecturing. Laue lives and works in Berlin.