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- Fire / Side / Chat -

Jens Isensee

Barrierefreier Zugang Barrierefreie Toilette
3 July 2026 19:00–22:00 4 July 2026 10:00–22:00 5 July 2026 10:00–19:00
"We will not save the world, because we cannot agree on a shared vision of it."

This premise forms the conceptual core of Fire Side Chat — a transmedial wall installation that unites sculptural form, 3D printing, and audiovisual media in a fragmented whole.

At the center of the work stands a sculptural reconstruction of the marble fireplace in the White House's Oval Office — the same fireplace that Trump, since the beginning of his second term, has had adorned with ostentatious gold applications in the style of an autocratic ruler. The work ironically engages with the persistent rumor that these decorative elements are in fact cheap plastic imitations, ordered from the online hardware store Home Depot.

This fireplace, however, is not crafted from noble stone — it is recycled from scraps of wood and cardboard, remnants of a throwaway society. What appears as a symbol of institutional permanence reveals itself as an ephemeral and highly flammable collage assembled from the waste of the present.

Inside the fireplace, no fire burns — only a video screen. It shows, among other things, burning ancient forests: an echo of the promised warmth and shelter that transforms into the apocalyptic evidence of the climate crisis. A soundtrack breaks the silence of the exhibition space — the loud crackling of fire, the snapping of burning wood — opening a narrative rift between the promise of political representation and ecological reality.

Fire Side Chat interrogates subjective human projection as a cultural principle: How do collective fantasies, political imaginaries, and personal worldviews overlay our perception of the actual state of the world? The installation invites viewers to linger in this gap — between representation and reality, between comfort and responsibility — and to discover within it an impulse toward collective action.

Biography

Jens Isensee

Jens Isensee is a transmedia artist living in Berlin. Among his works are interactive and participative installations as well as MR experiences and experimental, essayistic short films or not at least temporal cardboard sculptures with 3D-printed features and embedded technical elements. What aggregates this diverse Oeuvre is a focus on the critical examination of developments and crises in contemporary culture, society and the environment. His aim is to explore unexpected possibilities and new perspectives on reality that arise in the immersive space of new media and technologies. Right now, he is exploring various approaches to address the climate and civilization crisis in his artworks.

Venue

Rollbergstraße 28a
12053 Berlin
Germany

CRCLR-House

Contact

017644421882

Accessibility

Barrierefreier Zugang Barrierefreie Toilette

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