Exhibition at Gallerie Pleiku:

Tomi Slotte Dufva: Beer as Material and Landscape

I like beer. I am not alone – around 177.5 million kiloliters of beer are consumed worldwide each year. In Finland, the average annual consumption is approximately 72 litres per person – a considerable amount, yet only half of the impressive 184 litres per capita consumed in the Czech Republic.

Beer is one of humanity’s oldest beverages, with a history stretching back thousands of years. The word “beer” derives from Germanic languages (bier, birra) and is connected to the Latin verb bibere, meaning “to drink.” In ancient Egypt, beer was offered to the gods, and today it is enjoyed from Svalbard to New Zealand.

Beer has played a role in sparking new sciences and innovations such as refrigeration, pasteurisation, and microbiology. It is woven into politics and culture – by some accounts, it may even have been the very driving force behind human civilisation itself.

But what is beer?

In this exhibition, beer reveals itself as an artistic material. Paintings on canvas are created with beer itself – stout, saison, pilsner, IPA, and Kveik each take shape as their own unique material and landscape.

The exhibition is also a process: during its course, new beer paintings will be created in front of the audience. Visitors are invited to witness the making of these works and to discuss the meanings carried by different beers.

Tomi Slotte Dufva, Doctor of Arts, is an artist, educator, and researcher. He works as an assistant professor at Aalto University’s Department of Art and Media. Slotte Dufva’s artistic practice explores the intersections of art, science and technology, while his research focuses on post-digital art and education.

Program

Tue 21.10, 19–21 Opening & IPA beer painting performance

Thu 23.10 Stout beer painting performance

Sat 25.10 Pilsner beer painting performance

Mon 27.10 Kveik beer painting performance

Wed 29.10 Saison beer painting performance

Welcome to experience beer as material!

Opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday 15:00–19:00

Galerie Pleiku

Eugen-Schönhaar-Strasse 6a

10407 Berlin

With gratitude to Svenska Kulturfonden (The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland) for the support that made this project possible.