Du bist Einstein 2007

A photo­graph sealed under plex­i­glass and mounted (MDF), height 64 cm x width 101,6 cm (edition of 7)
(Edition of 7: height 32 cm x width 50,8 cm)

Insur­ance value 2,000 Euros

Concept Tanya Ury

Camera David Janecek 

Digital image processing Claudia Stasch

Double Portraits — a collec­tion of works:

• Hermes Insensed 2000 – 2001
• Franco and Elke J. 2002
• lesser is me more or less 2003
• Your Rules 2004
• or else 2007
• Du bist Einstein 2007
• doo bee doo 2007
• Artistic freedom 2013

To the left of the photo­graph Du bist Einstein, the artist Tanya Ury is featured with a pipe; she faces the viewer but gazes to the right. Digi­tally incor­po­rated into the photo­graph on the right side of the picture, is a portrayal of Albert Einstein himself, also with pipe not a double, as in Ury’s artwork doo bee doo. In this double portrait, Ury also dresses and poses simi­larly to Einstein however — she mimics his facial expres­sion of a half-smile.

Einstein was born in Ulm, as were Tanya Ury’s Jewish grand­par­ents Sigmar and Hedwig (neé Ullmann) Ury, who later fell victim to the Nazis. In 1993, Tanya Ury, second-gener­a­tion who was born in London however, acquired British/​German dual-nation­ality, the year when she also moved to live and work in Germany.

The title Du bist Einstein refers to the poster featuring an Einstein double, part of the TV campaign ​“Du bist Deutsch­land” (You are Germany). Shortly before the German general elec­tion in 2005, this campaign aimed to instil a patri­otic, feel-good factor. That Einstein was chosen to repre­sent a modern German ideal is ques­tion­able because in 1933 Einstein, who was Jewish, had to flee Germany to the USA.

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Presen­ta­tion

2007 (11.3. – 9.4.) Connected, Group exhi­bi­tion, opening 12 am Jewish Cultural Days, Altes Museum im BIS-Zentrum (Old Museum in the BIS Centre), Moenchenglad­bach (D)

2007 (15.7. – 26.8.) Kunstverein Rosen­heim Jahre­sausstel­lung (yearly exhi­bi­tion of the Rosen­heim Art Centre), opening 14^th July, Städtische Galerie (City Gallery), Rosen­heim (D)

2007 (15.7. – 26.8.) double portrait in cata­logue, Kunstverein Rosen­heim Jahre­sausstel­lung (yearly exhi­bi­tion of the Rosen­heim Art Centre), opening 14^th July, Städtische Galerie, Rosen­heim (D)

Press

The Power of Femi­ninity – Hubertus Wunschik has assem­bled an enor­mous range of art for a group exhi­bi­tion of inter­na­tional artists in the Alten Museum (Old Museum). The exhi­bi­tion ​“Connected” combines the works of Jewish and non-Jewish provenance.

By Dirk Richerdt – Saturday 10^th March 2007 RHEINISCHE POST

“A glance directly inside the entrance to the bour­geois town house falls on the photo montages of Tanya Ury. The 55 year-old Jewish artist, born in London and living in Cologne since 1993, has created a series of dialogic self-portraits: one sees Ury together with antecedents, including the German impres­sionist painter Lesser Ury and the German Jewish writer Else Sara Ury. And then Albert Einstein turns up. Although she is not related to the scien­tist, Tanya Ury’s picture of the pipe-smoking researcher together with the artist, holding a (pipe) in the same manner, has a bizarre aura.

A humorous edge flashes up directly with the seri­ously intended repre­sen­ta­tion of personal history. Tanya Ury’s photos sealed under plex­i­glass there­fore lend the exhi­bi­tion a certain relief from earnest themes…”

(Trans­la­tion from German T.U.)

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“…Tanya Ury’s photographs ​„Du bist Einstein“ and ​„or else“ insis­tently but at the same time with humour concern them­selves with ques­tions of iden­tity. With these, she posi­tions recre­ated photographs next to the originals…”

A persua­sive yes to art – A tour in the Städtis­chen Galerie (City Gallery) through the Jahre­sausstel­lung des Kunstvereins Rosen­heim (Rosen­heim Art Centre’s Yearly Exhi­bi­tion), by Raimund Feichtner (with an image of ​“Du bist Einstein“, 23.4.2007 Kultur in der Region (Culture in the Region), Verlagshaus (Publishing House) Rosen­heim (D)

(Trans­la­tion from German T.U.)