Glick auf and CYCLE UP

Glick auf and CYCLE UP!
Sztandary dla Śląska i Zagłębia Ruhry
an exhibition by Irène Mélix
atelier automatique, BOCHUM
curators: Eva Busch/Julia Nitschke

25.05. – 27.06.2025

https://atelierautomatique.de/termine/375-25-05-27-06-2025-uebungen-im-aufstehen-glick-auf-und-cycle-up-ausstellung

 

The artist Irène Mélix was a guest in Katowice in Silesia for a bicycle residency in 2024. A region that is still strongly characterized by its mining history is facing the challenges and opportunities of socio-ecological change due to the closure of the last mines there. Many of the issues that affect the Ruhr region also concern people in Silesia and can be seen in the landscapes or cycled through. In solidarity with the people of Katowice, the project Sztandary dla Śląska (Banner for Silesia) was created, a series of flags that will now be on display at atelier automatique. The flags tell of past and present struggles for self-determination, jobs, solidarity and ecological transformation. For the Bochum exhibition, Irène Mélix created two further flags that relate directly to local history and will be on display together with their Silesian counterparts: Sztandary dla Śląska i Zagłębia Ruhry, i.e. banners for Silesia and the Ruhr region.

Exhibition talk with Irène Mélix and other guests: 27.06.2025, 6 pm.
Critical Mass Bochum with the flags: 27.06.2025, 7 pm.

The 5-second loop clip shows a vertical shot of a paved path along which the camera is traveling. Green bushes and individual buildings can be seen on the right and left, but above all on the right and on the horizon are steel derricks with long ladders and wheels. Several cyclists are visible at the front of the path, and another passes the camera from the right, wearing jeans and a dark top and riding an old racing bike. A large flag is attached to the rear wheel, fluttering in the wind. It is pink, with fists raised against the edge at all four corners, and the words “CISNYMY FURT / JEDZIEMY DALEKO” written in the center.

Landscape-format color photo of a shop window with white frames; in the lower right corner is written “atelier automatique.” The row of houses opposite with regular window fronts is reflected in the window. Behind the window, several flags of different sizes are hung irregularly. One reads “Glick auf,” while others are divided in the middle in blue and white, with purple, pink, blue, and white dominating the motifs. They are labeled in Silesian, Polish, and partly in German. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) Sztandary dla Śląska i Zagłębia Ruhry, 11+2 flags, 50x50-80x80cm each, Irène Mélix (2024/2025)
Landscape-format color photograph taken from inside through a shop window. In the background, two cyclists can be seen riding along the street in front of a building facade. In the foreground, two flags are visible at the top of the image, with another hanging diagonally from the ceiling further down. In the upper left corner, there is a two-tone blue and white surface with a large cross and a factory tower protruding from the edges. In the upper right flag, there are fists arranged on a pink/salmon-colored background at the corners. In the center of this flag, Polish and Silesian words can be discerned in two different colors. The lower flag is in various shades of purple, with a house facade in the background reminiscent of socialist architecture. In the foreground is a circular white area with a kind of ribbon winding around it. Offset from this is a circular inscription, not all of which can be read (Silesian). As the flag is slanted, the upper right part folds to the side, revealing that the reverse side has the same motif. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) photos: Irène Mélix
Landscape-format color photograph, taken from inside through the corner of a shop window, with a street scene and building facade in the background, and a person with a backpack walking past the shop window. Four flags of different sizes hang diagonally from the ceiling, on the left a salmon-colored flag with fists in the corners and the inscription “Cisnymy Furt / Idziemy Daleko.” Next to it, diagonally below, a flag with the large inscription “GLICK AUF” in black in the middle and diagonal rays to the corners in blue, yellow, and red/orange. In the corners is a crossed motif of question and exclamation marks. Above it is a larger white flag with four identical figures that become smaller towards the back, all wearing traditional Silesian dress. Below it is a blue banner with a Silesian slogan that is only partially legible. A small flag on the far right has a drawing of a curtain in brown tones in the background, in front of which is written in handwritten letters, perspectively distorted, “Meldujemy zakonczenie rozmów.”
Landscape-format color photo, zoom in on the small white flag. In the background, a street, house facade, and cars. The flag shows the same thing on both sides (the motif seems to show through slightly): a kind of curtain in the background, slightly distorted in perspective to the left, and the writing, slightly distorted in the opposite direction: “Meldujemy zakonczenie rozmów.”
Photo of two flags, the left one is white with four identical figures in traditional Silesian dress, becoming smaller towards the back. Behind the first figure is an empty blue banner. Above the figures is another white banner with a slogan in Silesian that cannot be read completely due to the folding of the flag: “trza...wnerwiac.” The smaller flag on the right is yellow and dark green. In the background, the structure of a photo can be seen, and in the foreground there is a large, dark rectangle with something illegible at the top and “Oddziak Bochum” at the bottom.
Another photo taken through the shop window from outside. In the foreground is the “GLICK AUF” flag, with rays emanating from the center in red/orange, blue, yellow, and green. At each corner of the flag is a crossed symbol consisting of an exclamation mark and a question mark. In the background are two smaller flags, heavily folded, in shades of salmon red and purple. The shop window reflects the facade of the building across the street, and inside the room a table and a stack of chairs can be seen.
Close-up of the purple flag, photographed from outside through the shop window. In the background, reflections from the shop window, the street with trees, houses, and cars. More flags on the right and left in the frame. The slanted flag hanging from the ceiling is mainly in shades of purple, with a house facade featuring socialist architecture in the background and a purple rectangle, a white circle with a ribbon inside, and circular lettering slightly offset from the circle in the foreground, of which only part can be read: “...sein: Schläsinger wull ber immer blein!”
Close-up of the flag with “GLICK AUF” written in black letters in the center. Rays extend from the center to the edges in blue, red/orange, yellow, and green. Except for the blue fields, a steel structure can be seen faintly in the background. At each corner of the flag is a symbol with a crossed question mark and exclamation point. In the foreground, a chain hangs from the ceiling, and in the background, sound equipment is set up.
Photo of four wheels facing in different directions in front of a shop window. All wheels have long wooden sticks attached to their frames, which bend slightly and carry four different flags in white, salmon red, purple tones, and “GLICK AUF.”
Photo of a street scene with houses, cars, and buildings. Several cyclists with flags attached to their frames are riding down the street and are photographed from behind. It is early evening, slightly sunny, and people are wearing jeans, shorts, and dark tops. The flag at the back is pink and has illustrations of fists on all corners, fluttering in the wind.
Four cyclists holding onto their bikes and looking at the camera or to the side. They are standing on a large paved square, with trees and tall buildings in the background. Three of the flags attached to the bike frames are visible: one reads “GLICK AUF,” another is white and shows four identical figures in Silesian clothing, and the front one is large and shows two people dancing with round lettering around them.
Close-up of the flag “CISNYMY FURT / JEDZIEMY DALEKO” on a salmon-colored background, with four fists in the corners. It is visible in its entirety because it is being held up to the camera by a hand in the upper right corner. In the background is a city street and several bicycles.
Close-up of several people on wheels, photographed from behind, standing on the street at a red light. Two white flags are attached to the wheels.
A winding, paved road with a dozen cyclists riding along it, all photographed from behind. The last two have white flags attached to their bikes, they are all wearing summer clothes, and there are meadows and trees on the right and left sides of the road.
Landscape photo of a handful of bicycles leaning in front of and behind a lamppost. All of them have long wooden poles attached to their frames, with flags hanging from them. In the background is a square with people, trees, and cars, where something is being set up.