Proclamation Wall, 2006
in: Asterism. Artists living in Berlin, Museo Tamayo, Mexico D.F.

curator Paola Santoscoy
wooden structure, paint, 6 “Proclamation Posters” oil on primed paper, 260 x 150 cm each, approx. 6 x 11m alltogether (photo: Jesús Sánchez Uribe)

Daniela Brahm is an artist who introduces questions about the city and its architecture into her work, from the perspective of an investigation focused on developing new possibilities for painting. Using drawings and paintings of various formats, Brahm assembles temporary installations that recall outdoor urban situations while evincing the fragility of the utopian outlook of most city planning.

Proclamation Wall is literally a series of “proclamations” intruding into the museum´s space with phrases, such as “Dare to Enter”, “Participation”, “No Escape”, or simply “Yes”…, texts presented in various fonts. Their placement give the Museo Tamayo the appearance of a construction site, with these large posters establishing a formal analogy with one´s visual or spatial experiences in public space, as these works were hung on a rough wall that resembled a temporary street barricade. The artist presents these texts in English, the commonly accepted universal language nowadays, and ties this use to a historical architectural tradition that proclaimed a universal language.
(text by Paola Santoscoy, curator at the Museo Tamayo)

Proclamation Wall, 2009
in: “Building Berlin”, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Canada

curator: Germaine Koh
wooden structure, paint, 5 “Proclamation Poster”, oil on primed paper, 260 x 150 cm each, approx. 5.5 x 17m alltogether

Concerned equally with utopian architectural forms and temporary structures, Daniela Brahm’s art practice seems to carry an understanding of the provisional character of built space. The painted elements of her works present an essential function of posters and placards: that is, turning official space towards vernacular, unplanned use. Her painted posters and fragments of painting on other structures feature slogan-like text fragments and always the same cast of characters (from a found group of ID photos of international TV professionals). Within the lexicon of her work, these elements seem to represent the actors and private concerns that inhabit city space.
(text by Germaine Koh)