CRISISJOCHEN VRBA ALBERTO RAMIREZ

“BRIDGES”

Galleri ScandinaviaBerzeliigatan 14412 53 Göteborg031-202480

hakan@galleriscandinavia.semichael@galleriscandinavia.se

copyright Galleri Scandinavia - 2014

CRISIS CRISIS is a Berlin based collaboration of spanish artist Alberto Ramirez and german artist Jochen Vrba.

It was the very first time the met in early 2013 when they decided to collaborate with their arts. In one of Berlin´s many bars they spend hours by discussing their ideas of how this collaboration would work and what they would focus on. Unlike most other plans made inberlin´s nightlife they finished their first painting "Symmetry" only three days later.

Whilst Alberto Ramirez is known for his abstract paintings and portraits, Jochen Vrba´s former works show complex technical based objects and kinetic sculptures. In their collaborationCRISIS they mostly combine two ore more well known images of people or buildings influencing the last decades in different ways. By blurring the boarders they create powerful and catchy hybrid-images. Surrounded by the white outline that is found in almost all of their works the paintings pretend a visual unity that contrasts with the diverse meaning of the mixed images.

The style of their work is mostly the result of a well sophisticated idea and a fast and spontaneous way of painting. Vrba and Ramirez spent just as much time on discussing and sketching their ideas then they spent in the atelier. When they paint they work on the same canvas at the very same time. Not only do they switch from english to german and spanish whilst they are painting but also they switch their brushes and spatulas constantly.

BRIDGES Bridges connect one shore to another. They connect cities, countries and even continents.

When crossing a bridge you experience a lapse of transition. For a moment you are neither on one or the other side of the bridge rather in-between.

This is the sensation that Alberto Ramirez and Jochen Vrba have been aiming for while painting their latest series of abstract bridges.

BRIDGES

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is 1,470 ft (448 m) long, with the suspension cables being 3,224 ft (983 m) long. The bridge's total length is 6,855 ft (2,089 m).

The bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff, and is noted for its innovative design. As the first suspension bridge to employ Josef Melan's deflection theory for the stiffening of its deck, it is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges and this design served as the model for many of the long-span suspension bridges built in the first half of the twentieth century. The Manhattan Bridge was also the first suspension bridge to utilize a Warren truss in its design.

No tolls are charged for the use of the bridge.

MANHATTAN BRIDGE, GERMANYMixed Technics on Canvas150x150

The Strelasund Crossing refers to the two bridge links to the German island of Rügen (Rugia)over the Strelasund to the West Pomeranian mainland near Stralsund: the Rügen Bridge or Rugia Bridge (German: Rügenbrücke) and the Rugia Causeway (Rügendamm).

Ferry services between Stralsund and Altefähr and between Stahlbrode and Glewitz are also available to cross the Strelasund sound.

The Rügendamm was the first fixed crossing over the sound of Strelasund, for both the old Bundesstraße 96, the Stralsund–Sassnitz railway and a combined footpath and cycle path.It was completed 1936/1937.

Rügenbrücke is the name of the three-lane viaduct completed in 2007 exclusively for motortraffic, between the village of Altefähr on Rugia Island and the Hanseatic and world heritagetown of Stralsund; as part of the concept to turn the B96 and European route E22 intoa ring road. Both bridges are operated in parallel. The Rugia Bridge has an overall length of2,831 metres (9,288 ft), which makes it one of Central Europe's largest bridges.

RÜGEN BRIDGE, INDIA Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the mile-wide, three-mile-long channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County, bridging both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful,certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world“. It opened in 1937 and had, until 1964,the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m).

GOLDEN GATE, USA Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

The Great Belt is a strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferriesfrom the late 19thcentury until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98.

The Great Belt is the largest and most important of the three straits of Denmark that connect the Kattegat to the Baltic Sea. The others are the Øresund and the Little Belt.The Great Belt is 60 km (37 miles) long and 16–32 km (10–20 miles) wide. It flows around two major islands: Samsø in the north and Langeland to the south. At Sprogø the Great Beltdivides into the East Channel and the West Channel. Both are traversed by the Great Belt Bridge, but a tunnel also runs under the East Channel.

The Great Belt was historically navigable to ocean-going vessels and, despite a few collisions and near collisions with the bridge, it still is. The Danish navy monitors maritime traffic in the waters around the belt.

GREAT BELT BRIDGE, ITALYMixed Technics on Canvas160x100

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carriesrail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia. The bridge is nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design. Furthermore, the bridge is ubiquitously known to Sydneysiders and Australians more widely, simply as "the Bridge".

Under the directions of Queenslander Dr J.J.C. Bradfield of the NSW Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough and opened in 1932. The bridge's design was influenced by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York. It is also the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver.

SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE, ITALY Mixed Technics on Canvas150x150

The Öresund Bridge is a double-track railway and dual carriageway bridge across the Øresund strait between Scania(southernmost Sweden) and Denmark. The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The crossing of the strait is completed by a 4 km (2.5-mile)underwater tunnel, called the Drogden Tunnel, from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The term Øresund Bridge often includes this tunnel.

The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects two major metropolitan areas: Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the major Swedish city of Malmö. It connects the road and rail networks of the Scandinavian Peninsula with those of Central and Western Europe. A data cable also uses the bridge to carry all Internet datatransmission for Finland.

The international European route E20 crosses via road, the Oresund Line via railway. The construction of the Great Belt Fixed Link, connecting Zealand to Funen and thence to the Jutland Peninsula, and the Øresund Bridge have connected Central and Western Europe to Scandinavia by road and rail. The Øresund Bridge was designed by the Danish engineering firm COWI. The justification for the additional expenditure and complexity related to digging atunnel for part of the way, rather than raising that section of the bridge, was to avoid interfering with air traffic from the nearby Copenhagen Airport, to provide a clear channel for ships ingood weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait. The Øresund Bridge crosses the border between Denmark and Sweden, but in accordance with the Schengen Agreement and the Nordic Passport Union, there are usually no passport inspections. Thereare random customs checks at the entrance toll booths entering Sweden, but not when entering Denmark.

ORESUND BRIDGE, GERMANY Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. Ferry service began as early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for purposes of transporting water to San Francisco.

The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost US$1.00 per vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge. The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes.

Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average. Many experts said that a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 372 ft (113 m) deep at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, USA Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest bridges of either type in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan andBrooklyn by spanning the East River. It has a main span of1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), and was the first steel-wire suspension bridge constructed. It was originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and as theEast River Bridge, but it was later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name coming from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an icon of New York City, and was designateda National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.

The Brooklyn Bridge was initially designed by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling,who had previously designed and constructed shorter suspension bridges, such asRoebling'sDelaware Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, Waco Suspension Bridge in Waco, Texas,and the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio.

BROOKLYN BRIDGE, MALAYSIA Mixed Technics on Canvas200x130

Tower Bridge (built 1886–1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London.

The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontalwalkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in thesuspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-bluecolour.

The nearest London Underground station is Tower Hill on the Circle and District lines, and the nearest Docklands Light Railway station is Tower Gateway.

TOWER BRDGE, FRANCEMixed Technics on Canvas

130x100

The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Burma-Siam Railway,the Thailand–Burma Railway and similar names, was a 415 kilometres (258 mi) railway between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), built bythe Empire of Japan in 1943, to support its forces in the Burma campaign of World War II. The line was closed in 1947, but the section between Nong Pla Duk and Nam Tok was reopenedten years later in 1957.

Forced labour was used in its construction. About 180,000 Asian civilian labourers(mainly romusha) and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these,around 90,000 Asian civilian labourers and 12,399 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. The dead POWs included 6,318 British personnel, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch,about 356 Americans, and about 20 POWs from other British Commonwealth countries(the Indian Empire, New Zealand and Canada).

The famous bridge of the Burma Railway crosses the river at Tha Makham Subdistrict of the Mueang District. However, this is not the same bridge as depicted in The Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle and in its film adaptation. A bridge was built of wood approximately 100metres upriver from the current bridge, during the construction of the iron and concrete bridge and also rebuilt in 1945 when the iron bridge was bombed. No remnants of the wooden bridge remain. That wooden bridge was also not the bridge depicted in the film as the river was not called the Kwai Yai at that time. A wooden trestle bridge was built over the Kwai Noi manymiles upstream in the jungle and it would more closely resemble the bridge in the film.However, the film is really a fictional depiction of the events with many inaccuracies and neither bridge can really be said to be that depicted in the film.

RIVER KWAI BRIDGE, USA Mixed Technics on Canvas160x100

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capitalof Hungary. Designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary, and was opened in 1849.It is anchored on the Pest side of the river to Széchenyi (formerly Roosevelt) Square, adjacent to the Gresham Palace and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and on the Buda side to Adam Clark Square, near the Zero Kilometer Ston and the lower end of the Castle Hill Funicular, leading to Buda Castle.

The bridge has the name of István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction, attached to it, but is most commonly known as the Chain Bridge. At the time of its construction, it was regarded as one of the modern world's engineering wonders. It has asserted an enormous significance in the country's economic, social and cultural life, much as the Brooklyn Bridge has in New York and United States of America. Its decorations made of cast iron, and its construction, radiating calm dignity and balance, have elevated the Chain Bridge to a high stature in Europe. It became a symbol of advancement, national awakening, and the linkage between East and West.

CHAIN BRIDGE, SPAIN Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

The Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing inNorth America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the toll bridge. A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and US$13 billion in annual production depend on the Detroit–Windsor international border crossing.

The bridge is owned by Grosse Pointe billionaire Manuel "Matty" Moroun through the DetroitInternational Bridge Company in the US and the Canadian Transit Company in Canada. In 1979, when the previous owners of the bridge put it on the New York Stock Exchange and shares were traded, Moroun was able to buy shares, eventually acquiring the bridge. The bridge is responsible for 60-70% of commercial truck traffic in the region. Moroun also owns the Ammex Detroit Duty Free Stores at both the bridge and the tunnel. It is one of the only two Canada–US border crossings where people travel north into the United States, the other being the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel.

A new bridge, the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC), now the New International Trade Crossing, has been approved for construction by the Canadian and American governments. The new bridge will act as a government-owned and operated crossing further downriver.

AMBASSADOR BRIDGE, AUSTRALIA Mixed Technics on Canvas130x100

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