Solo exhibition
19 July — 2 August 2025
Exhibition opening: Friday 18 July, 19:00
Exhibition closing event: Saturday 2 August, 16:00
Curated by Nikolas Claussen
Raum für drastische Maßnahmen
Oderstr. 34, 10247 Berlin-Friedrichshain DE
Open: Thursdays – Saturdays, 15:00 – 20:00

In 1948 the American psychologist B.F. Skinner published “‘Superstition’ in the pigeon”, a paper detailing his avian experiments. Skinner had placed hungry pigeons in cages and fed them via a swinging food hopper at fixed time intervals. He observed 75% of the birds repeated behaviours that coincided with the first appearances of the hopper: spinning in circles,

head thrusting,

head tossing,

swinging motions,

or pecking.

They had come to believe — mistakenly — that their actions could trigger the food.

At Raum für drastische Maßnahmen, Ida Lawrence offers painted stories of appetite, desire and attempts at making meaning.

If the exhibition space is the cage, who then is the pigeon?

A Bigger Misha 2020-2025, acrylic, cut-outs and collage on 200gsm Fabriano acid free paper, 245 cm x 290 cm

Last weekend I did my best impression of a ‘normal person’ when I met Owen’s parents for the first time, at their home in Canberra. On the wall of the bedroom which Owen still refers to as his room and Owen’s mother refers to as the spare room hangs a painstakingly painted portrait of one of the family’s dogs. The life-size canine sits obediently, looking into the eye of the viewer. Placid, content, not a hair out of place on its shiny coat, meticulously combed by a steady hand. Quite without personality, really. The portrait was painted two years ago by Owen’s previous girlfriend and gifted to his parents who lovingly framed it.

This here is a bigger painting of the family’s other dog, the family’s favourite dog, Misha. Misha can catch any airborne object on the full in a triple-lutz-triple-toe-turn. She can dig the widest and the deepest hole in the veggie patch, on demand and not on demand. She can slam the back door behind her after a wee outside, at any hour of day or night. I honour Misha in this painting, measuring exactly the dimensions of the family’s living room feature wall, and it shall be gifted to Owen’s parents next time I am in Canberra.

Right: Slogans-Condolences (series) 2023-ongoing
top to bottom:

Fresh Mess 2025, oil on clear primed linen, 30 cm x 40 cm
nice tr 2025, oil and acrylic on polycotton, 30 cm x 40 cm
EE 2025, oil on linen, 70 cm x 65 cm
It means a lot 2025, oil and acrylic on polycotton, 40 cm x 30 cm
Sry 4 ur 1055 2025, oil on clear primed jute, 30 x 40 cm
Still Landscape (Esst Obst) 2023-2024, oil and acrylic on clear primed linen, 40 cm x 30 cm
intimate 2025, oil on clear primed linen, 40 cm x 30 cm
a niggling feeling 2025 (detail), oil on clear primed jute, 85 cm x 85 cm
shocked but not surprised 2025, oil on linen, 30 cm x 40 cm

Idris 2018, acrylic on canvas, 138 cm x 108 cm

Long before my nephew was born, my younger sister and her husband decided his name would be Idris. My brother-in-law (a devout Muslim) liked the name because it is the name of a prophet. I googled “Idris prophet” and learned that he was “trustworthy” (islamtoday.com), “pious” and “constantly occupied with the study of the holy books” (sacred-texts.com), “tall, with a white complexion… little body hair and a lot of hair on his head” plus had “a light discolouration on his chest, different to skin diseases like leprosy” (islamichouseofwisdom.com), and was “the first man who was given the knowledge of astrology and mathematics” (linkedin.com/prophet-idris).

My sister, on the other hand, liked the name because “Idris Elba (the English actor) is hot”. I did an image search of Idris Elba. Yeah, it is true, he is hot.

The Talk 2025, oil on clear primed linen, 30 cm x 40 cm

PROST! (study) 2025, pencil on 170gsm acid free paper, diptych, each A4

7 years of bad sex I can deal with.
It’s 7 years of bad cheersing that frightens me.

Ahhh yes (study) 2025, pencil on 170gsm acid free paper, A4

And atop his head
he spied
a single
silver strand.

Ahhh yes
he had been
stressed

once.

CUTS 2023-2025, oil on clear primed canvas, 155 cm x 120 cm

CUTS

Mother, who is not 
French, says I 
have a 
“French lesbian” haircut.

Her neighbour has a 
French lesbian haircut too. 
She is neither French 
nor a lesbian but 
her name is Gaye. 

My friend Tanya, a lesbian, asked 
her hairdresser for a 
“lesbian cut”.¹

She was not given the 
French lesbian haircut, 
she was given a different cut and 
besides, Tanya is Russian.

_{1. Tanya Vavilova, “A Daily Prayer,” in We Are Speaking in Code, (Sydney: 2020), 138}

Watch video (3 minutes):

•
•
•

Photos: Frank Freitag
Video: Liam Riecken
Video interviewer & performing art handler: Nikolas Claussen
Poster & animation: studio lindhorst-emme+hinrichs
Exhibition text: Ida Lawrence
Translations: Nikolas Claussen

•
•
•

Thanks to: Nikolas Claussen and the Raum für drastische Maßnahmen team, Khaled Kurbeh, Rob Crosse, Karla Neumeyer, Tanya Vavilova, Caitlin Hespe, Annee Lawrence, Marie Flood, Eva Pedroza, Paul Kolling.