IAK/TU Braunschweig
Kieloben
01
About the work
In the middle of the Oker, a boat floated with its keel turned upwards. A rope constituted the mental and artistic connection between the boat and the platform on the riverbank. When the rope was pulled on the platform, the boat emitted a shimmering light in the darkness. A sign of life? The souls of the dead? The light was extinguished when the efforts ceased.
The work was created during the winter semester 2019/20 at the Institut für Architekturbezogene Kunst during the seminar “Low Tech Kraftwerk.” The design for “Kieloben” by Victoria Hermesmann told about a current and painful contemporary issue in a poetically restrained manner.
The goal of the seminar was to develop and realize for the Lichtparcours 2000 an artwork that was related to water power. Serving as a basis for the designs was a seminar paper by Daniel Gehrmann from the Institut für Wasserbau und Gewässermorphologie that investigated the area along the Oker upstream at the Wendentor/Mühlenpfordstrasse. As one of 15 concepts, the work “Kieloben” was presented to and chosen by an external jury; it was realized as a joint student effort.
About the artists
The Institut für Architekturbezogene Kunst belongs to the Architecture Department at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. The goal of teaching at the IAK is to train perception to be increasingly sensitive to urban and natural surroundings and to be able to recognize their visual and creative potential. Most steps of artistic practice at the IAK are collaborative; communicative capabilities and knowledge about art are an essential aspect of the instructional program.
The project "Kieloben" was supervised by Prof. Folke Köbberling, Bernd Schulz and Michael Zwingmann.
Design: Victoria Hermesmann
Technical supervision: Axel Schwietale
Lotte Lindner & Till Steinbrenner
EKSTASE II
02
About the work
For the Lichtparcours 2020, Lotte Lindner and Till Steinbrenner projected a filmic work onto the facade of the Okerhochhaus near the Wendentorbrücke. Water seemed to be flowing down from the edge of the roof across the facade. To be seen from a bird’s-eye perspective was a woman in a boat, rowing in calm determination against the stream at this place. The fixed facade of the building seemed to begin vibrating because of the opposing movements of the oars and the water. Was a task being fulfilled? Was this recreation or work? Idleness or duty? Here we saw a contemporary interpretation of the Sisyphus figure, whose fruitless work consisted of always remaining at the same place without ever reaching a goal. And is it not so, as Camus proposes, that we would imagine Sisyphus to be a happy person? Does the seemingly senseless activity not lead to a state of expanded perception, even though it does achieve any visible goal? Is the path in fact the goal? Visible from afar over the roofs of the city of Braunschweig, the female rower was a symbol of striving humanity—without the certainty of success, but delighting in her own strength.
The work “EKSTASE II” was realized with the generous support of Volkswagen Financial Services and the Braunschweigischer Hochschulbund e.V.
In addition, the artist couple would like to thank the 1st Frauen-Ruder-Club Hannover 1928 e. V. for providing the wooden boat Greta, the Rudergemeinschaft Angaria Hannover E.V. for the transport, and the rower Johanna Grüne from the Hannoverscher Ruder-Club von 1880 e.V. Moreover, they thank the camera man Nikolaj Georgiew for his special support.
About the artists
Lotte Lindner (*1971 in Bremen) and Till Steinbrenner (*1967 in Hildesheim) have been working together ever since their artistic training at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig on an oeuvre that is permeated by concrete, formally reduced artistic interventions and statements. The sensitivity of these two artists to spaces, contexts and the concomitant contents is an essential aspect of their sculptural, performative, filmic and installational works. An important focus is a reflection about work—generally, in an artistic context and in relation to their own work, which is repeatedly subject to testing. In spite of the formal reduction to the essential, they manage to create atmospherically ambivalent situations. With its characteristically enigmatic meaning, their art is initially suffused with a playful, light element; in further developments, a certain and profound instability is triggered in the reception. It is most often a play with expectations that the artist couple carries to extremes between uncertain certainty and certain uncertainty. One constantly present element is a calculable risk, potential failure as a possibility. Lotte Lindner and Till Steinbrenner live in Hanover and hold various teaching positions including at Hildesheim and Celle. Most recently, their works were on display in Vienna and Bochum.
Expositions
- 2019
- Meet, Gäste der Kunsthalle3000, Wien, Österreich | Ursuppe, adhoc, Bochum (solo)
- 2018
- Mach es einfach, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg | 88. Herbstausstellung, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover | Der Erweiterte Blick. The Extended View, Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen | Tes mots dans ma bouche. Brussels take, in Zusammenarbeit mit Anna Rispoli, Kunstenfestival Brüssel, Brüssel, Belgien
- 2017
- Alternative Gesellschaftsformen. Übung III: Selber Machen, Kunstverein Buchholz, Buchholz (solo) | PRODUKTION. made in germany drei, kestnergesellschaft; Kunstverein Hannover; Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover | Fake Reality, flat 1, Wien, Österreich
- 2016
- Rompeflasche, Centro de Arte Contempoáneo, Quito, Ecuador; H2-Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst, Augsburg
- 2015
- THE GOOD TIMES (are killing me), Kunstverein Hildesheim, Hildesheim | Streiflichter. 50 Jahre Kunstverein Celle, Celle
- 2014
- Paravent, VGH galerie, Hannover (solo) | Ist da wer – Performance in Wolfenbüttel, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel
- 2013
- Was bleibt – Zeitsicht-Preis, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg (solo)
- 2012
- An-eignungen, Kunstverein Langenhagen, Langenhagen | Der Weg II. Import, Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz Braunschweig, Braunschweig (solo)
- 2011
- Alarums and Excursions, Fuse Works at Front Room Gallery, New York City, New York USA .tmp, Phoenix-BB Artspace, Berlin | Der Weg I. Inauguration, Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz, Braunschweig (solo)
- 2010
- If, Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen (solo) | The Phiosophy of Money, Museu da Cidade, Lissabon, Portugal | Lotte Lindner & Till Steinbrenner. We don´t trust you, Oldenburger Kunstverein, Oldenburg (solo) | No Soul for Sale. A Festival of Independents, Tate Modern, London, Großbritannien
- 2009
- Big in Japan, Arcus Studio, Moriya, Japan | Impossible Exchange, Frieze Projects, London, Großbritannien | Oppositions and Dialogues, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover | Financial District, ISCP, New York City, New York, USA
- 2008
- 7 Todsünden, hub:kunst.diskurs e. V., Hannover | ME-1, HBK Braunschweig, Braunschweig (solo) | Vertrautes Terrain, als Teilhaber des Vitalen Archivs von Sandra Kuhne, ZKM Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
- 2007
- Insomnia, Nuit Blanche, Le Générateur, Paris, Frankreich | Kreuz & quer, Ausstellungsprojekt der Kestnergesellschaft, Marktkirche Hannover, Hannover | Pierogi Flatfiling, Artnews Projects, Berlin | Love is Contemporary, Indisciplinarte, Terni, Italien
- 2006
- Heimspiel. 83. Herbstausstellung niedersächsischer Künstler, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover | Tribune, Intschede (solo) | Zu wahr um schön zu sein, D21 Kunstraum Leipzig, Leipzig (solo)
- 2005
- La Galleria dell´Amore, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea Trento, Trient, Italien | (my private) Heroes, Marta Herford, Herford
- 2004
- The Retrospective. Abramovic Class 1997–2004, HBK Braunschweig, Braunschweig | Loop Performance, PS 1, New York City, New York, USA | Inauguración, Fundación NMAC, Montenmedio, Spanien
- 2003
- Performance in der Kunsthalle, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel | Recycling the Future/Vivere Venezia, La Biennale di Venezia, Venedig, Italien
- 2002
- Transart02. Body Basics, Brixen, Italien | Cleaning the House, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spanien
Joseph Zehrer
Neptuns combo
03
About the work
The work conceived for the Braunschweiger Lichtparcours 2020 by Joseph Zehrer, who had already participated in the Braunschweig Parcours in 2004, was a tribute to the underwater sounds of the Oker River. Twelve fishing poles of different lengths stood next to each other at equal intervals on the riverbank. But whereas at many places in Braunschweig they are used to catch fish, here at the end of the twelve fishing rods were attached small, moonlike spheres that shone with various degrees of intensity. Each of these luminous spheres was attached to an underwater microphone, a so-called hydrofon, which transferred the noises of the flowing water, the animals in and on the water, and the boats floating on the Oker to the sphere at the end of the rod. These underwater sounds were divided by a monitor on the hydrofon into deep, mid-range and high frequencies, translated into light signals and, in accordance with the various heights of the spheres, transferred to them. In allusion to a notational system, the spheres were attached to the rods at various heights and moved in the wind. If the Oker was flowing placidly, with little movement in the water, the “moons” emitted a relatively constant, bluish-white light. But if the water was set in motion by fish, frogs, ducks, paddles or boat motors, the spheres shone more brightly and began playing a light composition with the moons. And what happened when there was a summer downpour? Then there was a minor firework display, a symphony of light from the world of underwater sounds.
The work “Neptuns combo” was made possible by the generous support of the VR-Stiftung der Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken in Norddeutschland and the Volksbank BraWo.
The work was realized by the Verein Braunschweiger Bildende Künstlerinnen und Künstler e. V..
About the artist
The paintings, drawings and sculptures by the artist Joseph Zehrer (*1954 in Perbing, lives in Cologne) are characterized by the temporary fixing of the processual, an investigation of the material aspect on the border of immateriality. His conceptual practice plays with temporal systems, combinatory possibilities and their alterations. This gives rise to a serial aesthetic which uses forms in minimalistic ways and transforms the fleeting and transparent into an interior-like display. With his installational and narrational connections of heterogeneous techniques and both appropriated and quoted materials, Joseph Zehrer develops an artistic language in which the individual repeatedly merges with the collective and vice versa. Everything is linked to everything else. Joseph Zehrer is concerned with bringing references and interconnections to light. This interest is also the basis for an intensive involvement in the staging of light and its shaping between functional art- and design-object. His works may be found in the collections of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the mumok in Vienna and the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. His limited-edition chandeliers and lamps form parts of private international collections. In 2019 the Halle für Kunst & Medien in Graz and the Galerie Nagel Draxler in Cologne exhibited works by Joseph Zehrer.
Expositions
- 2019
- Park, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Köln (solo) | Hate Speech. Aggression und Intimität, Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Österreich
- 2018
- Schiff in Schräglage, vom gelben Licht umflirrt, Joseph Zehrer & Gabi Dziuba, Galerie Christine Mayer, München (solo) | Die Zelle, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Schweiz
- 2017
- Lampen, Nagel Draxler Kabinett, Berlin (solo)
- 2016
- Jeder sollte in der Lage sein, Kunst zu erwerben, PROVINZ, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen | TELE-GEN. Kunst und Fernsehen, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
- 2015
- TELE-GEN. Kunst und Fernsehen, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
- 2014
- s/w in Farbe, Kunstverein Leverkusen, Leverkusen (solo)
- 2013
- a marked preference for, frontviews gallery, Berlin
- 2012
- Strom, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Köln (solo) | Paraphantoms, Temporary Gallery, Köln
- 2011
- Hirschfaktor. Die Kunst des Zitierens, ZKM – Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe | Über den Geist in der Materie oder Trenddesign, Kunsthochschule für Medien, Köln
- 2010
- Skulpturenprojekt Art Cologne, Köln
- 2009
- Sucher, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin (solo)
- 2008
- Ernst, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York City, New York, USA (solo)
- 2007
- making of A…, Antiquariat Gundel Gelbert, Köln (solo) | Videonale 11 – Festival für zeitgenössische Videokunst, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn
- 2006
- Alte Kamera, Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn (solo)
- 2005
- bis 2006 Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM – Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
- 2005
- Herbert Fuchs (1987–2005), Kunsthalle Wien | project wall, Wien, Österreich | offshore splinter, Kunsthaus Essen, Essen | Mecklenburgisches Künstlerhaus Schloss Plüschow, Plüschow
- 2004
- „Olymp der Langsamkeit oder Beim Denken vom Blitz getroffen“, Bürgerpark an der Volkswagenhalle, Braunschweig Parcours 2004, Braunschweig
- 2003
- Mamas & Papas, BLIND DATE, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover (solo) | Snow White, Kunstrasen, Galerie Felix Ringel, Düsseldorf
- 2002
- neons, Galerie Christian Nagel, Köln (solo) | Hell, neugerriemschneider, Berlin | Mamas & Papas, 7 Videointerviews (+3), M29, Babette Richter, Köln (solo)
- 2001
- rosa wolken spiegel kinder, Galleria Primo Piano, Rom, Italien (solo) | Televisions. Kunst sieht fern, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien, Österreich
- 2000
- Vom Eindruck zum Ausdruck. Grässlin Collection, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg | Lost Paradise Lost, Kunst und sakraler Raum, Ernst-Barlach-Gesellschaft, Hannover
- 1999
- German Open. Gegenwartskunst in Deutschland, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg | archives laboratoire, Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn | Programm Fernsehen, Schedhalle Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz
- 1998
- Vorhänge – Eingeklemmtes – Melancholiker – Pistolen, Galerie Bleich-Rossi, Graz, Österreich (solo) | liquid beauty, Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg | art sculpture, Basel, Stand Galerie Christian Nagel, Köln
- 1997
- HOME SWEET HOME, Interieurs-Einrichtungen-Möbel, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg
- 1996
- Januar im Herbst, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart (solo)
- 1995
- filmcuts, neugerriemschneider, Berlin
- 1994
- Forum Stadtpark Graz, mit Wilfried Petzi, Graz, Österreich
- 1993
- Die Arena des Privaten, Kunstverein München, München
- 1992
- eine soziale Plastik, mit Hans-Jörg Mayer, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Österreich
- 1991
- 36e Salon de Montrouge, Paris, Frankreich
- 1990
- Fareed Armaly, Cosima von Bonin, Michael Krebber, Christian Philipp Müller, Joseph Zehrer, Galerie Christian Nagel, Köln
FORT & Anna Jandt
Hellsinki
04
About the work
The artist duo FORT, together with founding member Anna Jandt, realized the work “Hellsinki,” a staging that plays with the image of flooded landscapes. Individual models of Braunschweig street lamps were plunged into the Oker “up to the neck,” so that only their luminous heads remained above the water. The inclusion along with the title of customary street lamps that define the surrounding cityscape allowed a play with various narratives: Is the watercourse a long-submerged street that now lies hidden beneath the surface of the water? Or was a streetlamp heading off into the distance when it got stuck while crossing the Oker? The drama resonating in the artwork became lost at the border of credibility and was transformed into a mysterious and epic scene. Especially at night, in the interplay of light and reflective surface of the water, the initially dystopian impression conveyed by “Hellsinki” developed into a poetical association and a romantic aphorism. The title of the work, however, could also be the song title of a grunge band from the 1990s or the title of a documentary film. It is left to the visitors to continue the begun history of “Hellsinki.”
The work “Hellsinki” was realized with generous support from the Arbeitsausschuss Tourismus Braunschweig e.V. and OkerTour.
About the artists
The artist collective FORT was founded in 2008 by Alberta Niemann (*1982 in Bremen), Anna Jandt (*1980 in Bremen) and Jenny Kropp (*1978 in Frankfurt am Main). Since 2013, Jenny Kropp and Alberta Niemann have been working further as an artistic duo. Since then, “Hellsinki” is the first collaboration between FORT and Anna Jandt. The works of FORT are mostly installational and context-related; they function like reminiscences of filmic narratives that frequently leave the visitor perplexed or slightly disquieted. Their repertoire includes simple statements such as “Hellsinki” as well as complex, sculptural spatial installations. Characteristic of their work is black humor and the ease with which they stage deceptive facades, fakes. Alberta Niemann and Jenny Kropp live and work in Berlin. Most recently the Galerie Sies + Höke in Düsseldorf presented an exhibition about the duo. In 2018 the Hamburger Kunstverein dedicated a solo exhibition to them.
Expositions
- 2018
- Sweet Sickness, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf | Night Shift, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg (solo) | Rinnzekete bee bee nnz krr müü, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
- 2017
- Limbo, Langen Foundation, Neuss Leck, Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Schweiz (solo) | I’m not here to make friends, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg | Rumors of Glory, Basis, Frankfurt am Main | Night Shift, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’ art contemporain, Luxemburg (solo)
- 2016
- The School of Art, Science and Technical Classes, Mostyn, Wales, Großbritannien (solo) | Retired, Cremer-Preis 2016, LWL – Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster (solo) | Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Stipendium. Die Ausstellung 2016, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf | Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße, Kunsthalle Bremen
- 2015
- The Daily Sun, Artothek, Köln (solo) | Im Inneren der Stadt, GAK Gesellschaft für aktuelle Kunst, Bremen | Letztes Jahr in Marienbad. Ein Film als Kunstwerk, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen Shift, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (solo)
- 2014
- creatio continua, Haus der Kunst, München Krankheit als Metapher, Kunsthaus, Hamburg | One night stand #1, KW Institute For Contemporary Art Berlin, Berlin
- 2013
- Morgen Letzter Tag, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden (solo) | Only To Melt, Trustingly, Without Reproach, Skuc gallery, Ljubljana, Slowenien | Fremd & Eigen, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Österreich | Risk Society, Moca Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan | (Re-)Production, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Polen | Skizze einer Generation am Ende der Geschichte, Motorenhalle Dresden, Dresden
- 2012
- One On One, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin | The Collective Eye, Centro de Exposiciones Subte, Montevideo, Uruguay
- 2010
- Fort Hatchery Works, FHW Fernheizwerk Neukölln in Kooperation mit KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (solo)
- 2009
- Point Gray, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen (solo) | Hotel Marienbad, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (solo)
Paul Schwer
Die Wärterin
05
About the work
The point of departure for Paul Schwer’s artistic considerations about “Die Wärterin” was the former public urinal at the classicist Steintorbrücke between the Herzog Anton-Ulrich-Museum and the Museum für Photographie. The title is a tribute to the female attendant who in the past operated a tiny sales booth between the men’s and women’s toilets. Paul Schwer duplicated the striking form of the architecture of the front side with transparent, pink-painted plastic that was stretched over the building upon a steel framework carried by several supports. The legible painterly gesture on the plastic panels reacted to sunlight. This gave rise to a color composition in space whose luminous body contrasted with the imposing museum, the Steintorbrücke as a city gate and the two gateway buildings.
The reflections on the upper side of the bridge, illuminated at night, were accompanied by a wild spectacle of light and sound inside the spaces of the former public urinal. The Austrian sound artist Franz Pomassi used the sounds of the materials employed by the artist and thereby gave renewed life to the former public urinal. An additional, rhythmic light-programming that interacted to some extent with the sound-work transformed the space into a virtual club awaiting visitors.
With his intervention, Schwer activated the abandoned site and created an interplay between dynamism and stasis, a play between construction, dismantlement, decay and status quo. Because in view of its apparent fragility, this architecture did not occasion a feeling of homelike coziness. It instead appeared like a contemporary ruin, a space of transition or of temporary transformation which reactivates the surroundings through its play with light.
The work "Die Wärterin" was realized with the generous support of the Richard Borek Stiftung.
About the artist
The sculptural work of Paul Schwer (*1951 in Hornberg in the Black Forest) is influenced by his artistic education as a painter, a perspective that should be considered against the background of his investigation of painterly themes of surface, color, surface of the picture-carrier, light and transparency. One could describe him as a glass painter who uses other means and, over the course of his artistic production, spatializes painting-related concepts, frees himself from the canvas, from two-dimensionality, and subsequently creates three-dimensional color-space pictures that can also be experienced corporeally. Even if they can not be walked into, they nevertheless confront viewers with a certain physical presence. Some matter-of-fact but not unimportant aspects are the facts that his preferred materials such as Plexiglas elements, neon tubes and foils come from the industrial realm and that light and its effects comes from an electrical outlet. Because Schwer, who also worked as a youth- and child-psychiatrist, is also concerned precisely with our human perception and what viewers—sober and/or delusional—make out of it. Of fundamental importance for this development are also the metropolises which, experienced by him as synesthetic intoxication, are involved in a process of constant spatial and architectural change when demolitions and new buildings alter the appearance of cities through their brutal interventions. In 2018 the Museum Goch and the Museum Ratingen presented a comprehensive solo exhibition. In 2019 his works could be seen at such institutions as the Kunstverein Pforzheim.
Expositions
- 2019
- Psifiakos Digital Destruction, Daily Lazy, im Rahmen des Transfer International Athen NRW, Athen, Griechenland | Trockenbau-Twist, Kunstverein Pforzheim, Pforzheim
- 2018
- Von beiden Enden, Museum Goch, Goch; Museum Ratingen, Ratingen (solo) | Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerpen, Belgien | Light Box, Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle (solo)
- 2017
- Signal, Lichtkunst der Sammlung Robert Simon im Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle | Play, Seaside, Sculpture project of the Busan Biennale, Busan | South Korea Imagined homes, Antike und Beton, Parallelprogramm der 6. Thessaloniki-Biennale, Goethe-Institut, Thessaloniki, Griechenland | Krisenraum, Lutherkirche Bonn, Bonn (solo)
- 2016
- SCRIPT, Borussan Contemporary, Istanbul, Türkei Museum = K(x+y) /D, IKOB – Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst Eupen, Eupen, Belgien | Shining Shelter, Clemens Sels Museum, Neuss (solo)
- 2015
- The shape of things to come, Pi Artworks Gallery, London, Großbritannien (solo) | Die Kraft der Idee, Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle | Domestic space/Paper Edition, Zweigstelle Berlin, Berlin | Reset, Clemens-Sels-Museum, Neuss Galerie Karl Pfefferle, München (solo)
- 2014
- rough cuts, mit Claudia Desgranges, MMIII Kunstverein Mönchengladbach GMMIII, (mit Claudia Desgranges) Mönchengladbach (solo) | Konzeption Landschaft, Billboard-Skulpturenprojekt Hoeschplatz, Leopold-Hoesch- Museum, Düren Scheinwerfer 2, Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jahrhundert, Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle | Lichtschlag, permanente Lichtinstallation, IKOB – Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Eupen, Belgien (solo) | Museum Art Plus, Donaueschingen (solo)
- 2013
- Spot on, Borusan Contemperary, Perili Kösk, Istanbul, Türkei (solo) | Spaces, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg Wiedersehen, Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf | home, IKOB – Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Eupen, Belgien (solo) | Travellin` Light, Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen (solo) | Das Fruchtfleisch unserer Architektur, mit Joris van den Moortel, Galerie Pfefferle, München (solo)
- 2012
- Neutrinos, Kunstverein Ulm, Ulm (solo) | Umma – Ummarum, mit Gereon Krebber, Galerie Robert Drees, Hannover (solo) | Reset – Abstract Painting In A Digital World, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Niederlande | Home, Skulpturenprojekt Donaueschingen, Heimattage Baden-Württemberg, Donaueschingen
- 2011
- Morning Margareta, Kunstverein Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven (solo) | Blast (Bildperformance), Kunstakademie Hue und Saigon, Goethe-Institut Vietnam, Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt, Vietnam | Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf (solo)
- 2010
- Kunstmuseum Singen, Singen (solo) | Museum für Kommunikation, Luminale, Frankfurt | plus de lumière, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg | Viermal Malerei aus Deutschland, Kunstmuseum X`ìan, X`ìan China | Galerie Kai Middendorff, Frankfurt (solo)
- 2009
- fugue, Kunstverein Augsburg, Augsburg (solo) | Museum Ludwig, Koblenz (solo) | Skulpturenprojekt Art Cologne, Köln Neulicht am See, Nachtaktives Internationales Kunstprojekt, Maschsee Hannover, Hannover | home not at home, mit Andrea Ostermeyer, Kulturstiftung Schloss Agathenburg, Agathenburg (solo)
Tim Etchells
IN THE TREES
06
About the work
On the wall segment of the base of the Löwenwall facing the Oker, the British artist Tim Etchells realized the writing “THE SOUND YOU ARE FRIGHTENED OF IS ONLY THE WIND IN THE TREES.” This work shone in letters approximately 50 cm high and over a length of 30 meters with various intensities of illumination. In interplay with moving branches and leaves, the writing could only partially be seen from the river side. Thus during the movement on the water, other words could always be read, giving rise to new associations: SOUND OF THE WIND IN THE TREES or YOU ARE FRIGHTENED OF THE TREES. Only when visitors walked along the wall segment was the entire, illuminated sentence legible; it read like an assertion, an extract from a poem or fairy tale attempting to tell a soothing story that is supposed to bring assurance and certainty, to convey calm. Etchells thereby entered into a special, playful dialogue with this historical site that the architect Peter Joseph Krahe reshaped into the Löwenwall in 1820. Walls such as this used to offer protection in order to reduce fears and allow undisturbed sleep. Today walls are built for other reasons: to reduce noise or—as in earlier times—out of fear of supposed foreigners. And while on the one hand the work of art reflected upon the park situation with its many trees and the rustling of their leaves, it simultaneously included the noises from the busy Kurt-Schumacher-Straße. This not only gave rise to associations with current discussions about climate protection or the relationship between environmental concerns and traffic management, but also promoted an investigation of the history of the city. Like many of Tim Etchells’ works. “IN THE TREES” was ambiguous and established several narrational levels. In its ambiguity, the work created a stimulating aesthetic break that went further and also could be associatively and psychologically experienced in poetical, political and current discourse.
The work “IN THE TREES” was realized with the generous support of BS|ENERGY and SE|BS.
In order to make possible a sustainable Lichtparcours 2020, BS|ENERGY for the first time provided the event with green electricity at no charge. Julien Mounier, chairman of the board of BS|ENERGY, explains: “The fact that this year, in spite of difficult circumstances, the Lichtparcours can take place is a strong signal for Braunschweig. We are all the more pleased to support the event with green electricity and as the sponsor of a light-object.”
About the artist
Tim Etchells (*1962 in Stevenage, Great Britain) is an artist, writer and author of performances and plays. In addition to his work as a freelance artist in the areas of video, performance, photography, installation, text-project and literature, he is also the co-founder of the performance group Forced Entertainment (established in 1984) and works collaboratively on various theatrical projects with other artists, choreographers and photographers. Since 2008 his artistic practice has been concentrated on the presentation of language in its various expressive shapes. Of fundamental importance here is the use of LED and neon tubes with which he (mis-)shapes words and sentence fragments in a playful and poetical manner and thereby brings to the fore the abstraction and contradictoriness of language. On the other hand, attention is paid to the formal clarity, speed and liveliness of mutual communication with which images, stories and ideas are conveyed. Many of his works are conceived for public spaces and thereby directly address people in their vicinity. Etchells thereby creates poetic moments of pause and reflection amid the hustle and bustle of city life. Tim Etchells lives in London and teaches at Lancaster University as a professor for performance. His works could be seen most recently at the Kunsthalle Mainz and the Galerie Patrick Ebensperger in Berlin.
Expositions
- 2019
- Something Common, Ebensperger Rhomberg, Salzburg, Österreich | Between Us, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz | A Temporary Sadness/A Beautiful Silence, Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin (solo)
- 2018
- In So Many Words, Lân fan taal, European Capital of Culture, Leeuwarden, Niederlande
- 2017
- Was sind die Wolken? (What Are the Clouds?), Kunstgebäude Stuttgart, Stuttgart | Emergency, One Day Performance as part of Savvy Radio in Documenta 14, Kassel | Together Apart, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig (solo)
- 2016
- Eyes Looking, video installation commissioned as part of New York Times Square Arts, New York City, New York, USA | The Give & Take, Tate Exchange Residency, Tate Modern, London, Großbritannien
- 2015
- And for the Rest (Basel), Poster installation project in public spaÖffentlichter Raum Basel, Basel, Schweiz | The Facts on the Ground, VITRINE Gallery, London, Großbritannien (solo)
- 2014
- Where the Heart Is, Algernon Firth Building, Leeds, Großbritannien | Natalie Gorgeous, Subway Gallery, Middlesborough, Großbritannien
- 2013
- A Stitch in Time, Permanent public space LED commission for Lumiere, Derry-Londonderry, Großbritannien | A Buddy for a Text, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Österreich | Acts of Voicing, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2012
- Acts of Voicing, Stuttgart Kunstverein, Stuttgart | Will Be…, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt | Empty Stages, mit Hugo Glendinning, Festival D’Avignon, Avignon, Frankreich (solo)
- 2011
- From Afar, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Polen (solo) | For Real!, Kunst Halle St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Schweiz
- 2010
- Over the Table, Aiichi Trienale, Nagoya, Japan Fog Game, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen (solo) | Tim Etchells, Gasworks, London, Großbritannien (solo)
- 2009
- The Malady of Writing, MACBA, Barcelona, Spanien | What A Wonderful World, Goteborg Biennale, Göteborg, Schweden | DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, Großbritannien
- 2008
- Fressen Oder Fliegen, Hebbel Theater, Berlin Manifesta 7, Rovereto, Italien| Wait Here..., Butcher’s Project Space, London, Großbritannien (solo)
- 2007
- Long Relay, mit Adrian Heathfield, Serpentine Gallery, London, Großbritannien | Drama Queens, Skulptur Projekte Münster, Münster
- 2006
- Neon, Exit Art, New York City, New York USA | Project 2023, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, Slowenien | Protections, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Österreich | Action Adventure, Canada Gallery, New York City, New York, USA
- 2005
- Listen, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Niederlande | Money For Nice, mit Vlatka Horvat, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Großbritannien
- 2004
- Group Dynamics, Part of Zagreb – Cultural Capital 3000 Platform, Zagreb, Kroatien | Institute of Failure, mit Matthew Goulish, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois USA
- 2003
- La Guerre, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Frankreich
- 2002
- Institute of Failure, mit Matthew Goulish, Saatchi Headquarters, London, Großbritannien
- 2001
- Void Spaces, Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff, Großbritannien
- 2000
- Surrender Control, ICA – Institute for Contemporary Art, London, Großbritannien | Microwave Festival, Hong Kong, China ArtFuture Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
Nevin Aladağ
Color-floating 1 & Color-floating 2
07
About the work
For the Lichtparcours 2020, Nevin Aladağ presented a form of her work series “Colors” that was further developed for an outside space: two aluminum forms out of variously sized, plate-like elements arranged atop each other were covered with colored and structured tights. The silky shimmer made them appear delicate and sensitive; but the extreme tension of the material stretched in the intermediate spaces simultaneously demonstrated its tough resistance.
These sculptural light-objects with a skin of synthetic, industrially produced nylon tights were reminiscent of the design of typical lamps that create a comfortable atmosphere, especially in living spaces. The mood created by light and lamps exceeds the lamp as a source of light. Through the shifting of our perception of a space clearly defined as either interior or exterior, the public space is revealed to be a place where private elements are increasingly represented and thereby become part of a social and political collaboration. The private becomes public. Nevin Aladağ modified the image of private interiors and played with the vision of a colorfully shining, private, evening image of the city which, also in reference to the work “Colors” with American orthography, alluded to issues of cultural origin, gender and its attributions. Contrasting with the white, glaring light of customary street lamps was the colorful, diverse light of Aladağ’s light-objects shimmering through the variously-colored pairs of tights.
The work “Color-floating 1 & Color-floating 2” was realized with the generous support of the Appelhagen Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater PartGmbB.
About the artist
Working with multimedia, Nevin Aladağ (*1972 in Van, Turkey) raises questions about cultural origin and identity. She is concerned, not with making accusations or demonstrating a loss, but instead with bringing to light different stereotypical roles and strategies for perceiving oneself or others, for the purpose of drawing attention to certain preconceived expectations in society. The artist uses sculptural, photographic or performative elements to shed light on meanings and connections that tend to be disregarded in our daily life and our diverse society. The formal-aesthetic elaboration frequently triggers an impulse to act in the viewer more than a tendency towards passive reception. By detaching, expanding, sampling or synchronizing everyday elements from their customary contexts, the artist brings seemingly foreign lifestyles into contact with her own cultural identity—not without being self-critically confronted with her own role in this game. Nevin Aladağ lives and works in Berlin. Her works were displayed most recently at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin and at the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover.
Expositions
- 2019
- Big Orchestra, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt | And Berlin Will Always Need You. Kunst, Handwerk und Konzept Made in Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin | Water Lines, The High Line, New York City, New York, USA
- 2018
- Nevin Aladağ. Teil 2: Social Fabric, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (solo) | Nevin Aladağ. Teil 1: Best Friends, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (solo) | Honey, I Rearranged the Collection, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (solo) | Worlds Otherwise Hidden, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
- 2017
- Nevin Aladağ. Fünf Steine Spiel, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Österreich (solo) | Viva Arte Viva, La Biennale di Venezia, 57th International Art Exhibition, Venedig, Italien | Learning from Athens, documenta 14, Kassel, Kassel und Athen, Griechenland | @G: Nevin Aladağ. Traces, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Schweiz
- 2016
- Nevin Aladağ, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Österreich (solo) | Wolfsburg Unlimited, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
- 2015
- Performance Parcours, Art International Istanbul, Istanbul, Türkei | Repairing the City, Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg
- 2014
- Marsch, Rückwand, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Schweiz (solo) | A House of Several Stories, Signal – Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö, Schweden
- 2013
- Rehearsal of the Real, Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, Kunstverein Nürnberg, Nürnberg
- 2012
- Nevin Aladağ, Rampa Gallery, Istanbul, Türkei (solo) | Present Unlimited, Fabrika 126, Sofia, Bulgarien | The F-Word, Shedhalle, Zürich, Schweiz
- 2011
- Move. Kunst und Tanz seit den 60ern, Haus der Kunst, München | Eyes Looking for a Head to Inhabit, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Polen Diaspora, Jüdisches Museum, Berlin
- 2010
- Pattern Matching, Wentrup Projects, Berlin (solo) | A Dream ... But not yours: Contemporary Art from Türkei, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA
- 2009
- What keeps Mankind alive?, The 11. International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Türkei | Who killed the painting?, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen
- 2008
- Shifting Indentities, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz | Nevin Aladağ, Outlet, Istanbul, Türkei (solo) | 8th Taipei Biennial,Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2007
- Gegenstände/Handlungsformen, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe All Over Rhythm, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Schweiz (solo)
- 2006
- Gemeinschaft des Augenblicks, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin (solo) | Indirect speech, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel Asterismo, Museo Tamayo, Mexiko City, Mexiko
- 2005
- Fokus Istanbul, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin Coolhunters, ZKM, Karlsruhe
- 2004
- Rendez-Vous, Centre d ́Art Contemporain, Lyon, Frankreich | Love it or leave it, Cetinje Biennale, Cetinje, Montenegro
- 2003
- Freeze – Spin, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (solo)
- 2002
- Fluxus und die Folgen, Wiesbaden
- 2001
- German Leitkultur, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel
- 1999
- Nevin Aladağ, FriArt Centre d’Art Contemporain, Fribourg, Schweiz (solo)
Julian Turner, Florian Pfaffenberger & Andreas Harrer
Bar du Bois
08
About the work
The collective concept of the Bar du Bois (“Bar out of Wood”) is an artistic idea that has been continuously expanded by the three artists Julian Turner, Andreas Harrer and Florian Pfaffenberger since 2013. On the one hand, the Bar du Bois is a non-commercial off-space in Vienna that is jointly operated by the three artists; on the other hand, it is a bar that is specially adapted to each exhibition space and whose dimensions and appearance are different each time. Together with the works of other artists, the three turn their bar into a social place behind which is a polymorphous artist group and in which both artistic and curatorial aspects are staged in an experimental manner. The furnishings of the bar were built and operated by the invited artists. All the works therein may be read both as artworks and as functional elements in the bar. Sculptors, painters and photographers together created a site where intoxication is praised. Because ultimately the bar was also the symbol and site of an excessive artistic life lived by the Bohemian figure, who could only bear his existence weighed down by isolation and non-recognition while in a state of intoxication. Art-historical predecessors can be found not only with Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Max Beckmann, Martin Kippenberger or Jörg Immendorf, but also with contemporary artists such as Inken Reinert or the artist duo Peles Empire, who repeatedly staged bar situations where the focus was on unrestrained togetherness. Thus the idea of the Bar du Bois is animated by a collective concept that is concerned, not with the establishment of artistic authorship, but instead with the staging of an informal, provisional form in which different crafts are involved, similarly to the construction of a house. This gives rise to an absurd atmosphere nourished by a mixture of styles and the shifting of codes.
The work “Bar du Bois” was realized with the generous support of GÖHMANN Rechtsanwälte • Notare.
About the artists
Since 2013, the Bar du Bois has been operated by Andreas Harrer, Florian Pfaffenberger and Julian Turner as an off-space in downtown Vienna. Over a period of two years, nearly forty exhibitions and performances were realized with many participants. Through constantly new collaborations with artists from the international art scene in Vienna, the Bar du Bois varies its presentation from station to station. All three initiators work as artists on their own projects. In 2019 a bar was already set up at the Belvedere 21 in Vienna and at the Galerie Kargl Permanent, likewise in Vienna.
Expositions
- 2019
- Über das Neue, Belvedere 21, Wien, Österreich | Permanent Defcon, mit Arbeiten von Sophie Gogl, Julia Kolbus und Astrid Wagner, Georg Kargl Permanent, Wien, Österreich
- 2018
- die neue Linie, Bar du Bois, mit Arbeiten von Katrine Bobek, Till Megerle, Lukas Posch, and Paulina Semkowicz, Wien, Österreich
- 2016
- Bar du Bois, Galerie der Stadt Schwaz, Bar-Installation mit Roy F. Culbertson III, Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin, Melanie Ebenhoch, Ann Muller und Cecilie Norgaard, mit Arbeiten von Anna Barfuss, Kamilla Bischof, Julia Haller, Michael Horsky, Anna Ida Pezzot, Julia Kolbus, Dominik Louda, Beatrice Marchi, Saskia Te Nicklin, Matthias Noggler, Alex Ruthner, Alexandra Wanderer, Kathrin Wojtowicz, Julia Znoj
- 2015
- Bar du Bois, mit Arbeiten von Birke Gorm, Jürgen Kleft, Dominik Louda, Viktor Lundgaard, Evelyn Plaschg, Liesl Raff, Nora Rekade, Parallel Vienna, Alte Post, Wien, Österreich | 20 Jahre Halle für Kunst, mit Arbeiten von Roy Culbertson, Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin, Julian Feritsch, Birke Gorm, Elisabeth Greinecker, Sophie Hammer, Julia Kolbus, Viktor Lundgaard, Matthias Noggler, Florian Pfaffenberger, Nora Rekade, Anne Speier, Astrid Wagner, Dario Wokurka, Catharina Wronn und Min Yoon, Halle für Kunst Lüneburg, Lüneburg
- 2014
- Bar du Bois IV, mit Tatjana Danneberg, Ann Muller, Min Yoon, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Wien, Österreich
- 2012
- Bar du Bois, Klasse Megerle, mit Arbeiten von Myriam Khouri, Benjamin Kiu, Johannes Frauenschuh, Florian Neumayr, Anastasiya Yarovenko, Elisabeth Greinecker, Marcin Zarzeka, Julian Turner, Dario Wokurka, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Wien, Österreich
Benjamin Bergmann
Acqua Alta
09
About the work
Inspired by the old writing LIDO at the Bunker at the Kalenwall, which refers to the Braunschweig Film Theater opened in 1957, and by the history of Braunschweig as a medieval city traversed by canals, Benjamin Bergmann narratively combined in his work “Acqua Alta” (“High Water”) two sites that would seem at first glance to have little to do with each other: on the one hand Venice, a city threatened with destruction and exposed to climatic changes and economic interests; and on the other, Braunschweig on the Oker. The artist placed in this work a white rubble container over whose edges water flowed on one side and at whose sides—similarly to a fountain—water sprayed. The bodies of vessels displace water, whether they are cruise ships or rafts. Likewise, the container redirected the energy of several cubic meters of water and thereby had a direct influence on the water level of the Oker, which is regulated by barrage dams. At nightfall the interior of the water-filled container, which normally contains carpets, bulky refuse, wood and industrial waste, was illuminated and thereby energetically charged. There arose an impression that it was a matter here of the entrance to a space, deep within the Earth, that shone from within. In its reception, “Aqua Alta”* created an ambivalent interplay between poetical horror and threatening beauty and pointed towards clearly perceptible interconnections between geographic and climatic changes.
The work “Acqua Alta” was realized through the generous support of the ALBA Braunschweig GmbH.
The artist would like to express their gratitude particularly to the team of ALBA Braunschweig, especially Matthias Fricke, Ralf Peterke and Ulf Wolters, who made the project possible with their enthusiastic commitment and active support.
*Aqua Alta is the name of the annual international fair for flood protection, climate impact and catastrophe management.
About the artist
The space-encompassing sculptures and installations of Benjamin Bergmann (*1968 in Würzburg) are most often preceded by spatial studies in which he observes the specific characteristics of the exhibition sites and then reflects them in his art. Many of his works are designed for public spaces. His initial practice, in which performances and actions played an essential role, gave rise to his sculptural works, in which there are formal and conceptual allusions to performative and actionistic elements. For example, when he installs a basketball onto a high-rise building at the edge of its facade (“Never Ever,” 2012). He creates spatial images into which recipients are physically and mentally integrated. His creative output is characterized by the playfulness with which he evokes a rupture between the real and artificial worlds and then weaves them back together in his own way. More often than not, this is combined with an absurdist humor: “What is appealing to me about absurdity is the ongoing effect of confusion. At some point you notice that you are considering whether it might be the case that the absurd possesses more reality than does reality itself.” (quote: Benjamin Bergmann) Today Benjamin Bergmann lives and works in Munich. From 1997 to 2001 he was part of the performance group GMAM; from 1999 to 2001 he belonged to the music/performance group Club le Bomb. His last solo exhibition could be seen at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. In 2018 the Kunstverein Konstanz dedicated a solo exhibition to his works.
Expositions
- 2019
- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover (solo)
- 2018
- stillleben, Kunstverein Konstanz, Konstanz (solo)
- 2016
- A Perfect Match, Pinakothek der Moderne, München | Realtime – The Art of Slowness, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn Emscherkunst | Benjamin Bergmann, abc, Berlin (solo)
- 2015
- Sculpture 2015, Sculpture Museum, Marl | I Got to Have One of Those, Lenbachhaus, München
- 2014
- Tatort Paderborn, Paderborn Top Left Bottom Right, Galerie Jochen Hempel, Leipzig (solo)
- 2013
- Le Noveau Bureau, Quartier des Spectacle, Montreal, Kanada (solo) | Visions, Marta Herford, Herford
- 2012
- In The Space of the Beholder – Contemporary Sculpture, Pinakothek der Moderne, München | Benjamin Bergmann – Art Prize City of Nordhorn, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn (solo)
- 2011
- Benjamin Bergmann – Artist of the Year, VHV Versicherungsgruppe, Hannover (solo) | Light in Darkness, Western Bridge, Seattle, Washington, USA
- 2010
- Dancing on the Ceiling, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Troy, New York, USA | repair, Ars Electronica 2010, Linz, Österreich | ... how long does it take to breake?, AL Gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russland (solo)
- 2008
- deep down bright day, Pinakothek der Moderne, München (solo)
Anselm Reyle
She will o the wind
10
About the work
The contribution of the artist Anselm Reyle to the Lichtparcours 2020 was a 3D Informal consisting of colorfully shining neon tubes hanging from the Drachenbrücke in the Bürgerpark. The artist is known for his intensively colored, graphic installations which he develops specifically for each respective exhibition site, working outdoors for the first time in the framework of the Lichtparcours 2020. The neon elements themselves were reminiscent of a form of urban ornamentation that is in the process of disappearing. Just as illuminated commercial advertising with elaborate, individual constructions of neon lights used to mark the cityscape, today elaborately animated LEDs or light boxes may be found. Thus neon advertising as a display of products today oscillates between nostalgic relic and cool retro strategy. The three-dimensional, abstract light drawings by Anselm Reyle referred to this aesthetic of commercial information. The locating of the work in the Bürgerpark instead of in the downtown area with its displays and advertisements enhanced the contrast and impact of this strangely displaced statement that does not seek to sell anything. The harmonious interplay of the various colors, forms and sizes, which in some cases seemed to flow into each other, was reminiscent of a synesthetic realization of a musical piece or a poem.
The work “She will of the wind” was realized with the generous support of the FIBAV-Unternehmensgruppe and the Floßstation.
About the artist
The oeuvre of Anselm Reyle (*1970 in Tubingen) comprises painting, sculpture and installations in which he formally translates materials such as foils, car paint, construction- and electrical waste into abstract works. This found pieces, which have been detached from their functional utilization, are so distorted and transformed by Reyle that a shift of perception occurs through an altered scaling and materiality. The various levels frequently become shining surfaces whose aesthetic presence evolves into deliberate provocation of the classic cliché and notion of kitsch. The adaptation of various, in some cases contradictory art-historical styles (e.g. Minimal Art and Informalism) and formats (such as the solitary panel painting) leads to a perplexing discrepancy between content and form. In their perfection, Reyle’s pictures exert a seductive appeal; but they also create skepticism and distance, a doubt as to the seriousness of this statement. Rightly so. Because the works or serial work groups aiming at visual stimulation, in which idealized art history is ironically combined with design and postmodern impetus, constitute the artist’s endeavor “to get to the heart of clichés with regard to taste and to imbue them with new life.” (quote: Anselm Reyle)
Since 2009 Anselm Reyle has been a professor for painting/drawing at the HFBK Hamburg.
Most recently, his works could be seen at the Almine Reich Gallery in New York and at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin.
Expositions
- 2020
- Another Day To Go Nowhere, König Tokio, Tokio, Japan
- 2018
- By Fire, Ceramic Works, Almine Rech Gallery, New York City, New York, USA | Hello World. Revision einer Sammlung, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
- 2017
- Laguna Sunrise, Almine Rech Gallery, Brüssel, Belgien (solo) | Eight Miles High, König Galerie, Berlin (solo) | Der Duchamp-Effekt. Readymade, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen
- 2016
- Keramik, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (solo) | Franz West – ARTISTCLUB, 21er Haus, Belvedere, Wien, Österreich | Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection – From Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer, Yokohama Museum of Art, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan
- 2015
- Streifenbilder, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (solo) | NOW-ism: Abstraction Today, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio, USA | Pliage/Fold, Gagosian Gallery, Paris, Frankreich
- 2013
- Electric Spirit, Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moskau, Russland (solo) | Neon – Vom Leuchten in der Kunst, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt | BubeDameKönigAss. Martin Eder, Michael Kunze, Anselm Reyle, Thomas Scheibitz, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
- 2012
- Mystic Silver, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (solo) | Anselm Reyle, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Taipeh, Taiwan (solo) | Stolen Fantasy (mit Franz West), Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (solo) | Looking Back for the Future, Kunsthalle Zürich, Schweiz
- 2011
- Anselm Reyle, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Dänemark (solo) | Little Cody, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (solo) | Taste – The Good, the Bad and the Really Expensive, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
- 2010
- Anselm Reyle, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea, Südkorea (solo) | Bilder über Bilder. Diskursive Malerei von Albers bis Zobernig aus der Daimler Kunstsammlung, Mumok Wien, Wien, Österreich
- 2009
- Monochrome Age, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, New York, USA (solo) | Acid Mothers Temple, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen (solo)
- 2008
- Yayoi Kusama, Steven Parrino, Anselm Reyle, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, New York, USA | Räume 1, Bunker, Boros Collection, Berlin | Is it tomorrow yet?, Singapore Art Museum, Singapur, Singapur
- 2007
- The 5th Dream, The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow, Großbritannien (solo) | The Artist’s Dining Room: Manfred Kuttner, Anselm Reyle, Thomas Scheibitz, Level 2 Gallery, Tate Modern, London, Großbritannien | Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century, The New Museum, New York City, New York, USA
- 2006
- Valley of the Snake Ladies, Andersen’s Contemporary, Kopenhagen, Dänemark (solo) | ARS NOVA, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz (solo) | Painting in Tongues, MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Kalifornien, USA
- 2005
- Life Enigma, Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin (solo) | Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM – Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
- 2004
- Licht und Farbe, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (solo) | Formalismus. Moderne Kunst, heute, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg | It‘s all an Illusion. A Sculpture Project, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Schweiz
- 2003
- Elephant Juice (o sexo entre amigos), kurimanzutto, Mexico City, Mexico | deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main
Johannes Wohnseifer
No Sleep
11
About the work
The contribution entitled “No Sleep” by Johannes Wohnseifer for the Lichtparcours 2000 took no-longer-used street lamps previously set up in the urban space of Braunschweig and put them in a sort of artificial sleep. With the help of a light regulator, a simulation lasting eight hours was created with regard to the various phases of sleep, consisting of waking periods and REM (rapid-eye-movement) phases. Depending on the sleeping rhythm in which they found themselves, the street lamps glowed with differing intensity and regularity. Their placement in a shelf construction was reminiscent of a loft bed such as is familiar from youth hostels or military barracks. Wohnseifer played with observing objects during the “sleep.” The absurd image of street lamps sleeping at night in the park stood in contrast to the customary perspective in which they are said to be “resting” during the day and “working” at night.
The work “No Sleep” was realized with the generous support of Max Kroker Bauunternehmug GmbH & Co.
About the artist
Johannes Wohnseifer (*1967 in Cologne) engages in an associative play with material, format and content to create artistic works whose smooth, shiny aesthetic echoes the techniques of the advertising industry and thereby challenges its propagandistic impetus. He is concerned with bringing to light the core of a marketing image with its myths and stereotypes. In his video works, photographs, sculptures and installations, he often uses the same staging strategies as in the advertising industry. These adaptations have a contrasting function through a break in tiny details that reduce the core, the brand, the company, the fame to a shell and present them as a reproducible surface. Johannes Wohnseifer lives in Cologne; since 2007 he has been a professor for painting and sculpture at the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne. His works are represented in numerous collections, including the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Christian Boros Collection in Berlin and the Julia Stoschek Collection in Düsseldorf. His works were on display most recently at KÖNIG LONDON in London (2019) and at the Marta Herford in Herford (2017).
Expositions
- 2019
- I will be dead, KÖNIG LONDON, London, Großbritannien
- 2017
- Revolution in Rotgelbblau _ Gerrit Rietveld und die zeitgenössische Kunst, Marta Herford, Herford | Class & Class Conflict, Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, Kalifornien, USA (solo)
- 2016
- Head & Shoulders, mit Michael Sailstorfer, Galleri K, Oslo, Norwegen (solo) | BRD, Haubrok Foundation, Berlin
- 2015
- Artists Against AIDS, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn | Honey & Money, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin (solo)
- 2014
- Johannes Wohnseifer, Plakate 1994–2014, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln (solo)
- 2013
- Nur was nicht ist, ist möglich, Fläche und Raum in der Malerei der Gegenwart, Museum Folkwang, Essen | European Kunsthalle, Bregenz, Österreich | Alienation/Estrangement, Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul, Türkei
- 2011
- Kompass, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin Holes Filled With Time, Almine Rech, Brüssel, Belgien (solo) | ReMap, Athen, Griechenland
- 2010
- White Men, Bulletin Board Program, State University of New York, New York, USA | The Thin Commandments, Isolation Room, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (solo)
- 2009
- The Porn Identity. Expeditionen in die Dunkelzone, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien, Österreich
- 2008
- Dressing the Message, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover | Vertrautes Terrain – Aktuelle Kunst in und über Deutschland, ZKM, Karlsruhe
- 2007
- Gesellschaftsbilder. Zeitgenössische Malerei, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg | Beneath the Underdog, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, New York, USA | Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, Moskau, Russland
- 2006
- The Triumph of Painting, Part Five, Saatchi Gallery, London, Großbritannien | New Alphabet, Casey Kaplan, New York City, New York, USA (solo) | 12 Hour Museum, AIT, Tokio, Japan
- 2005
- Post Notes, ICA – Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Großbritannien | Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM – Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
- 2004
- CONSUM, talk´n show, Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen | Firewall, Ausstellungshalle für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Münster; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
- 2003
- Intervention, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, (solo) | Precise Models, Remont, Belgrad, Serbien | Deutschemalereizweitausenddrei, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main
- 2002
- Total Überzogen, Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg Kunst nach Kunst, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen | Prophets of Boom, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
- 2001
- KölnSkulptur 3, Skulpturenpark, Köln Ars Viva 01/02, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln, Köln | Yokohama Triennale 2001, Yokohama, Japan
- 2000
- Deep Distance, Kunsthalle, Basel, Schweiz | Der Stadtstreicher, 2 Centre d'Art Contemporain, Genf, Schweiz (solo) | Sneakers, Museum für Design der 60er & 70er Jahre, Köln
- 1999
- German Open, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg | Museum, Projektraum, Museum Ludwig, Köln (solo) | Wohin kein Auge reicht, Triennale der Photographie, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg
- 1998
- Peter Mertes Stipendium, mit Monika Baer, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (solo)
- 1997
- someone else with my fingerprints, David Zwirner Gallery, New York City, New York, USA; Galerie Hauser & Wirth, Zürich, Schweiz
- 1996
- MOMAS, Guard Museum of Modern Art, Syros, Griechenland (solo)
- 1995
- Smells Like Vinyl, Roger Merians Gallery, New York, USA | Spindy b, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (solo)
- 1994
- Grid Painting With Two Holes, Kunstverein Kippenberger im Museum Fridericianum, Kassel (solo)
Brigitte Kowanz
Light Steps
12
About the work
The “Light Steps” are a central work in the oeuvre of Brigitte Kowanz. For the Lichtparcours 2020, the light-artist presented the “Light Steps” for the first time in an outdoor setting. White-shining neon tubes that were hung successively behind each other at regular intervals and heights brought to mind a stairway. But where does it lead? The “Light Steps” raise questions about the degree to which light can be, simulate, delimit and exclude architecture and space. On the one hand, the tubes mark out a coherent form; on the other hand, visitors can also penetrate it and recognize constantly new forms from different points of view. If one were to consider the work from the perspective of gestalt theory, then the stairway, initially appearing as a totality, would become a line, a spatialized drawing, a space per se. Is it a space which opens the surrounding area on the basis of its architectural structure, which has a delimiting function and responds to the existing (exhibition-)space with a real or virtual space? And is it not light that first allows us to recognize space, form and colors at all? Brigitte Kowanz turns her attention to all these issues in her light installations, with which she endeavors to imbue impalpable light in its lucidity, transparency and immateriality with a form which makes it clear that the phenomenon of light is more than a light-object.
The work “Light Steps” was realized with the generous support of the Braunschweigische Stiftung, the Braunschweigische Landessparkasse and the Öffentliche Versicherung Braunschweig.
About the artist
With Brigitte Kowanz (*1957 in Vienna), light becomes both language and code. She is concerned not only with formal-aesthetic aspects; more fundamentally, her investigation of light begins with physics, with the attempt to understand from an artistic perspective light as electromagnetic waves or radiation. For this reason as well, the artist concentrates on work with so-called white light. In addition to real space, the virtual data-space is considered by the artist to be a cosmos that she pervades by the sculptural inclusion of Morse code and key data from local internet companies. Since 1997, she has held a professorship for transmedial art at the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. Permanent installations are on display at such institutions as the Dorotheum in Vienna, the Europäische Zentralbank in Luxembourg and the Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie in Mainz. In 2018 the Albertina in Vienna dedicated a solo exhibition to Brigitte Kowanz, as did the Kunstmuseum Celle.
Expositions
- 2020
- Brigitte Kowanz. Lost under the Surface, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Schweiz
- 2019
- Brigitte Kowanz, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
- 2018
- Brigitte Kowanz, Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle (solo) | Contemporary Art, Albertina, Wien, Österreich (solo)
- 2017
- Österreichischer Pavillon, 57. Internationale Kunstausstellung, La Biennale di Venezia, Venedig, Italien | Open Codes – Leben in digitalen Welten, ZKM, Karlsruhe
- 2015
- Spot an! Lichtkunst von Flavin, Kowanz, Morellet, Nannucci u. a., Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm | Light Show, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate | Light Show, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australien
- 2014
- Light Show, Auckland Art Gallery, Neuseeland |Die andere Seite. Spiegel und Spiegelungen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Belvedere, Orangerie, Wien, Österreich
- 2013
- Lightshow, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, Großbritannien | Transmissions, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York City, New York, USA (solo)
- 2012
- Neon – La materia Iluminosa dell`arte, MACRO, Museo d`Arte Contemporanea, Rom, Italien
- 2011
- in light of light, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Österreich (solo)
- 2010
- Now I See, MUMOK – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Wien, Österreich (solo)
- 2008
- Intervention, Oberes Belvedere, Wien, Österreich (solo)
- 2005
- Postmediale Konditionen, Joanneum, Graz, Österreich
- 2001
- Austrian Contemporary Art Exhibition, ShanghaiArt Museum, Shanghai, China
- 2000
- Art/light, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Schweiz | Farbe zu Licht, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Schweiz
- 1997
- Magie der Zahlen, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart
- 1996
- Kunst aus Österreich 1896–1996, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn
- 1995
- Self Construction, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig – Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Wien, Österreich; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin
- 1993
- Brigitte Kowanz, Wiener Secession, Wien, Österreich (solo)
- 1990
- Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australien
- 1989
- Prospect, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main
- 1987
- Biennale, São Paolo, Brasilien
- 1984
- Aperto, Biennale di Venezia 1984, Venedig, Italien
- 1981
- Heute, Westkunst, Köln
- 1980
- Nuove Imagine, Triennale, Mailand, Italien
Sven-Julien Kanclerski
stranded drifter, drifter lane, billboard
13
About the work
For the Lichtparcours 2020, Sven-Julien Kanclerski embarked upon an artistic investigation involving material and focused on the formal possibilities of the recycling process. At the center of the present work was an interest in the subsequent artistic processing of already-used plastics and its relation to the aesthetic of pop culture. For Kanclerski, the thematic approach to the formulation of plastic as a sculptural material arose out of his observations of everyday life. The work “stranded drifter” was put together out of a patchwork of various recycled materials. The term “drifter” is applied, among other things, to waterproof shopping bags. So the work also makes reference to scattered, stranded items of plastic. With this work in the framework of the Lichtparcours, he was concerned with giving a second form to the plastic, with its half-life and its aesthetic characteristics. Objects lit from within could be seen in various sizes at three locations in the southwestern diversions of the Oker River. In addition to the form already displayed in the model exhibition, which was variously interpreted as a buoy, breakwater and mysterious space capsule, Kanclerski marked a few hundred meters further the supposedly corresponding “drifter lane” on the Oker and then, a little further to the north, disrupted this fictional narrative with a further abstract form (“billboard”).
The works “stranded drifter”, “drifter lane” and “billboard” were realized with the generous support of HOFFMANN Maschinen- und Apparatebau GmbH.
About the artist
The sculptural approach of Sven-Julien Kanclerski (*1988 in Langenhagen) is based on his interest in architectural and graphic forms that adapt to spatial conditions while simultaneously reformulating them. It is often pronouncedly corporeal structures which activate the entire volume or dissolve the existing architecture. Construction sites, industrial wasteland or architectural, material textures and structures serve as his source of inspiration. He likewise bases sculptural interpretations on moments, recorded photographically from everyday life, in which he collects surfaces and constructions. The modular element that also provides the playful element of his works is essential to many of his works. Sven-Julien Kanclerski studied at the HBK Braunschweig with Björn Dahlem and Thomas Rentmeister; he received his diploma in 2018 and completed his studies as a master pupil in 2019. He lives in Hanover. Most recently, his work could be seen at the Centrespace Gallery in Bristol and at the Master Pupil Exhibition Hannover Rück SE.
Expositions
- 2019
- Elsewhere is here: Anderswo ist hier, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, Großbritannien | Meisterschüler 2019, Hannover Rück SE, Hannover
- 2018
- i take the turtle one, Square Gallery Chelsea College, London, Großbritannien (solo) | ACHT, Kubus Gallerie, Hannover Fremd-Anamnesis, Stillpoint Spaces, Berlin | I BELIEVE, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig (solo) | Elsewhere is here: Anderswo ist hier, TURBA Gallery, Hannover | In Situ, Kunstverein DIE H_LLE, Braunschweig | Interiora Patent, Rittergut Lucklum, Lucklum
- 2017
- Revisited, Hallenbad Kunstschaufenster, Wolfsburg | Re-Formation/ART-Figura, Perla Castrum, Schwarzenberg | Operation Lagune, Konnektor, Hannover
- 2016
- Piano Piano, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft, Hannover | GLAUCA, Hallenbad Kunstschaufenster, Wolfsburg | Tight Intersection, GaDeWe, Bremen
- 2015
- 1. OG, Kunstraum 53, Hildesheim Kunsthoch 33, UDK, Berlin | Linearis, MHH-Kestnerschau, Hannover
- 2014
- Allianzen und Affären, KUK Städte Region, Aachen/Monschau
Bjørn Melhus
THE BEAT GOES ON
14
About the work
A Volkswagen passenger car, the Golf I model, is partially submerged in the Oker. It shines colorfully from within and emits muffled techno rhythms. Both beat and light change in the same rhythm. Even in this disadvantageous situation, THE BEAT GOES ON. What has happened here? And where is the driver responsible for this situation? The grotesque, tragicomical image of the inextinguishable beat can be understood as a commentary on the so-called Golf Generation, to which belong persons born in Germany around 1970. The author Florian Illies, who himself belongs to this generation, designated it in his book “Generation Golf” published in 2000 as an “EGO generation profiting from the prosperity of its parents, enjoying life, given over to consumption and remaining for the most part uncritical.” Bjørn Melhus, likewise born in that era, uses his work “THE BEAT GOES ON” to raise questions about the assumption of political responsibility. He is less concerned with the stereotyping of an entire generation as an apolitical, self-infatuated mass.
The staged scene presents a form of hedonism which can also be an aspect of social responsibility. What does it mean for a society when persons indulge in an excessively extravagant lifestyle in an era which is experienced as being unstable? Can this be understood as a human reaction to a crisis-ridden situation in which an ongoing, vivid beat serves as a sort of hopeful mantra? On the one hand, the work appears as a sort of admonitory memorial raising the issue as to who assumes responsibility. And on the other hand, the work formulates a sort of oneiric space for fantasies which must have their space at all times.
The work “THE BEAT GOES ON” is being realized with the generous support of the STIFTUNG Sparda-Bank Hannover, the Streiff Holding GmbH & Co. KG and Flussgenuss.
About the artist
The artistic practice of Bjørn Melhus (*1966 in Kirchheim unter Tieck) arises out of an interest in critical reflection about the media. In his experimental films, photographs, performances and video installations, he examines pop-cultural contents and strategies that are received by consumers in music, cinema, television and the mass media. With an especially comic, absurd humor in which the fragmentary, destructive and confusing play a central role, Melhus—who himself acts as protagonist almost all the time—offers a critical commentary on the strategies of film and television and reveals them to be staged propaganda of capitalism. His reinterpretations of predominant narratives from the mass media, such as the pitting of evil against good, usher viewers into a disquieting world in which mere contemplation seems to engender complicity. Since 2003 he has been a professor for visual arts/virtual reality at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. In 2018 the halle267 — städtische galerie braunschweig dedicated a solo exhibition to Bjørn Melhus. In 2019 works by him could be seen at the McEVOY Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco and at the Museum für Neue Kunst in Freiburg.
Expositions
- 2019
- KINDL, Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin | HOT SET, Max-Lieberman-Haus, Berlin | Bjørn Melhus. Ausstellung aus Anlass der Buchpublikation der Stiftung Niedersachsen, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover | INTROSPECTIONS, Screening Programme McEVOY Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, Kalifornien, USA | AMBITUS, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg
- 2018
- NO WAR NO VIETNAM, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Galerie Nord, Berlin |
OUT OF SASNAK, halle267 – städtische galerie braunschweig, Braunschweig | ELECTIVE AFFINITIES, SAMMLUNG FRIEDRICHSHOF Zurndorf, Österreich | Bjørn Melhus/FREEDOM & INDEPENDENCE, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden - 2017
- SCHNEE VON GESTERN (yesterday’s snow), Bjørn Melhus & Thomas Rentmeister, KUK Monschau, Monschau
- 2016
- BELOVED ENEMIES, Clemens Sels Museum, Neuss | Antenna Futura, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien, Österreich
- 2015
- THE THEORY OF FREEDOM, STUK Kunstencentrum, Leuven, Belgien; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Niederlande | THE THEORY OF FREEDOM II, WEST, Den Haag, Niederlande
- 2013
- I LOVE YOU, Kunstsammlung Jena, Jena | LIBERTY PARK, DIRIMART Gallery, Istanbul, Türkei
- 2012
- I do not belong in this House, Haus im Schluh, Worpswede (solo)
- 2011
- Bjørn Melhus – Live Action Hero, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin (solo)
- 2010
- Nachtwache|Nightwatch, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg (solo)
- 2009
- Bjørn Melhus: Still Men Out There, Operation Room, Amerikan Hastanesi, Istanbul, Türkei (solo)
- 2008
- Fuse Box: Bjørn Melhus, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA (solo) | Auto Center Drive, Mia Sundberg Galleri, Stockholm, Schweden (solo) | Tree House #2, Video Installation, NADA Art Fair, Miami, Florida, USA
- 2007
- The Castle, the Meadow, the City, Roebling Hall, New York City, New York, USA (solo) | Abstraction: Extracting from the World, Millenium Galleries, Sheffield, Großbritannien | Raum für Video/Videospace: Bjørn Melhus, Figge von Rosen, Köln (solo)
- 2006
- what makes you and I different, Tramway 2, Glasgow, Großbritannien | Playstation, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover
- 2005
- Bjørn Melhus: Eastern Western Park, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan (solo) | Licht(e)wege, Lichtinstallationen im Schlosspark Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel | Bjørn Melhus, CAC Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Malaga, Spanien (solo) | Bjørn Melhus: Eastern Western Park, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (solo)
- 2004
- Primetime, FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), Liverpool, Großbritannien (solo) | State of Play, Serpentine Gallery, London, Großbritannien | Schizorama, National Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Moskau, Russland | Bjørn Melhus: Fighting the Forces of Evil, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (solo)
- 2003
- Still Men Out There, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main (solo) | The American Effect, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York, USA | 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Türkei
- 2002
- Bjørn Melhus – Video, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (solo) | Videodrome II, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, New York, USA
- 2001
- Bjørn Melhus: Silvercity, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover (solo)
- 2000
- Bjørn Melhus – Gute Freunde, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel (solo) | Kennen wir uns?, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg | reality checkpoint Körperszenarien, Edith-Ruß-Haus, Oldenburg
- 1999
- Bjørn Melhus – ich bin du, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl (solo)
- 1998
- New Visions Video, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, Kalifornien, USA
Martin Groß
TIRED EYES
15
About the work
For the Lichtparcours, Martin Groß conceived a nine-part, text-based installation with LED scrolling boards such as can be found in a somewhat larger size in such places as the passenger tunnel at the Braunschweig train station. These boards are used in public spaces and at this site for advertising purposes; they are frequently found in kiosks as well. Individual contents were briefly shown on these digital bands; they then disappeared from the edge of the picture. Their functional mechanism was accordingly a sign for the increasing speed of streaming information and fragmentary perception. In “TIRED EYES,” Groß arranged these scrolling boards as organized chaos. Just as with newsfeeds on local news broadcasters, several texts, quotations and transcripts ran simultaneously in different directions and speeds across the illuminated-writing boxes that served as digital canvasses. Non-synchronized as they were, the various pieces of information didn’t seem to follow a clear narrative thread but instead functioned associatively like digital poems and dialogues offering reciprocal commentary. Found set pieces, observations from culture and daily life that describe different realities were overlapped and equated—then moved through the space in a permanent loop. These information landscapes point on the one hand to the everyday poetry of cut-ups and on the other hand to the gaps and misunderstandings in digital and social intermediate spaces.
The work “TIRED EYES” was realized with the generous support of EWE-Armaturen.
About the artist
The drawings, paintings, texts and installational works of Martin Groß (*1984 in Plauen) share the character of montage and collage. Groß draws from collection of digital data such as screenshots, notes, audio- and video-files. The shifting of spatial and contentual contexts gives rise to a formal, fragmented abstraction that comments on our current behavior with regard to reception: movement, travel, the simultaneity of information and communication, transmitting and receiving. His works take up various everyday spaces, both real and digital, that are pervaded by information; they offer a commentary on a world that is racing with the handbrakes on towards an invisible horizon. Martin Groß lived for a long time in London; he has been in Berlin since 2018. Most recently, his works were exhibited at the Galerie EIGEN + ART in Leipzig.
Expositions
- 2018
- Martin Groß, Stef Heidhues, Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig New Positions, Art Köln, Galerie EIGEN+ART, Köln (solo) | Ping Pong Basel, Projektraum M54, Basel, Schweiz | Chumming, Glasgow International 2018, Glasgow, Großbritannien | The Art of Recollecting, G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig
- 2017
- RA Schools Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Großbritannien | 2017 Television, Smac, Berlin (solo) | Dead Heat, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig | 2016 Radio City, mit Julius Heinemann, Galerie Jahn, München | C.L.I.C.S, EIGEN+ART Lab, Berlin (solo) Premiums: Interim Projects
- 2016
- Premiums: Interim Projects 2016, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Großbritannien
- 2015
- Le Souffleur – Schürmann trifft Ludwig, Ludwig Forum, Aachen | Transit, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig (solo)
- 2014
- Blaue Perle, BGL#3, Kesselhaus, Bergisch Gladbach | Pointing Elsewhere, CBK Zeeland, Middelburg, Niederlande SSIIEE FOUR, Berlin
- 2013
- Neuzugänge zeitgenössischer Kunst im Kunstfonds 2013, Vertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund, Berlin RUPTUR, Galerie FELDBUSCHWIESNER, Berlin (solo) | Win/Win, Halle 14, Leipzig
- 2012
- YIA Art Fair#2, Bastille Design Center, Galerie Dakota, Paris, Frankreich | High End, Raum 4.4, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig
- 2011
- Affinity, Kulter, Amsterdam, Niederlande
- 2010
- 100 Sächsische Grafiken, Neue Sächsische Galerie, Chemnitz
- 2009
- ERGO, Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig
Michael Sailstorfer
Solarkatze
I
About the work
For the Lichtparcours 2016, Michael Sailstorfer designed a bipartite sculpture that could be seen at the Löwenwall. The first part of the work consists of a curved lamp pole that integrates itself harmoniously into the park situation. It is placed opposite to an oversized pedestal on which the bronze cast of a cat is situated. It gazes stoically at the lamp and presents itself “turned towards the sun”. In this combination of the familiar and the unexpected, Sailstorfer creates an enigmatic, almost surreal situation. After the Lichtparcours 2016, the work was re-erected in the Theaterpark.
At nightfall the work of art is illuminated parallel to the street lamps.
About the artist
Michael Sailstorfer was born in 1979 in Velden/Vils. He studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich (1999–2005 and at Goldsmiths College in London (2003–2004). In his artistic practice, Sailstorfer draws from the inexhaustible resources of existing objects that he subtly modifies and places in new functional contexts. With an instinct for the hidden messages and potentials of everyday objects, he draws forth narrative energies from apparatuses and architectural structures. Works by the artist are to be found in numerous international collections such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Städelmuseum in Frankfurt, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich or the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Since 2016 works by Sailstorfer have been exhibited at numerous further institutions of the world. Among them are the Carbon.12 in Dubai with its exhibition “WE LOVE THEM ALL” in 2018 and the König Galerien in both London and Berlin.
Yvonne Goulbier
Evokation in Rot
II
About the work
“Evokation in Rot” is a two-part work. The bridge passage was transformed into a magical zone of light through 150 red LED light sources in the shape of blossoms. The delicate yellow emphasis of the bridge’s balustrade creates a transition to the illuminated street situation. The second part of the work, a point of light wandering along the cornice of the back wall of the State Theater, serves as a sort of greeting that ushers into the city; at the same time, the point of light can be understood as a “spotlight” of the State Theater. During the Lichtparcours 2000, a similar work by Goulbier could be seen at the Rosentalbrücke.
In the evening twilight, the work of art is illuminated along with the street lamps.
About the artist
Born in 1953, the artist Yvonne Goulbier completed her studies of interior architecture and received various stipends from the Villa Massimo in Rome (1986) and the Kunstfonds Bonn, among others. Since 1980 she realized—from 1980 to 2011 together with her deceased husband, the sculptor Klaus Goulbier—numerous projects both in Germany and abroad. Goulbier creates transitory poetical light-spaces through the use of black light and florescent materials. She responds to the specific space and its architecture and brings to light the “soul” of the space.
Fabrizio Plessi
Bogen der Erinnerung
III
About the work
With his large-format bridge constructions, the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi makes reference to a no-longer-remembered crossing at the Gieselerwall. Instead of the 17 TV monitors in “Bogen der Erinnerung” for the Lichtparcours 2000, in the year 2008 two lines of blue LED lights were installed inside the body of the bridge. This combination of high-tech aesthetic with the sensuality and romanticism of the medium of water once again stretches an arc of light across the bridge and into the history of the city.
The artwork is illuminated from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.
About the artist
Born in 1940 in Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy, Fabrizio Plessi, after studying painting in Venice, began from the 1970s onward to produce large-format video installations that consider monitors to be sculptural elements. In the subsequent architectural constructs, films, videos and performances, Plessi investigates the interfaces between nature and technology, with water remaining a recurrent element in his artistic works. In addition to participation in the Venice Biennial in 1970, 2003 and 2011 as well as being invited to the Documenta 8, Plessi realized exhibition projects at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2004), at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen, at the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen (2016) and at the Opera Gallery in Paris (2019).
Mark Dion
Der Elster Flohmarkt
IV
About the work
Mark Dion’s artistic strategies involve the collection, layering, sorting an rearrangement of found objects. The Elster Flea Market developed for the Braunschweig Parcours 2004 is formally oriented towards a small antique shop at the Burgplatz in Braunschweig. Inside there is abundant collection of objects that were gathered at regional flea markets. As a cabinet of forgotten curios, the work is in the tradition of Baroque cabinets of wonder and, with its limitation to local objets trouvés, links up with the Braunschweig of today.
The work of art is illuminated in the evening at the same time as the street lamps.
About the artist
Mark Dion was born in 1961 in New Bedford, USA and first worked as a restorer before taking up the study of art at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1984. A year later, he participated in an Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where he came into contact with current developments of Concept Art. In his installations, sculptures, performances, films and videos, Dion criticizes and deconstructs the depictions of nature in museums as assertions of supposed truth. Works by the artist have been presented in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hamburger Deichtorhallen (2001), the Kunsthalle Hamburg (2006) and not long ago at the Marta Herford (2015/16). Most recently, his works were shown in solo exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery in London (2018), the ICA in Boston and the Georg Kargi BOX in Vienna (2017).