calendario eventi  :: 

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25/6/2014

Three exhibitions

Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg

A PARADISE BUILT IN HELL
THE 16MM FILM FORMAT IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT IMAGE PRODUCTION
Duration: June 28th – September 7th, 2014

In film-historical terms, Hamburg is one of the most important German cities, because a cinematographic movement highly influential in West Germany evolved here. In the 1950s and 60s, a number of persons formed smaller collectives in Hamburg to establish an “other”, artistically shaped cinema, including Werner Nekes, Helmut Herbst, Rüdiger Neumann and Klaus Wyborny. They were “interested in a lively discourse and maintained active international ties with as many ‘other’ filmmakers throughout the world as possible” (Heinz Emigholz), e.g., Jack Smith or Paul Sharits, who today count as icons. The Hamburg- based cinematographic movements pursued the analysis, disruption, reconstruction and expansion of established film genres.

DAILY FILM SCREENINGS FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSIONS

The project “A Paradise Built in Hell”, curated by Bettina Steinbrügge and Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, introduces the newly developed concept of a discursive mediation of cinematographic works. Throughout the summer, more than 70 films will be screened at 6pm each day using a film projector of the “Metropolis” cinema in the exhibition architecture designed by the Berlin-based architect Markus Miessen. Most of the films are from after the turn of the millennium, a point in time when digital film production appeared to replace analog technologies. When viewing the broad range of the 16mm format in present-day art production, one is surprised at the richness and thematic depth with which this analog film technology is employed. The discussions on the films are expanded by the respective artists, filmmakers und theorists joining in over the internet via Skype each evening after the screenings. The question is: How relevant is the 16mm format in film since the digitization of cinema and especially in the recent development of art?

Seven evening discussions with protagonists of the Hamburg film and art scene, organized by Maike Mia Höhne (curator of the Berlinale Shorts since 2007) and Corinna Koch, will supplement the program. The focus here is on the alternative film scene and the creation of social spaces via artistic formats.

FILM SELECTION
The introduction of the 16mm format was a revolutionary event that allowed filmmakers and artists influenced by “Direct Cinema” to grasp the format as a field of political and artistic experimentation. 16mm film became a companion of the movement of ’68, for example, and a medium of sociopolitical change, proving to be a carrier of new ideas, ways of thinking and utopias. “A Paradise Built in Hell” (2009) by the American essayist Rebecca Solnit, which lent the exhibition its title, examines the social dynamics and loyalties that emerge from states of disaster. It deals with the spontaneous development of civil societies as structures of humanity and altruism in confrontation with the state’s mechanisms of control.

The program selection is oriented along the lines of the question pertaining to alternative social forms of organization and models of life, with a focus on current themes, such as global crisis situations, e.g., in Egypt or the Middle East (Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed, Ala Younis, Hannes Böck, Akram Zaatari, Yto Barrada, James T. Hong), the crisis of the Western model of society (Tacita Dean, Florian Wüst, Ben Russell, Frederick Wiseman, Daria Martin) or alternative social models offering a scope for newly conceiving society (Ben Rivers, Deimantas Narcevicius, Robert Fenz). In order to embed these works in the history of cinema, relevant examples of, among others, Chantal Akerman, Nagy Shaker, Hollis Frampton and Jack Smith are set in relation to them. The start is made by Anthony McCall’s “Line Describing a Cone” (1973) at the exhibition opening, for the reason that projection as a concept and metaphor has made its way into a critical and advanced variant of contemporary art.

PERMANENTLY UPDATED DOCUMENTATION AND ARCHIVING
All discussions are documented and permanently updated on the webpage of the Kunstverein (www.kunstverein.de), simultaneously creating an archive accessible beyond the city limits and the project’s duration. The film program is included in this press release and can also be retrieved on the website.

EXHIBITION
The accompanying exhibition, on view during the Kunstverein’s usual opening hours from noon to 6 pm, presents archival material – excluding films – of the lines of development in Hamburg up to the 1980s as well as artistic positions dedicated to the 16mm theme by drawing (Heinz Emigholz, Mohsen Sharara), sculpture (Marie Losier, Martin Ebner), manifesto (Tacita Dean), collage (Linda Christanell), poster (Maria Eichhorn) and photography (Ludwig Schönherr).

Der Kunstverein in Hamburg presents “A Paradise Built in Hell” in cooperation with Arsenal - Institute For Film and Video Art Berlin and the International Summer Festival Kampnagel Hamburg. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Mara und Holger Cassens Stiftung, the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, the Kinemathek Hamburg and the Goethe-Institut Kairo.

LIST OF ARTISTS: Chantal Akerman, Adriana Arroyo, Ute Aurand, Michel Balagué, Heike Baranowsky, Yto Barrada, Yael Bartana, James Benning, Ray L. Birdwhistell, Hannes Böck, Guillaume Cailleau, Linda Christanell, Jem Cohen, Octavio Cortázar, Tacita Dean, Maya Deren, Martin Ebner, Maria Eichhorn, Daniel Eisenberg, Heinz Emigholz, États généraux du cinéma, Kevin Jerome Everson, Harun Farocki, Robert Fenz, Hollis Frampton, Romeo Grünfelder, Eve Heller, Helmut Herbst, James T. Hong, Christian Jankowski, Šejla Kamerić, Chris Kennedy, Laida Lertxundi, Sharon Lockhart, Marie Losier, Sarah Maldoror, Daria Martin, Anthony McCall, Jonas Mekas, Scott Miller Berry, Jonathan Monk, Dudley Murphy, Deimantas Narkevičius, Rosalind Nashashibi, Sasha Pirker, Amos Poe, Luther Price, Jennifer Reeves, Edgar Reitz, Nicolas Rey, Ben Rivers, Barbara Rubin, Markus Ruff, Ben Russell, Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed, Daïchi Saïto, Ludwig Schönherr, Mohsen Shahara, Nagy Shaker, Peter Sillen, Jack Smith, Michael Snow, Ula Stöckl, Shuji Terayama, Vaginal Davis, Els van Riel, Jacques D. Van Vlack, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Klaus Wildenhahn, Frederick Wiseman, Florian Wüst, Ala Younis, Akram Zaatari

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IM FRÜHLING, DARLING.
(IN SPRING, DARLING.)
Duration: June 28th – September 14th, 2014

Magnus Andersen, Jennifer Bennett, Christoph Blawert, Cordula Ditz, Ida Lennartsson, Annika Kahrs, Inge Krause, Axel Loytved, Stefan Marx, George Rippon, Anna Zacharoff

The sound of a piano accompanying birds; empty, spooky houses in Detroit; the facades of a past dream; a desert; the endless expanses of the sky; the secret hope of anchoring an encounter in eternity – it is in moments like these that the sense of longing, the vague affinity to distant places, conditions and things formulates itself in the exhibition “Im Frühling, Darling.” (“In Spring, Darling.”) The sense of longing is a deeply personal feeling, captivating, complex and ambivalent, and it therefore also reflects our precarious world of instability and an uncertain future, in which the vulnerability of society is questioned and the fragility of human affairs becomes visible.

“Im Frühling, Darling.” postpones the spring to summer, seeking to bring back what has already occurred or to convey a certain nostalgic atmosphere of departure, which beyond all determining categories is the driving force of change. Potentiality lies in the subjective, allegorical claim. The dialogue loosely established between the works displayed in the exhibition places the hidden dreams and wishes of the individual in a context and shows that longings are lived individually but indeed produced and communicated collectively.

The video by Annika Kahrs shows a pianist playing Franz Liszt’s “St. Francis of Assisi’s Sermon to the Birds” in front of birds. It appears as if the end of the age of Enlightenment manifests itself here, because, according to Rifkin, only an age of empathy that acknowledges all living beings and is determined by sensitivity can save civilization. In her piece “A Bankrupt Heart”, Cordula Ditz tells of fulfilled longings and their fleetingness. Present-day Detroit after the financial crisis and the deserted gold-mining colony of Rhyolite (Nevada) are juxtaposed in a double projection. The parallels between the ghostly places are evident and form a projection screen onto which the longing for the good life may have to be newly cast. Stefan Marx' works are characterized by a double texture.They are supported by a dynamic directness and rough aesthetics possessing ironic undertones: “It feels a bit like goodbye and in a way it is I guess” refers to a vague premonition of loss waiting in a state of limbo, in uncertainty. The objects titled “Ruins” by Ida Lennartsson, in turn, address bodily and tabooed desires in the traces of shackles. A possible other bodily encroachment can be found in Jennifer Bennett’s ceramic object “Machtverschiebungen” that reminds one of a medieval striking weapon for territorial defense. Magnus Andersen and Christoph Blawert also transgress the imaginary space of longing by alluding to power fantasies in their painting. This limitation is opened and counteracted by Inge Krause, whose non-representational paintings reflect facets of the sky and convey a sense of infinity. In the works of Anna Zacharoff, Axel Loytved and George Rippon, the view is directed concretely to everyday life. Anna Zacharoff’s burger relates our desire to consume with beguilingly simple means, while Axel Loytved’s objects declared as trash are brought back from the sidelines in order to question notions of assigning value. Finally, George Rippon’s receipts, shopping lists, letters and other found objects arranged in display cases raise questions as to the construction of levels of meaning that arise on a daily basis and create new longings.

In addition, holiday postcards – the ultimate medium expressing longing – written and designed by artists will continuously arrive at the Kunstverein during the course of the show as a work in progress under the motto “Dear Darling”. Yet their messages will shift in that they reflect upon this moment of longing and perhaps also counteract it.

Curated by Nadine Droste and Juliane Feldhoffer

With the kind support of the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

--- LUBOK
Duration: June 28th – September 14th, 2014

The Lubok Verlag, Leipzig, originated as a publishing project following the encounter of the artist Christoph Ruckhäberle and the graphic designer and book printer Thomas Siemon. Fascinated by both artist’s books and graphic art, they came up with the idea of publishing original graphic books with linocuts of contemporary artists in high editions (300 – 1,500).

A series of original graphic linocut books have been published since 2007 – the Lubok Series. For each volume, around 10 artists are invited to design a spread. The linocut becomes as a field of artistic experimentation, leading to a wide variety of results.

In 2011 lubok solo was initiated as a supplement – each booklet consists of 16 black-and-white linocuts by one artist. The edition is limited to 300 copies.

The books are printed directly from the linoleum plate in Thomas Siemon’s printing and graphic workshop edition carpe plumbumon a “Präsident” cylinder press from 1958.

Lubok Series and lubok solo are presented at the foyer of the Kunstverein.

With the kind support of the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Image: Jack Smith, Normal Love, 1963-1965. Filmstill

Nadine Droste

Presse und Öffentlichkeit / 

Public Relations
Klosterwall 23
20095 Hamburg
T +49 40 322158
F +49 40 322159
presse@kunstverein.de
www.kunstverein.de

PRESS CONFERENCE: Thursday, June 26th, 2014, 11am

OPENING: Friday, June 27th, 2014, 7pm

Kunstverein in Hamburg
Klosterwall 23, Hamburg
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday noon–6pm
Admission: 3€ regular, 1,50€ reduced

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