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22/10/2014

Four exhibitions

Haus der Kunst, Munich

Anri Sala
The Present Moment

On October 23, Haus der Kunst opens four exhibitions: "Anri Sala: The Present Moment", an installation in the "Der Öffentlichkeit — Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst" series; "Capsule 01: Tilo Schulz"; "Capsule 02: Mohamed Bourouissa"; and "Victor Man – Zephir". Dorothea von Hantelmann, who has been a visiting professor for Documenta Studies at the University of Kassel since 2013, will moderate the Opening Talk.

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Victor Man
Zephir

"Everything happened just as it should have; at night, unofficially, only that then - in the sunshine - they blackened out there on that sandbar, and burst open. One could see they were full of worms and they continued to stink, and the smells that crawled back into the city, hot and heavy, were named 'Zephir'".

This passage appears in a short story in the exhibition catalogue. Its author, the Romanian Alexandru Monciu-Sudinski, describes how five great whales cause a medieval city - simultaneously plagued by German swastika-bearers - to tremble with fear.

Both the subject matter and the color palette of Man's work are thus established. His paintings are dominated by the darkness of black, gray, and green tones, which the viewer's eye must become accustomed. Only when this adjustment is complete do the images' contents and contours gradually become visible. Man's paintings serve as a threshold, a transition to pass through. The room that opens as one contemplates the images leads to a world of mythical figures and of "hybrids" on the way from man to animal or from animal to human.

A recurring motif in Man's work is decapitation: A seated figure whose head is not in the picture is holding a head on her knees. The figure and the head in these paintings possess both male and female traits. The event allows for interpretations that range from Judith and Holofernes to Salome. The figure selection oscillates between the poles of asceticism and excess, between holy hermits such as Anthony the Hermit, on the one hand, and lusty sadomasochists and lotophages on the other; the latter addicted to the pleasure of the apathy-inducing honey-sweet lotus fruit. The creatures who inhabit Man's paintings are guided by the basest instincts or the highest spiritual pursuits. The darkness that envelops them allows for all stages of transition from one internal state to another.

Victor Man was honored with Deutsche Bank's "Artist of the Year" award in 2014. After its premiere at the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin the show, which was curated by Friedhelm Hütte, was on view at Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw. After Wangechi Mutu (2010), Yto Barrada (2011), Roman Ondák (2012), and Imran Qureshi (2013), Victor Man is Deutsche Bank's fifth "Artist of the Year." The award is given on the recommendation of the Deutsche Bank Global Art Advisory Council, which consists of the renowned curators Okwui Enwezor, Hou Hanru, Udo Kittelmann, and Victoria Noorthoorn. The focus is on artists who have already amassed a substantial oeuvre and have blazed new trails both formally and in terms of content. For 2015 Koki Tanaka was named as "Artist of the Year." The catalaogue "Victor Man, Szindbád", was edited by Deutsche Bank AG; with contributions by Stefan Krause, Friedhelm Hütte, Bogdan Ghiu, Alessandro Rabottini, and Alexandru Monciu-Sudinski, ISBN 978-3-7757-3807-1, 39.80 €.

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Capsule exhibitions

In late October, Haus der Kunst will introduce a new exhibition series, the Capsule exhibitions. The series presents the work of younger artists who are not yet established in the museum landscape, and provides a space for new productions. The Capsule exhibitions thus give insight into artistic practices and production methods. The series begins with new works by Leipzig-born artist Tilo Schulz (born 1972) and the French-Algerian artist Mohamed Bourouissa (born 1978). Each artist will present his work autonomously in a separate hall, a so-called 'capsule'.

Tilo Schulz
Capsule 01

"The interesting thing about the category of transitional spaces is the time component. In the idea of 'Purgatory' - the period of waiting for the grace of God - space and time are inextricably linked. What stands out is the in-between, the unfinished, the transformation. Purgatory is the place between the mundane existence of man and the greatest proximity to God in heaven; it is the time in which man is purified of temporal sins. This motif of transformation is linked to many spatial concepts: borders, cells, sluices ..." (Tilo Schulz)

In direct reference to the dimensions of the nearly 200-square-meter exhibition hall, Tilo Schulz has constructed an accessible wood structure with the basic dimensions of this room. This construction was rotated 18 degrees and installed in the hall. The rotation causes a part of the inserted space to become lost behind the actual walls so that it exists only in the imagination of the viewer as displaced space.

The bottom panels of the "new" space are nearly flush with the existing architecture. The installation expands before the viewer like an accessible image. Upon entering this new space, painterly interventions are visible at various points, and a literary text becomes audible. With this, Tilo Schulz lends a voice to the original, repressed space, which has lost part of itself through the rotation. The text uses different types of movement and displacement as something fundamentally human and encourages the visitor to connect with historical events and gain an awareness of his own movement and its limits.

In his dual role as artist and author, Tilo Schulz brings together several artistic concerns in his installation: Using simple materials, he creates a space that can be perceived visually, physically and acoustically, serving as a metaphor for repression, boundaries and control. At the same time, this space actually exists, i.e. visitors can pass through it and experience it as an urban environment, in which different perspectives and encounters arise.

The artistic approach to transitional spaces, boundaries and movement touches on universal human experiences. It is both a reference to Schulz's own biography - he grew up in the GDR - and to current social developments.

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Mohamed Bourouissa
Capsule 02

The work of the French-Algerian artist Mohamed Bourouissa (born 1978) is characterized by the exploration of the construction of social, economic, cultural values and their conflicts with each other, and focuses primarily on on socially, culturally and economically marginalized individuals.

Shortly after the riots in the Paris suburbs in 2005, Bourouissa created a photographic series in which he presented a new perspective of the events beyond the media coverage. For "Périphérique" (2005-09), he worked closely with young people from these suburbs, staging photographs whose composition is inspired by the paintings of Caravaggio, Delacroix and Géricault. Recently he gained attention with his project "All-In", with a collaboration with rapper Booba, with whose music he confronted the art world.

As part of the Capsule exhibitions, Mohamed Bourouissa presents his latest work "Horse Day" (2014). For several months, the artist lived in Philadelphia, where he explored the world of an inner-city equestrian stable, creating a film, photographic works, and a series of sculptures. Horses have been part of Philadelphia's cityscape since the 1960s. Initially they transported vegetables, fruit, milk and household items; later they served the leisure of their owners. The stables offer many young men an attractive way to spend their time, and in caring for the animals, they also develop a sense of responsibility.

In 2006, photographer Martha Camarillo published images of the stables on Fletcher Street, in north Philadelphia. It was from these photographs that Mohamed Bourouissa learned about the subject. For the artist, these young people and their urban environment embody a subversive model of the cowboy that replaces the outdated stereotype of the - always fair-skinned - Marlboro or western cowboys. The focal action in Mohamed Bourouissa's film is the "horse tuning": Before the competition, an obstacle course, the horses are "souped up" and presented in a kind of pageant to the jury and the audience. The costumes are created in collaboration with contemporary visual artists from Philadelphia: a horse blanket made of rows of blank CDs that reflects the sunlight or a bright neon tube on the head of the animal, which transforms the horse into a mythical creature, similar to the unicorn.

Through the "tuning" of the horses, the environment of the largely socially disadvantaged young people is transformed into a fantastic setting in which the horse and rider nearly merge into a wondrous and almost apocalyptic figure. The introduction of the fantastic creates a space that allows the redefinition of one's identity. At the same time, the tuning builds a bridge between horse and car: both common elements of the American myth of freedom and self-expression. With the kind support of the Bureau des arts plastiques / Institut français and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication

Image:Horse Tuning Expo, artists Max Lussenhop and Billy Dufala are responsible for the costume Leroy Jordan's horse Rosie is wearing © Kimberly Paynter/WHYY

Opening 23th October at 7pm

Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstrasse 1-Munich Germania
Opening hours Haus der Kunst
Monday  — Sunday 10 am — 8 pm  ; Thursday 10 am — 10 pm
Day ticket 12 € / reduced 10 €, Teenagers under 18 and pupils 5 €

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