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25/6/2004

Rohkunstbau XI

Gross Leuthen Castle, Spreewald

'A European Portrait #2'
curated by Mark Gisbourne

The exhibition 'A European Portrait #2' will present site-specific, contemporary art. Twelve young and internationally renowned artists, some with roots outside of Europe and some with inner-European perspectives, engage with the microcosm of Gross Leuthen, a small village in the middle of the Spreewald. There they will open their minds and artistic talents to what the place has to tell them, just as the young Lithuanian artist Kristina Inciúraite listens to the story of Gross Leuthen lake in her video installation. They will engage with the ideals of cultural education expressed by the architectural design, furnishings and location of the moated castle. Like the Nigerian-British artist Yinka Shonibare, they will make reference to the history of the castle and its prior use, or will examine the front gardens of the castle with a video camera or the faces of the village residents with an artist's brush, as does Chen Shaofeng. The installations of the Polish artist Miroslaw Balka will call upon individual and collective memory, while the American-British artist Susan Hiller will follow the traces of Jewish life in Brandenburg.

Like these projects, other works in the exhibition will thematize the time inherent to this place  the cyclical time of the seasons, the historical time of political systems and the time of story-telling or remembrance. Whereas the pictures of the photographer Thomas Florschuetz refer to the surrounding countryside and its seasons, Lina Kim's installation will play with time as it is crystallized symbolically in a variety of objects. João Penalva, born in Lisbon and currently a resident of London, has made the logical choice of the castle's clock tower as the starting point for his media intervention. And with her internet project and accompanying installation, the young Indian artist, Shilpa Gupta compares Gross Leuthen and Berlin to the place where she grew up near Mumbai, which has now been engulfed by the sprawling metropolis.

Some of the exhibits examine the context of their own artistic tradition as part of the interplay between 'in' and 'out', between the castle and the surrounding parkland. In the pictures of sleepers by the Berlin painter Cornelia Schleime, the borders between inner and outer worlds become blurred and make reference both to the site of the exhibition and the tradition of portraiture. The Austrian painter and installation artist Markus Huemer re-defines notions of the 'picture' with his ironic and media critical work, bringing finches from the surrounding countryside into the castle.

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Since 1994 the name Rohkunstbau has stood for a series of ambitious exhibitions in the Spreewald region, approximately an hour s drive from Berlin. Both young artists and internationally renowned masters receive project scholarships to develop original, site-specific works that have come to attract audiences from around the globe. The moated castle of Groß Leuthen will play a central role in the creative process, providing an inspiring point of departure, as well as a challenging environment for artistic expression and development. Far from the 'white cube' presentations of standard museum spaces, its architecture and surroundings will always encourage exceptional site-specific concepts.

This years programme accounts for the geographical setting that defines Groß Leuthen in relation to the metropolis of Berlin. At the same time, it will allow us to consider changes related to the expansion of the European Union, which will push the region closer to the centre . Located only 50 kilometres from Poland, Groß Leuthen lay, until now, at the EU s outer frontier. With this in mind, it seemed especially important to extend the artistic analysis beyond inner-European voices (both old and new) and incorporate a variety of global perspectives. Thus, in a programmatic continuation of last year s topic, Rohkunstbau 2004 will paint A European Portrait #2 .

Despite their clear, almost minimalist structure, the works of Miroslaw Balka, probably the best-known Polish artist on the international stage, are imbued with a narrative, poetic quality. They often communicate a feeling of remembrance and loss, such as when they tell of Balka s Catholic background or draw portraits of the collective memory of Poland s troubled history.

The Chinese artist Chen Shaofeng is continuing his ambitious participatory project under the auspices of Rohkunstbau. His numerous artistic studies completed in the Chinese province of Hebei have been received with great acclaim at international exhibitions and biennials. For Rohkunstbau, Chen Shaofeng has made portraits of the inhabitants of Groß Leuthen and its surroundings and asked them make portraits of him in return.

With his images of foliage and human body parts, Thomas Florschuetz, recent recipient of the renowned Deutscher Kritikerpreis , creates an opening of perspective in the midst of the castle s historical furnishings. At the same time as the images draw parallels to the parkland immediately surrounding the structure, they also evoke in mid-summer the rustling of leaves normally heard while going for a walk in the autumn.

An award-winner at this year s Transmediale in Berlin for her internet project and accompanying installation, the young Indian artist Shilpa Gupta takes the visitors of Rohkunstbau on a journey back to her childhood. In those days, the colonial-style country house in which she grew up was about as far away from Bombay as Groß Leuthen is from Berlin. Now, however, Bombay has become Mumbai, and the place of her youth has been engulfed by the sprawling metropolis.

With The Brandenburg Suite, the American-British artist Susan Hiller continues a photo project in which she follows the traces of rural Jewish life in Germany, creating an important portrait of southern Brandenburg in the process.

The Austrian painter and installation artist Markus Huemer indirectly brings the parkland surrounding the castle into the building s interior. By allowing finches to fly through the beam of a video projector in the darkened foyer, he makes an ironic allusion to art history, re-defining the notion of the picture in a performative fashion.

Lakes posses great narrative potential for the young Lithuanian artist Kristina Inciuraite. By thematizing personal memories, Inciuraite creates a portrait in the mirror of Groß Leuthen lake.

The refracted light of the chandelier brings the sparkle of sunlight on Groß Leuthen lake into the castle. With a straightjacket covered with crystals, the Brazilian Lina Kim transforms the dining room with its pompous red sofa from the nineteenth century into a socio-political salon.

It may be a platitude to say that the clock ticks more slowly in the country than in the city, but with the magical slowness of his narrative film works, João Penalva, born in Lisbon and currently a resident of London, enchanted even the most hectic of audiences at the biennials in Venice and Berlin in 2001. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that João Penalva has chosen the clock tower of Groß Leuthen castle as the starting point for his artistic intervention.

In her large-format drawings, the Israeli artist Yehudit Sasportas creates new worlds that occupy entire rooms. With organic, mostly plant-like forms broken up using a mirroring technique, Sasportas questions any notion of free creation and thematizes 'authenticity' and 'nature' as cultural constructs.

With her pictures of sleeping people, the renowned and award-winning Berlin artist Cornelia Schleime plays with the boundaries between inside and outside . Her works make provocative allusions to the location of the exhibition, as well as to the tradition of portraiture in art.

In Groß Leuthen, the Nigerian-British artist and participant in the Documenta11, Yinka Shonibare, displays his installation from his 'Pedagogy' series, in which boy and girl mannequins sit on school benches. In Groß Leuthen, this work also contains local allusions: following the Second World War, the castle served as a provisional home for orphans and the children of refugees.

Artistic Director: Arvid Boellert / Senior Curator: Mark Gisbourne

Image: Lina Kim

Opening: June 26, 2004 (starting at 18h)

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 4 - 7p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10a.m. - 7p.m.

A catalogue will be published.

Supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes)

Location: Groß Leuthen Castle, Wasserschloss, 15913 Groß Leuthen/Spreewald

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