Maria Thereza Alves
Edgar Arceneaux
Danica Dakic
Sejla Kameric
Stih & Schnock
Kathrin Becker
Interventions/interactions in the public space
Interventions/interactions in the public space of Berlin
Maria Thereza Alves, Edgar Arceneaux, Danica Dakic, Sejla Kameric, Stih & Schnock
Curator Kathrin Becker
In response to the project "De/construction of Monument", which has been
taking place in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the context of "relations" for two
years now, Kathrin Becker (curator, NBK) developed the Berlin project displaced,
also in collaboration with "relations".
After the collapse of former Yugoslavia, new national elites are rewriting the
history of their countries. Memories are being erased, places renamed and books
corrected - at the same time, new hymns, icons and symbols are being transmitted.
"De/construction of Monument" opposes this manipulation through the
principle of deconstruction.
displaced transfers the themes of "De/construction of Monument" to the
local German context. The artists' works for displaced developed after they
themselves had stayed in Sarajevo, emerging from the realisation that the themes of
"De/construction of Monument" are symptoms of social processes. The
artists seek equivalents to the function of public memory and public amnesia,
relating them to the German capital and the western media principles of an
"economy of attention" in diverse ways. A fleeting element is common to
all these works. This fleeting quality diametrically opposes the powerful presence
and capacity for ideological exploitation displayed by monuments.
Maria Thereza Alves and Danica Dakic work with poetic metaphors: Dakic employs her
own voice and personal memories of her situation during the siege of Sarajevo. Alves
uses plants to examine the constant permeation of history, economics and identities.
Sejla Kameric operates with public strategies, with aspects of the omnipresent
threat which plays a growing part, not only in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but here too - at
least since the 11th September or Madrid and London. Edgar Arceneaux refers to his
own family history and sets the name of his grandfather, Old Man Hill, in an
associative context together with the topography of Sarajevo. In a several-day art
project together with the "taz - die tagesezeitung", Renata Stih &
Frieder Schnock focus on the different cultures of memory in Germany and
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Thursday, 20th October 2005, opening event in the NBK
from 6.30 pm
- "NBK displaced", NBK, Chausseestr. 128/129, 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Opening times: 21.10.2005 12-6 pm, 22.-23.10.2005 2-6 pm
from 6.30 pm
Maria Thereza Alves: What is the colour of a German rose? 2005
"Shop" Kleine Hamburger Str. 2, Berlin-Mitte, duration: all day,
21.-23.10.2005
from 6.30 pm
Edgar Arceneaux: Old Man Hill, 2005
"Fire wall", Auguststr. 5, Berlin-Mitte, for several hours
On the way
Sejla Kameric: Nothing should come as a surprise! 2005
Various places in Berlin-Mitte
7.30 pm (sine tempore!)
Danica Dakic: MS Berlin, 2005
NBK, Chausseestr. 128/129, 10115 Berlin
from 8.30 pm,
Audience discussion, NBK, Chausseestr. 128/129, Berlin-Mitte
with the participating artists, presented by Ekaterina Degot (Moscow)
17th 29th October 2005
Renata Stih & Frieder Schnock, Weiterleben (Going on Living) 1995/2005, taz -
die tageszeitung
Image: Edgar Arceneaux, Star Coviek Brdo (Old Man Hill), 2005.
A project by the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein in cooperation with “De/construction of
Monument", Bosnia-Herzegovina, and "relations".
relations is a project initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
http://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de
Further information:
http://www.projekt-relations.de
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK)
Chausseestr. 128/129, 10115 Berlin