Friends and Enemies
dal 9/1/2006 al 31/1/2006
Segnalato da
Jan Bleicher
Stef Burghard
Romy Richter
Mariana Castillo Deball
Heman Chong
Holger Fickelscherer
Ingo Gerken
Kerstin Gottschalk
Joachim Grommek
Sascha Hahn
Hans-Dirk Hotzel
Jeroen Jacobs
Lisa Junghan
Andreas Koch
Alexander Lieck
Rene' Luck
Meisterschule
Lutz-Rainer Muller
Reinigungsgesellschaft
Laura Schleussner
Klaus Schmitt
Lina Ussa
Tim Albert Voss
Tatjana Sarah Greiner
Suse Webe
Annette Weisser
Saskia Wendland
Christine Wurmell
9/1/2006
Friends and Enemies
Gagosian Gallery Berlin, Berlin
A gathering of projects and activities that explore various strategies for the promotion and diffusion of contemporary art in the city of Berlin. The managers of Autocenter (Joep van Liefland and Maik Schierloh), the editors of Starship magazine (Martin Ebner, Ariane Muller and Hans-Christian Dany) and the artist and curator Tilman Wendland represent three distinct approaches for engaging and presenting contemporary art. For the exhibition all three have been invited to present themselves and their tactics: They have been given carte blanche as what to do and how to do it.
Friends and Enemies
Autocenter (Joep van Liefland and Maik Schierloh), Starship magazine (Martin Ebner, Ariane Muller and Hans-Christian Dany) and Tilman Wendland
Gagosian Gallery, Berlin is pleased to present “Friends and Enemies", a gathering of projects and activities that explore various strategies for the promotion and diffusion of contemporary art in the city of Berlin.
The managers of Autocenter (Joep van Liefland and Maik Schierloh), the editors of Starship magazine (Martin Ebner, Ariane Muller and Hans-Christian Dany) and the artist and curator Tilman Wendland represent three distinct approaches for engaging and presenting contemporary art in Berlin and beyond. For the exhibition “Friends and Enemies" all three have been invited to present themselves and their tactics: They have been given carte blanche as what to do and how to do it.
Many of the activities of the participants included in “Friends and Enemies" are deliberately set apart from the art market, and yet they operate as some of the most interesting and active formats driving contemporary artistic production in Berlin. These private partnerships reflect a spontaneous and informal system of aggregation that is capable of reinventing spaces and generating unusual connections in which exhibitions can be staged in apartments, magazines spontaneously grow out of the simplest resources, and original projects staged in alternative venues alter the site’s original context and give it a new meaning or perspective for the art audience. The title of the exhibition, “Friends and Enemies", refers to the numerous communities and partnerships in Berlin that rarely commingle or collaborate with each other: the exhibition brings together three of these distinct scenes in the modest space of Gagosian Gallery.
But, in the end, “Friends and Enemies" is also about people making things happen on their own, and creating shows and publications that we wished we had done ourselves.
Autocenter was founded in 2001 by Joep van Liefland and Maik Schierloh in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. Located in a former car painting shop, “Autocenter" is best known for its short exhibitions, most of which last only one to three days. In the past five years various artists and curators have organized a large number of events there, ranging from exhibitions of paintings, videos and installations, to concerts and happenings. “Oktoberfest" has been held annually since its inception three years ago; “50 Jahre Wirtshaus Huber" was the final exhibition of 2005, and it included a barbeque held inside the exhibition space. For Gagosian Gallery, “Autocenter" will fashion a three-dimensional walk-in billboard promoting the actual “Autocenter" space in Friedrichshain, with free champagne included.
Starship (Hans-Christian Dany, Martin Ebner, Ariane Muller) is an art journal published in Berlin and distributed internationally since 1998. The group has also hosted concerts and exhibitions. A recurring field of exploration for “Starship" is the possibility and the conditions of individual freedom and movement in a shared space. On the occasion of “Friends and Enemies" Hans-Christian Dany, Martin Ebner and Ariane Muller are releasing a reprint of a text by Oswald Wiener, which will be distributed at Gagosian Gallery. The text supplement for the new “Starship" issue, "Eine Art Einzige", written twenty-four years ago, discusses the social and literary phenomenon of dandyism in the 19th century, slowly transforming into a poetic analysis of the difficulties faced by those whose aesthetic and political attitudes and behaviors are not in line with the standard notions of society.
Tilman Wendland, an artist on his own as well as one of the members of the collaborative team “Meisterschule", initiates spontaneous and independent exhibitions. For Gagosian Gallery, Wendland will install an extensive display of original drawings created by the following artists:
Jan Bleicher, Stef Burghard/Romy Richter, Mariana Castillo Deball, Heman Chong, Holger Fickelscherer, Ingo Gerken, Kerstin Gottschalk, Joachim Grommek, Sascha Hahn, Hans-Dirk Hotzel, Jeroen Jacobs, Lisa Junghanb, Andreas Koch, Alexander Lieck, Rene' Luck, Meisterschule, Lutz-Rainer Muller, Reinigungsgesellschaft, Laura Schleussner, Klaus Schmitt, Lina Ussa, Tim Albert Voss/Tatjana Sarah Greiner, Suse Webe, Annette Weisser, Saskia Wendland and Christine Wurmell.
Opening: January 9, 2006, 7-9 pm
Gagosian Gallery
Auguststrasse 50A - Berlin