calendario eventi  :: 

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25/2/2009

Two exhibitions

Berlinische Galerie, Berlin

As Time Goes By

This presentation on the topic of time offers some new and exciting insights into the Berlinische Galerie’s extensive collections. Here, works dating from the 19th century to the present day, which have been shown rarely or not at all, enter into stimulating dialogue with the gallery’s masterpieces.

The exhibition is divided into three thematic groups and extends across most of the ground floor. Our presentation begins by comparing and contrasting artworks that enable us to experience the temporal phenomena of Continuance – Moment. Public and private cultures of memory represent the central theme of the next pair of opposites, Eternity – Transience. Artistic tendencies directing the view back or forwards are open to discussion under the headings Retrospective – Prospective.

The curators Anna Ewa Dyrko, Antje Schunke and Thomas Steigenberger – currently trainees at the gallery – are paying special attention to the mediation of the exhibition. Formats like »tear-off texts« or an »interspace« offer the opportunity to participate actively in the composition of the exhibition. Thus, the solemn nature of informative texts permanently fixed to the wall is counteracted by perforated notes to be torn off. In the »interspace«, the chance to record impressions, questions or criticism enables visitors to enjoy a continuing dialogue with each other and the curators.

Selection of artists: Dieter Appelt, Heike Baranowsky, Tacita Dean, Naum Gabo, Johannes Geccelli, Beate Gütschow, Edward und Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Hans Kollhoff, Katharina Meldner, Harald Metzkes, George Rickey, Michael Schmidt, Gundula Schulze el Dowy, Fred Thieler, Wolf Vostell, Anton von Werner

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During the 1940s and 1950s, Erwin Blumenfeld (born 1897 in Wilhelmstraße in Berlin, died and buried 1969 in Rome) was one of the most sought-after fashion photographers in the world. Far less known is the early work of this artist of Jewish origin raised in the late Wilhelminian German capital: the often bitingly humorous Dada collages produced between 1916 and 1933.
His friendship with Paul Citroen and Walter Mehring, who found recognition as painter and poet respectively, the association with Berlin’s bohemia surrounding Else Lasker-Schüler and Herwarth Walden’s Galerie Der Sturm, and his worship of George Grosz collided with Blumenfeld’s career in the garment trade. Blumenfeld sensed the urge to write, paint, and act on stage, but still he pursued the career of a businessman and, in 1923, opened a shop for women’s leather goods in Amsterdam. Theater, film, art, and literature are kneaded together with the artists’ daily experience of life and assembled into a visual entity of most distinct character. Blumenfeld’s cynical and extremely individualistic approach, humor, scorn, and anarchy were perfectly Dada. The bankruptcy of his shop, sealed in 1933 by the National Socialist seizure of power in Germany, finally forced him to try his luck as a professional photographer.

In this exhibition curated by Helen Adkins the focus is for the first time on the montages. The selection of some 50 montages and 30 photographs is chosen from the estate of the artist in Paris and Cambridge, the collection of the Berlinische Galerie, and other collections.

The exhibition is articulated in themes:
The viewer gets to know Blumenfeld through unique self-portraits, discovers his admiration for Charlie Chaplin and the afro-American boxer Jack Johnson, and feels his deep dislike of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the “Great Dictator”.

Image: Erwin Blumenfeld, Metropolis, 1930, © VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2008

Berlinische Galerie
Alte Jakobstrasse 124-128 - Berlin

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