13/6/2012
Alfredo Jaar
Different venues, Berlin
The way it is. An Aesthetics of Resistance. The monographic show offers a retrospective survey of the Chilean artist's production at the meantime in three Berlin institutions: at NGBK his highly political interventions in public space; at BG "Eine Asthetik zum Widerstand", and the photo series "A New World", at the Alte Nationalgalerie the installation "1+1+1".
Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (New Society for Visual Arts) presents an exhibition by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar (Santiago de Chile, *1956) simultaneously at three Berlin institutions. The monographic show offers a retrospective survey of an artistic production spanning close to four decades.
The artist, trained as architect and filmmaker, is concerned with problems of perception and representation. The main focus of the exhibition is the artist’s observation of the language and program of the image, as well as its deconstruction, what the artist has called the politics of the image. Addressing a wide scope of concerns and issues, the exhibition will display key works that address the refusal of the image as well as the poetic mise-en-scene of its absence.
At NGBK, the focus is on Jaar’s rarely displayed, early artworks: highly political interventions in public space that were produced in Chile between 1974 and 1981, as well as later works dealing with the country and the times of the military junta.
At Berlinische Galerie, four complex groups of works are combined and set in relation to each other: 1) works created in and for Berlin, including the reconstruction of the Pergamon project, “Eine Ästhetik zum Widerstand”, and the photo series “A New World”, which will be presented for the first time; 2) works on themes related to Africa, a key focus of the artist’s practice, particularly his series on the genocide in Rwanda; 3) installations in which light plays a pivotal role, e.g. “Lament of the Images”, the reconstruction of his contribution to Documenta11 in 2002 and the more recent "The Sound of Silence"; 4) a selection from the “Press Works” series in which the artist repeatedly examines in a pointed way the topicality of press coverage and its agenda.
At Alte Nationalgalerie, the exhibition is complemented by two interventions in the 19th century collection: “1+1+1”, an installation produced for documenta 8 (1987) that made Jaar internationally known. The work will be presented for the first time in 25 years in Germany along with “Persona”, 1987, a conceptually similar work from the same period and never before exhibited.
A bilingual catalogue (German / English) with text contributions by Lucy Lippard, Chantal Mouffe, Adriana Valdés, and Christian Höller will be published.
Publisher: NGBK, ISBN: 978-3-938515-47-1
An exhibition of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) in cooperation with the Berlinische Galerie, the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin-Program. Realised with funding from the Capital Cultural Fund and the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. Supported by the artEDU Stiftung, Zurich.
Image: A. Jaar, A New World 1990
Exhibition Venues:
Neue Gesellschaft für
Bildende Kunst (NGBK)
Oranienstraße 25
10999 Berlin
www.ngbk.de
Daily 12-7 pm
Thu-Sat 12-8 pm
Berlinische Galerie
Landesmuseum für Moderne
Kunst, Fotografie und Architektur
Alte Jakobstraße 124-128
10969 Berlin
http://www.berlinischegalerie.de
Wed-Mon 10 am-6 pm
Tue closed
Day ticket 8 Euro
Reduced 5 Euro
Alte Nationalgalerie
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Bodestraße 1-3
10178 Berlin
http://www.smb.museum/smb/standorte
Tue-Sun 10 am-6 pm
Thu 10 am-10 pm
Opening June 14, 2012
at 7 pm at the NGBK
at 8:30 pm at the BG