Chantal Akerman
Adriana Arroyo
Ute Aurand
Michel Balagué
Heike Baranowsky
Yto Barrada
Yael Bartana
James Benning
Ray L. Birdwhistell
Hannes Böck
Guillaume Cailleau
Linda Christanell
Jem Cohen
Octavio Cortázar
Tacita Dean
Maya Deren
Martin Ebner
Maria Eichhorn
Daniel Eisenberg
Heinz Emigholz
États généraux du cinéma
Kevin Jerome Everson
Harun Farocki
Robert Fenz
Hollis Frampton
Romeo Grünfelder
Eve Heller
Helmut Herbst
James T. Hong
Christian Jankowski
Šejla Kamerić
Chris Kennedy
Laida Lertxundi
Sharon Lockhart
Marie Losier
Sarah Maldoror
Daria Martin
Anthony McCall
Jonas Mekas
Scott Miller Berry
Jonathan Monk
Dudley Murphy
Deimantas Narkevičius
Rosalind Nashashibi
Sasha Pirker
Amos Poe
Luther Price
Jennifer Reeves
Edgar Reitz
Nicolas Rey
Ben Rivers
Barbara Rubin
Markus Ruff
Ben Russell
Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed
Daïchi Saïto
Ludwig Schönherr
Mohsen Shahara
Nagy Shaker
Peter Sillen
Jack Smith
Michael Snow
Ula Stöckl
Shuji Terayama
Vaginal Davis
Els van Riel
Jacques D. Van Vlack
Clemens von Wedemeyer
Klaus Wildenhahn
Frederick Wiseman
Florian Wüst
Ala Younis
Akram Zaatari
Magnus Andersen
Jennifer Bennett
Christoph Blawert
Cordula Ditz
Ida Lennartsson
Annika Kahrs
Inge Krause
Axel Loytved
Stefan Marx
George Rippon
Anna Zacharoff
Christoph Ruckhäberle
Thomas Siemon
Bettina Steinbrügge
Stefanie Schulte Strathaus
'A Paradise Built in Hell' introduces the newly developed concept of a discursive mediation of cinematographic works: throughout the summer, more than 70 films will be screened at 6pm each day. In 'Im Fruhling, Darling (In spring, darling)' exhibition the sense of longing is a deeply personal feeling, captivating, complex and ambivalent. Christoph Ruckhaberle and Thomas Siemoncame up with the idea of publishing original graphic books with linocuts of contemporary artists in high edition.
A PARADISE BUILT IN HELL
THE 16MM FILM FORMAT IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT IMAGE PRODUCTION
Duration: June 28th – September 7th, 2014
In film-historical terms, Hamburg is one of the most important German cities, because a cinematographic
movement highly influential in West Germany evolved here. In the 1950s and 60s, a number of persons
formed smaller collectives in Hamburg to establish an “other”, artistically shaped cinema, including
Werner Nekes, Helmut Herbst, Rüdiger Neumann and Klaus Wyborny. They were “interested in a lively
discourse and maintained active international ties with as many ‘other’ filmmakers throughout the world
as possible” (Heinz Emigholz), e.g., Jack Smith or Paul Sharits, who today count as icons. The Hamburg-
based cinematographic movements pursued the analysis, disruption, reconstruction and expansion of
established film genres.
DAILY FILM SCREENINGS FOLLOWED BY DISCUSSIONS
The project “A Paradise Built in Hell”, curated by Bettina Steinbrügge and Stefanie Schulte Strathaus,
introduces the newly developed concept of a discursive mediation of cinematographic works. Throughout
the summer, more than 70 films will be screened at 6pm each day using a film projector of the
“Metropolis” cinema in the exhibition architecture designed by the Berlin-based architect Markus
Miessen. Most of the films are from after the turn of the millennium, a point in time when digital film
production appeared to replace analog technologies. When viewing the broad range of the 16mm format
in present-day art production, one is surprised at the richness and thematic depth with which this analog
film technology is employed. The discussions on the films are expanded by the respective artists,
filmmakers und theorists joining in over the internet via Skype each evening after the screenings. The
question is: How relevant is the 16mm format in film since the digitization of cinema and especially in the
recent development of art?
Seven evening discussions with protagonists of the Hamburg film and art scene, organized by Maike Mia
Höhne (curator of the Berlinale Shorts since 2007) and Corinna Koch, will supplement the program. The
focus here is on the alternative film scene and the creation of social spaces via artistic formats.
FILM SELECTION
The introduction of the 16mm format was a revolutionary event that allowed filmmakers and artists
influenced by “Direct Cinema” to grasp the format as a field of political and artistic experimentation.
16mm film became a companion of the movement of ’68, for example, and a medium of sociopolitical
change, proving to be a carrier of new ideas, ways of thinking and utopias. “A Paradise Built in Hell”
(2009) by the American essayist Rebecca Solnit, which lent the exhibition its title, examines the social
dynamics and loyalties that emerge from states of disaster. It deals with the spontaneous development of
civil societies as structures of humanity and altruism in confrontation with the state’s mechanisms of
control.
The program selection is oriented along the lines of the question pertaining to alternative social forms of
organization and models of life, with a focus on current themes, such as global crisis situations, e.g., in
Egypt or the Middle East (Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed, Ala Younis, Hannes Böck, Akram Zaatari, Yto
Barrada, James T. Hong), the crisis of the Western model of society (Tacita Dean, Florian Wüst, Ben
Russell, Frederick Wiseman, Daria Martin) or alternative social models offering a scope for newly
conceiving society (Ben Rivers, Deimantas Narcevicius, Robert Fenz). In order to embed these works in
the history of cinema, relevant examples of, among others, Chantal Akerman, Nagy Shaker, Hollis
Frampton and Jack Smith are set in relation to them. The start is made by Anthony McCall’s “Line
Describing a Cone” (1973) at the exhibition opening, for the reason that projection as a concept and
metaphor has made its way into a critical and advanced variant of contemporary art.
PERMANENTLY UPDATED DOCUMENTATION AND ARCHIVING
All discussions are documented and permanently updated on the webpage of the Kunstverein
(www.kunstverein.de), simultaneously creating an archive accessible beyond the city limits and the
project’s duration. The film program is included in this press release and can also be retrieved on the
website.
EXHIBITION
The accompanying exhibition, on view during the Kunstverein’s usual opening hours from noon to 6 pm,
presents archival material – excluding films – of the lines of development in Hamburg up to the 1980s as
well as artistic positions dedicated to the 16mm theme by drawing (Heinz Emigholz, Mohsen Sharara),
sculpture (Marie Losier, Martin Ebner), manifesto (Tacita Dean), collage (Linda Christanell), poster
(Maria Eichhorn) and photography (Ludwig Schönherr).
Der Kunstverein in Hamburg presents “A Paradise Built in Hell” in cooperation with Arsenal - Institute
For Film and Video Art Berlin and the International Summer Festival Kampnagel Hamburg. The exhibition
is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Mara und Holger
Cassens Stiftung, the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, the Kinemathek Hamburg and the Goethe-Institut
Kairo.
LIST OF ARTISTS: Chantal Akerman, Adriana Arroyo, Ute Aurand, Michel Balagué, Heike
Baranowsky, Yto Barrada, Yael Bartana, James Benning, Ray L. Birdwhistell, Hannes
Böck, Guillaume Cailleau, Linda Christanell, Jem Cohen, Octavio Cortázar, Tacita Dean,
Maya Deren, Martin Ebner, Maria Eichhorn, Daniel Eisenberg, Heinz Emigholz, États
généraux du cinéma, Kevin Jerome Everson, Harun Farocki, Robert Fenz, Hollis
Frampton, Romeo Grünfelder, Eve Heller, Helmut Herbst, James T. Hong, Christian
Jankowski, Šejla Kamerić, Chris Kennedy, Laida Lertxundi, Sharon Lockhart, Marie
Losier, Sarah Maldoror, Daria Martin, Anthony McCall, Jonas Mekas, Scott Miller
Berry, Jonathan Monk, Dudley Murphy, Deimantas Narkevičius, Rosalind Nashashibi,
Sasha Pirker, Amos Poe, Luther Price, Jennifer Reeves, Edgar Reitz, Nicolas Rey, Ben
Rivers, Barbara Rubin, Markus Ruff, Ben Russell, Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed, Daïchi
Saïto, Ludwig Schönherr, Mohsen Shahara, Nagy Shaker, Peter Sillen, Jack Smith,
Michael Snow, Ula Stöckl, Shuji Terayama, Vaginal Davis, Els van Riel, Jacques D. Van
Vlack, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Klaus Wildenhahn, Frederick Wiseman, Florian Wüst,
Ala Younis, Akram Zaatari
---
IM FRÜHLING, DARLING.
(IN SPRING, DARLING.)
Duration: June 28th – September 14th, 2014
Magnus Andersen, Jennifer Bennett, Christoph Blawert, Cordula Ditz, Ida Lennartsson,
Annika Kahrs, Inge Krause, Axel Loytved, Stefan Marx, George Rippon, Anna Zacharoff
The sound of a piano accompanying birds; empty, spooky houses in Detroit; the facades of a past dream; a
desert; the endless expanses of the sky; the secret hope of anchoring an encounter in eternity – it is in
moments like these that the sense of longing, the vague affinity to distant places, conditions and things
formulates itself in the exhibition “Im Frühling, Darling.” (“In Spring, Darling.”) The sense of longing is a
deeply personal feeling, captivating, complex and ambivalent, and it therefore also reflects our precarious
world of instability and an uncertain future, in which the vulnerability of society is questioned and the
fragility of human affairs becomes visible.
“Im Frühling, Darling.” postpones the spring to summer, seeking to bring back what has already occurred
or to convey a certain nostalgic atmosphere of departure, which beyond all determining categories is the
driving force of change. Potentiality lies in the subjective, allegorical claim. The dialogue loosely
established between the works displayed in the exhibition places the hidden dreams and wishes of the
individual in a context and shows that longings are lived individually but indeed produced and
communicated collectively.
The video by Annika Kahrs shows a pianist playing Franz Liszt’s “St. Francis of Assisi’s Sermon to the
Birds” in front of birds. It appears as if the end of the age of Enlightenment manifests itself here, because,
according to Rifkin, only an age of empathy that acknowledges all living beings and is determined by
sensitivity can save civilization. In her piece “A Bankrupt Heart”, Cordula Ditz tells of fulfilled longings
and their fleetingness. Present-day Detroit after the financial crisis and the deserted gold-mining colony
of Rhyolite (Nevada) are juxtaposed in a double projection. The parallels between the ghostly places are
evident and form a projection screen onto which the longing for the good life may have to be newly cast.
Stefan Marx' works are characterized by a double texture.They are supported by a dynamic directness
and rough aesthetics possessing ironic undertones: “It feels a bit like goodbye and in a way it is I guess”
refers to a vague premonition of loss waiting in a state of limbo, in uncertainty. The objects titled “Ruins”
by Ida Lennartsson, in turn, address bodily and tabooed desires in the traces of shackles. A possible
other bodily encroachment can be found in Jennifer Bennett’s ceramic object “Machtverschiebungen”
that reminds one of a medieval striking weapon for territorial defense. Magnus Andersen and
Christoph Blawert also transgress the imaginary space of longing by alluding to power fantasies in
their painting. This limitation is opened and counteracted by Inge Krause, whose non-representational
paintings reflect facets of the sky and convey a sense of infinity. In the works of Anna Zacharoff, Axel
Loytved and George Rippon, the view is directed concretely to everyday life. Anna Zacharoff’s burger
relates our desire to consume with beguilingly simple means, while Axel Loytved’s objects declared as
trash are brought back from the sidelines in order to question notions of assigning value. Finally, George
Rippon’s receipts, shopping lists, letters and other found objects arranged in display cases raise
questions as to the construction of levels of meaning that arise on a daily basis and create new longings.
In addition, holiday postcards – the ultimate medium expressing longing – written and designed by artists
will continuously arrive at the Kunstverein during the course of the show as a work in progress under the
motto “Dear Darling”. Yet their messages will shift in that they reflect upon this moment of longing and
perhaps also counteract it.
Curated by Nadine Droste and Juliane Feldhoffer
With the kind support of the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
---
LUBOK
Duration: June 28th – September 14th, 2014
The Lubok Verlag, Leipzig, originated as a publishing project following the encounter of the artist
Christoph Ruckhäberle and the graphic designer and book printer Thomas Siemon. Fascinated by both
artist’s books and graphic art, they came up with the idea of publishing original graphic books with
linocuts of contemporary artists in high editions (300 – 1,500).
A series of original graphic linocut books have been published since 2007 – the Lubok Series. For each
volume, around 10 artists are invited to design a spread. The linocut becomes as a field of artistic
experimentation, leading to a wide variety of results.
In 2011 lubok solo was initiated as a supplement – each booklet consists of 16 black-and-white linocuts
by one artist. The edition is limited to 300 copies.
The books are printed directly from the linoleum plate in Thomas Siemon’s printing and graphic workshop
edition carpe plumbumon a “Präsident” cylinder press from 1958.
Lubok Series and lubok solo are presented at the foyer of the Kunstverein.
With the kind support of the Ministry of Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Image: Jack Smith, Normal Love, 1963-1965. Filmstill
Nadine Droste
Presse und Öffentlichkeit /
Public Relations
Klosterwall 23
20095 Hamburg
T +49 40 322158
F +49 40 322159
presse@kunstverein.de
www.kunstverein.de
PRESS CONFERENCE: Thursday, June 26th, 2014, 11am
OPENING: Friday, June 27th, 2014, 7pm
Kunstverein in Hamburg
Klosterwall 23, Hamburg
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday noon–6pm
Admission: 3€ regular, 1,50€ reduced