Annika Eriksson
Serhat Koksal
Joanna Rajkowska
Laura Bruce
Rui Calcada Bastos
Peter Spillmann
Heman Chong
Nezaket Ekici
Lise Nellemann
Montse Badia
Oliver Zwink
Julika Gittner
Simon Starling
Michael Stevenson
Ed Osborn
Annika Lundgren
Zeigam Azizov
Colonel
Barbara Prokop
Jessika Miekeley
Deborah Ligorio
Karen Yasinsky
Susan Philipsz
Michael Stevenson
Heman Chong
Lasse Lau
Kenneth A. Balfelt
Karl Holmqvist
Contemporary Artists from the Nordic Countries. This exhibition is an example of the artist's involvement in communicating and distributing artistic ideas by stablishing models of self-representation. As a result of this involve ment, artists reflect on their own role as either a guest or a host within the project.
Contemporary Artists from the Nordic Countries
31. January to 12 April 2004
With:
Big Hope / Heman Chong / Dellbrügge & de Moll /
Karl Holmqvist / Lasse Lau & Kenneth A. Balfelt /
Susan Philipsz / Reinigungsgesellschaft / Michael
Stevenson / archive "Consequenses of summer" /
archive "Old Habits Die Hard"
_________
The Program
(free entrance)
15.02.2004: Talk with all involved artists in the exhibition.
In the auditorium:
15.02.2004: Talk with Sarat Maharaj
26.02.2004: Talk with Oliver Ressler and Tone O. Nielsen
03.04.2004: Talk with Eoghan McTigue
03.04.2004: Electronic Concert with Spore Sac / Daniel Kluge
In the exhibition:
03.04.2004: Discursive Picnic (Unwetter)
___________
The exhibition
This exhibition is an example of the artist's involvement in
communicating and distributing artistic ideas by establishing
models of self-representation
As a result of this involve ment, artists reflect on their own role
as either a guest or a host within the project.
Building upon the notion of "open source", sharing ideas and
knowledge, Sparwasser has invited other artists and art related
people to contribute to the conceptual framework.
This is an attempt to leave behind the cliche of the
self-sufficient, introverted genius, that constitutes our
perception of the artist since modernism.
In the process of researching on collectives and mapping of
networks, the issues of self-organization, self-representation
and alternative models of economy are raised.
Besides the exhibition project Sparwasser HQ/ Lise Nellemann
organizes a program of meetings and dialogues in the auditorium
of Hamburger Bahnhof.
_________
The Artists and Projects
Big Hope
(2m x 2m live game area)
As counterpoints to the overwhelming dominance of the logic of global
capitalist economy and in addition to their ongoing project "Talking About
Economies", the artist group "Big Hope" have
built a large scale game to be "played" by people
visiting the exhibition space. Through engaging
with the piece by making brief interactions and
contributions that represent symbolically the
ideas of various alternative economic systems,
the game's content can be sustained and expanded
for future "players".
Susan Philipsz
(one video (from 16mm), one sound piece in the
staircase, one sound piece in the exhibition room)
Susan Philipsz is interested in the spatial
properties of sound and the relationships between
sound and architecture. In her soundworks she
investigates the emotive and psychological
properties of sound. In the film "Returning"
Philipsz depicts passers-by as they experience
reverie and private moments in public, whereas
the sound track proposes a private space that the
listener has been allowed to enter into. Using
her own voice she attempts to trigger an
awareness in the listener, to temporarily alter
their perception of themselves in a particular
place and time.
Michael Stevenson
(a sculpture, a book)
The Slivovitz decanter "The hidden Hand" (???) is
a distillation from a large scale installation
"This is the Trekka", The decanter takes one of
the salient themes of the Trekka project: the
contribution of the former east bloc to the
development of a national car in New Zealand at
the height of the cold war. As it turned out all
mechanical parts necessary for this symbol of
first world nationhood were acquired by trade and
barter with the Czechoslovakian state
manufacturer Motokov. After signing this joint
partnership the delegates were plied with
Slivovitz. In this way the decanter becomes a
conversation piece for the wider project and a
contemporary metaphor for a nation in search of
artistic autonomy.
Heman Chong/ NoSleepRequired
(a video essay, a chair)
"The Social Seduction" is a video-essay
constructed from a single take of an interview
between the artist Heman Chong, and the curator
Gretchen Lee. The result is possibly a caricature
of what we have come to identify with as
"art-speak", "talking the talk" that swings
between intensity and pure ennui. The piece
reflects on the relationship between knowledge
and dialogue, a system that is generally utilized
as a method of generating instant "ready made"
essays within our media saturated world today.
Lasse Lau / Kenneth A. Balfelt
(documents on wall, video, flyer)
A city like Berlin reveals many "alternative "
structures, structures that often work levels
parallel or in opposition to established economic
and political powers and therefore challenge new
esthetical thinking about representation in
places like Hamburger Bahnhof. Lau and Balfelt
focus on self-organized projects that take on a
social responsibility in the Berlin society.
Projects that correspond with the artists own
praxis in using art as a tool to communicate and
solve potential conflicts in society.
Reinigungsgesellschaft
(a video essay)
Reinigungsgesellschaft is working on field
research dealing with informal artist's networks
in Japan. The goal is the preparation of points
of reference and the mapping of an exemplary case
study, taking a starting point in following 3
thesis:
Thesis 1: Growing Pressures on social relations
to economise lead to greater solidarity and to
the formation of informal artist 's networks.
Thesis 2: The formation of group identities has effects on artistic contents.
Thesis 3: Spheres of artistic action consciously
choose society as a system of references for
their own production.
Karl Holmqvist
(a book, a video of images)
The departure for Karl HolmqvistZs installation
is his own designed artist's book of mock haiku
poems called THE K. PROTOCOL. Inside there is
something like a clash or merging - depending on
how you see it - between traditional Japanese
aesthetic appreciation and Western pop culture.
If nothing else, a comment maybe on the
slipperiness of national identity and the
necessity for reaching beyond preconceived
notions of what is what.
Together with the book at Hamburger Bahnhof there
is also a DVD slideshow in a small site specific
installation, further bringing in topics such as
imaginary travel, street style and political
engagement.
Dellbrügge & de Moll
(2 pieces of working clothes, Wallinstallation)
"Dresscode: colorcoded clothing for museumguards"
"Dresscode" is the label by Dellbrügge & de Moll
for colorcoded working clothes. The design
derives from the attitudes and the behaviours of
its wearers. Their profiles can be deciphered by
a specific colorcode. Looks like fashion, but in
fact is data. Alice and Inga will wear prototypes
of the dresscode and thus embody rather guides
than guards. Control is being replaced by
communication.
"Consequenses of summer, dialogues on artistic
production and contemporary cultures"
Live program of meetings and dialogues in the auditorium of Hamburger Bahnhof.
The archive: in the exhibition room we show an
archive of 28 artist presentations and dialogues,
video documented in Sparwasser HQ during June,
July and August 2003.
VHS videos:
Annika Eriksson / Serhat Köksal / Joanna
Rajkowska / Laura Bruce / Rui Calçada Bastos /
Peter Spillmann / Heman Chong / Nezaket Ekici /
Lise Nellemann / Montse Badia / Oliver Zwink /
Julika Gittner / Simon Starling / Michael
Stevenson / Ed Osborn / Annika Lundgren / Zeigam
Azizov / Colonel / Barbara Prokop / Jessika
Miekeley / Deborah Ligorio / Karen Yasinsky
Archive "Old Habits Die Hard"
(9 video compilations, one catalog)
Organized by Lise Nellemann, Heman Chong and Louise Witthoeft.
The archive "old habits die hard" is a hosted
project with 50 international artist collectives,
that have invited another 50 artists to send a
video work, as participants. It is a mapping
project, which shows the potential of the
internet and the possibility of communication and
building up a network.
__________
Participating artist collectives:
16 beaver / Avi Mograbi
bordercartograph / Art Orienté objet
Enjoy / Amy Howden-Chapman & James Findlater
Blue Oyster / Teresa Andrew
Cuckoo / Tessa Laird
AIT Arts Initiative Tokyo / Meiro Koizumi
CAPRI / Vassiliea Stylianidou
FAMEFAME / Daniel Borins
floating ip / Tim Etchells & Hugo Glendinning
AV-ARKKI / Hanna Hasslahti
Cubitt / Klaus Weber
Fournos / Nikos Giavropoulos
G.U.N, Galleri Uten Navn / Henriette Pedersen
Mercer Union / Kika Thorne
Galleri Hlemmur / Markmid
Instant Coffee / Kevin Schmidt
Message Salon / Selina Trepp
Generator / Rebecca Milling
Glowlab / Lee Walton
Kings / Robin Hely
Norwich Gallery / Francis Lamb
le forum itnérant / Georges Cazenove
O2 / Finnur Arnar
offspace / Gernot Wieland
P74 / Saso Vrabic
PAS / Jesper Alvaer
Planet 22 / Horten
Platform / Marcus Lerviks
RAIN / Rachel Mayeri
Program Angels / lothringer13 / Monochrom
> projektgruppe < / Ivan Iegoroff /Alexander Podoprigorov
Raid Projects / Tim Braden
Signal / Natalie Djurberg
rum46 / Morten Larsen
s-m-p / Tere Recarens
S1 Artspace / TC McCormack
Sparwasser HQ / Deborah Ligorio
Sauna / Cecilia Lundqvist
The Danger Museum / Ann Elise Pettersen and Anne Berit Nedland
The Deste Foundation / Morgan Showalter
Switchspace / Craig Mulholland
The Western Front / Nicole + Ryan
Transmission / Duncan Campbell
The Dirt Palace / Xander Marro
United Net-Works / Ola Pehrson
West Space / Dominic Redfern
THE SWOLLEN PLATFORM / Kristen Smith
Unwetter / Ingrid Molnar
VIDEOART CENTER Tokyo / Masayuki Kawai
Videotage / Ellen Pau
Opening 30. January at 8 PM
(entrance also without invitation card)
- with the exhibition a catalog has been published
________
Sparwasser HQ Ausstellungen wärend "Berlin North"
in Torstrasse 161, Berlin Mitte
30. Januar - 10. März
push the envelope!
Maryam Jafri, Valerie Tevere, Lars Mathisen, Matthew Buckingham
17 März -10. April.
FRISCHESPORES&MOLEKULES
Daniel Kluge, Yuen Chee Wai and George Chua
extern:
Sparwasser HQ with the exhibition: Old Habits Die Hard
15. January - 14. February,
Norwich Gallery, GB
Sparwasser HQ with the exhibition: Old Habits Die Hard
6. February - 7. March 2004 in
Kunstnernes Hus, Olso, Norway
11 March- 17 April
Sparwasser HQ in Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul:
(Exhibition project and program of dialogues, a catalog in Turkish)
Hamburger Bahnhof, Invalidenstrasse 50-51, 10557 Berlin