My view on art & culture in Januar 2017 through my private pictures

After the 9th Berlin Biennial art institution KW Berlin not only starts into a new season, but into a new era: Krist Gruijthuijsen is following Ellen Blumenstein as new director and he will also curate himself together with a team. As kick-off he invited the artists Ian Wilson and Hanne Lippard and arranged a bunch of performances all through the opening weekend. On top of that Pogo Bar, which was located in the cellar of KW during the 1990ies, will be revived as «Bob’s Pogo Bar» and provide weekly events – predictably the art scene and the incrowd will flock to it.

«Canova und der Tanz» @ Bode Museum Berlin – Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757 – 1822) made three variations of dancers which are on display together for the first time in Berlin’s Bode Museum. He had a passion for dance and was sick of gravity – so let’s dance and lift our souls!

AFTER THEORY?! Philipp Felsch takes us on a powerful and entertaining trip through West-Germany’s post-war theory-landscape told along the history of micro-publisher Merve Verlag. A must read, especially for those who know Heidi Paris of Merve Verlag as professor at Kunsthochschule Kassel – so little did we understand back then!

Exhibition of the month: «Nach Berlin» by Candida Höfer at nbk Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. The exhibition of photographs and projections mark a restart for the well-known photographer who is notorious for shooting libraries and other spledid interiors of all kinds, because for this exhibiton she left behind her well-known territories to strive for the yet unknown aspects of her work – at least for her audience. She magically develops a nostalgic fascination for textures and structures and the subtle rhythm of overlaying images of public and semi-public spaces seem to rhyme like the lines of a poem. Her conceptual images put her into the role of a Walter Benjamin-like «flanêuse» and us in the position of the strolling voyeur. The space-place relationship developed by her photographs takes us on a trip deep into the center of the constantly transforming ephemeral and the futile inbetween. Therefore «Nach Berlin» («To Berlin» or «After Berlin») can also be understood in a temporary aspect – and mark a transition for all of us.

«Belong anywhere» is the name of an exhibition curated by Hate Magazin in cooperation with Anna Gien and Nina Hollensteiner and it’s displayed at ACUD Studio and an AirBnB appartment – the slogan of the brand marks the title. The super young curators blend the gallery space together with the private sphere and ask about the sellout of the artist and the burnout of private and public economic strategies. It’s up to the visitor to decide which of the exhibited pieces belong to which category and to which to turn the attention to. In the image the post-it is officially the artwork by Jessica Mester who put a series througout the space. But if you want to define it the other way round and say that exactly this post-it doesn’t belong to the series – who in a totally borderless economic system, a trait which defines the art market also, would say you’re not free to do so? Or to claim that the flat wasn’t an AirBnB apartment even…

Still a great overview: “World In Your Hand – On The Everyday Culture Of The Mobile Phone” published 2010 by Spector Books

Since yesterday on my classic iPod (yes, I’m still using these devices) and already in heavy rotation: The first EP of EXIT SOMEONE from Montréal formed by the power couple June Moon and Thom Gillies of Vesuvio Solo. Their stylish release with cosy sounds is called «Dry Your Eyes» – some comfort is definitely needed these days. Or as they express it: «Love In The Days Of Rage». EXIT SOMEONE just gets to the point!

R.I.P. JOHN BERGER (1926 – 2017) | «How to resist a state of forgetfullness» in: John Berger: «Ein Selbstportrait», 2016 published by Berliner Festspiele in Edition 21

Lucia Moholy @ Bauhaus Archiv Berlin | «Die Fotografie ist weiblich» – as Gunter Sachs put it – that’s also true for the photographic style of Bauhaus. Lucia Maholy (1894–1989) captured the spirit of the Bauhaus – her photos of the Bauhaus buildings and products shaped the image of the institution. She was also one of the first to write a history of photography for its centenary, published by Penguin in 1939.