14 October–19 November 2017
Opening:
13 October 2017
Artists
Project group RealismusStudio
Jan Ketz, Christin Lahr, Isabelle Meiffert, Ulrike Riebel, Susanne Weiß
In the tradition of the discursive exhibitions of the RealismusStudio, the focus of the show is on Lois Weinberger, a trailblazer and crosser of frontiers, who since the late 1980s has influenced the debates on art and its dealings with nature. Since this time, his engagement with spaces of nature and civilisation and the phenomenon of an excessively controlled society has been dominated by spontaneous ruderal vegetation. His metaphor of the migration movements of our times, which calls into question the arbitrary drawing of borders and hierarchies, turns out to be a radical counter-concept to the capitalist industry of exploitation. At the nGbK, works that were created during his grant stay at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin in 1994/95 or that relate to them will be presented for the first time in a larger work context.
In the curatorial experiment titled CONJUNCTIONS, Weinberger’s complex oeuvre will be elucidated from different angles and discursively expanded by the artistic positions of Heath Bunting and Ladislav Zajac – in the roles of a satellite and a reflector. Heath Bunting, who calls himself an ›artivist‹, was a co-founder of the ›net.art‹ and ›sport-art‹ movements in the 1990s, one of the first flash mobbers and the founder of the internet platform irational.org, which still exists today. The artist challenges radical hierarchies and power relations and uncovers existing power structures and processes of capitalist appropriation. Ladislav Zajac, who reveals the peculiarities of specific sites and situations with mostly minimalistic interventions, reflects the spatiotemporal dimensions of the exhibition and establishes connections.
In conjunction with the show, works will be presented on two surfaces behind the tracks of the U-Bahn station Bernauer Straße, and pictorial motifs of all three participating artists will be fly-postered in urban space.
The publication accompanying the exhibition contains texts by Christin Lahr and Isabelle Meiffert as well as a talk between Lois Weinberger, Heath Bunting, Ladislav Zajac, Wolfgang Schröder, Christin Lahr and Isabelle Meiffert. nGbK publishing house. ISBN: 978-3-938515-70-9
Events:
Saturday, 14 October 2017, 11-17h
Workshop »Indoor Survival Workshop« with Heath Bunting (en)
Whether you are imprisoned by the empire, avoiding external contaminants or a desperate parent of multiple babies, you will need to learn indoor survival skills. This workshop can prepare you for emergency situations or just extend your ability to remain indoors for long periods. The usual survival topics of group dynamics, mental health, sleeping, eating, drinking and personal hygiene will be covered. Your tutor for this workshop has not only spent the last 2 years in a bedroom with another adult and twin babies for an average 23 hours per day but has also lived in the outdoors for months at a time.
Saturday, 14 October 2017, 19h
Lecture & Artist Talk »About The Status Project« by Heath Bunting (en)
Event space, 1st floor
Heath Bunting speaks about his long-standing project entitled The Status Project (since 2004), in which the artist deals with the effects of immaterial exclusion mechanisms. Each of our movements and activities generates a variety of data streams, which are analyzed using methods of data mining to form comprehensive personality profiles. The identities constructed from this determine our social status and the associated freedom of movement or action. In complex diagrams, Bunting reveals interrelated patterns of relationships and their impact on our freedom of movement and explores ways to construct new official identities to influence their status in our society.
Sunday, 15 October 2017, 12h
Hidden Talk »Ausstellen – zwischen Zeigen und Verbergen« (de/en)
Exhibition space and hidden place
RealismusStudio in conversation with Lois Weinberger, Heath Bunting, Ladislav Zajac and guests.
Moderation Christin Lahr and Isabelle Meiffert.
Hidden Talk is an experimental conversation format in which, together with the artists involved, the question is discussed of what is meant by exhibiting in a time of media exhibitionism. While the artistic activity of Lois Weinberger and Heath Bunting often takes place in secret, Ladislav Zajac reflects aspects of perception and promotes underlying structures. Starting from concrete works by the participating artists, the relationship between showing and concealing as well as the limitations of the exhibition as a medium is tracked.
Sunday, 15 October 2017, 14h
Meet the Artist: Lois Weinberger, Heath Bunting and Ladislav Zajac (de/en)
With an introduction by Christin Lahr and Isabelle Meiffert.
Sunday, 22 October 2017, 14h
Guided Tour with the Curators (de)
Sunday, 22 October 2017, 16h
Slides and Reading: »Inmitten von Dingen, die nur sich selbst bedeuten. Die Präsenz des Abwesenden in Texten von Roland Barthes, Marlen Haushofer, Alesandro Baricco, Richard Brautigan, Italo Calvino u. a.« (de/en)
Event space, 1st floor
With Ladislav Zajac, Paul Valikowski and Felicitas Madl
Sunday, 29 October 2017, 14h
Guided Tour with the Curators (de)
Sunday, 5 November 2017, 15h
Lecture and Presentation of Publication: »Dem Internet beim Wachsen zugeschaut oder: Über ›Own, Be Owned Or Remain Invisible‹ Heath Buntings Selbstporträt mit 32« (de)
Event space, 1st floor
With Wolfgang Schröder, software-entrepreneur and editor of the same-titled publication, Buchholz/Nordheide
From the Internet work „Own, Be Owned Or Remain Invisible.“ , in which Heath Bunting, already in 1988, discusses the commercialization of the Internet, the privatization of public space, territorial appropriation as well as related undemocratic domination structures, Wolfgang Schröder presents his publication, other works and subversive strategies of the British artist.
Sunday, 5 November 2017, 14h
Guided Tour with the Curators (de)
Sunday, 12 November 2017, 14h
Guided Tour with the Curators (de)
Sunday, 19 November 2017, 16h
Guided Tour with the Curators (de)
Sunday, 19 November 2017, 17h
Finissage + book presentation REALITY CHECK: WILD CUBE AND GROUND CONTROL
Supported by
