16 February–17 March 2019
Opening:
15 February 2019
Artists
Christoph Balzar, Frederik Becker, Dafne Narvaez Berlfein, Vivian Chan, An-Chi Cheng, Wen Ling Chung, Valeria Fahrenkrog, Katja Felle, Josephine Freiberg, Nika Grigorian, Katharina von Hagenow, Christiane Hamacher, Christina Harles, Hengame Hosseini, Jane Hwang, Ismail Karayakupoglu, Pablo Santacana Lopéz, Nicole Florence Marc, Mio Okido, Kerstin Podbiel, Natalia Rodzra, Costanza Rossi, Misa Saito, Grischa Stanjek, Sebastian Steinböck, Pegah Tanha, Anastasia Usatova
Participants
Ana Bilankov, Susanne Bosch, Stefanie Endlich, Naomi Hennig, Jutta Kalepky, Paula-Marie Kanefendt, María Linares, Andreas Reidemeister, Günter Schlusche, Ulrike Stutz, Christiane Zieseke
Curators
The Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts was a brainchild of 1970s West Berlin. Starting with the Artists Congress held in 1971, the exhibition traces the genesis of what was initially described as a ›Test Model for Artists’ Further Education‹. It was April 1978 when the first intake of students arrived to take the degree course, which was taught then on Köthener Straße, near Potsdamer Platz, the latter a wasteland at the time, bordered by the Berlin Wall. The declared aim of the test model was to make the arts more democratic, i.e. to make institutions of art and culture accessible to all; to encourage artistic expression and practice also among ›non-artists‹; and so to use the power of art to bring the concerns and struggles of marginalised and disprivileged sections of society to public attention. Equally, it aimed to redefine and broaden the scope of cultural work, so as to assure artists new openings and opportunities to intervene in public life, as well as a living wage.
The exhibition presents the major milestones in these forty years of educational progress, the origins of which owe much to the left-wing views and social criticism of a small band of committed teaching staff. Among them was Katja Jedermann, who significantly shaped the degree course from 1980 to 2012 and was also an early member of the nGbK. Her engagement facilitatedmany intersections between the Institute for Art in Context and the nGbK. In turning the spotlight on the two institutions’ long-standing cooperation, the exhibition offers an enlightening retrospective on the relevance, then as now, of the issues, discourse and artistic ventures advanced and thrashed out between 1978 and 2018.
Audio-visual finds from the archive of the Institute for Art in Context complement the projects and publications on display. Art pieces and interventions by past and present students at the Institute afford additional commentary on, and activities around, the documentary show. And a film workshop integrated in the exhibition perpetuates the work of the archive.
The following persons helped realise the exhibition:
Bettina Allamoda, Miguel Azuaga, Leonie Baumann, Christiane Boese, Carolin Braack, Karin Dannecker, Jula Dech, Juan Pablo Diaz Moreno, Dietmar Ebbers & Team, Stefanie Endlich, Michael Fehr, Ev Fischer, Heike-Karin-Föll, Lisa Glauer, Helmut Hartwig, Jörg Heiser, Renate Herter, Anne Hoelck, Volker Hoffmann, Katja Jedermann, Wolfgang
Knapp, Petra Kübert, Kristina Leko, Seraphina Lenz, Malve Lippmann, Nanna Lüth, Klaus Mantze, Carmen Mörsch, Annika Niemann, Christiane Post, Anne Randel, Teresa Reichert, Merle Richter, Anja Sommer, Judith Willkomm, Anna Zosik a.o.
Saturday, 16 Februar 2019, 15:00
Workshop with clay (GER)
“Working worlds in reproduction and production.” A commentary on the project “Winter School 1979” by Ismail Karyakupoglu
Only one photograph of a lost work made of clay from 1979 exists; this work was reproduced by Ismail Karyakupoglu in 2019. This reproduction will serve as a starting point in this workshop, which will deal with the themes of work and the world of work. Each person will be invited to experience the creative processes of appropriation through the means of work production with clay as the medium. Participants will be invited to contribute their own themes and personal experiences with and in the working world. This clay workshop will take place in an open format and does not require registration.
Saturday, 23 Februar 2019, 13:30-16:00
Workshop (GER/EN)
„plurilingual comment” by Pablo Santacana Lopéz
Which role does language play in a project with international participants? How does translation affect the way culture is produced?
The Institute for Art in Context (IfKiK) is composed nowadays of over 70% international students. Their presence grew in the last decades, but can be traced throughout the history of the Institute. This discussion/workshop will deal with interculturality on selected projects and exemplary concepts will be translated into other languages. Afterwards they will be placed back into the exhibition. Which new interpretations will be transferred into the works?
Saturday, 23 Februar 2019, 17:00
Guided tour
With Claudia Hummel
Friday, 1 März 2019, 18:00-20:00
Music
“Through the years: life pro-longing learning, should I go to sleep?”
A musical commentary from Vivian Chan and Katja Felle
This commentary serves as a supplementary audio archive to the current exhibition. It is a collection of the songs that students and staff heard during their years at the Institute for Art in Context. The popular songs, which ran “in the background” during these last 40 years, reflect the atmosphere of that time in a unique way. Thus, this commentary contextualizes the exhibited archive material and at the same time brings the music back to life.
Saturday, 2 März 2019, 17:00
Round table
»Köthener Straße 44 am Potsdamer Platz. Rückblick auf die Jahre vor und nach dem Mauerfall«
With Jutta Kalepky, Andreas Reidemeister, Günter Schlusche, Christiane Zieseke
Chaired by: Stefanie Endlich
The building in which the study programme of the present Institute for Art in Context first took shape is but a few steps away from Potsdamer Platz. The history of the square and its surroundings reflect political and cultural shifts in Berlin, as well as the urban development that accompanied them. Until 1989, the building at Köthener Straße 44 was only a stone’s throw from the Berlin Wall, amid vacant lots, wasteland, and ruins that were there for the taking. Four individuals who were active there in urban planning and the cultural sector prior to the political turn discuss the peculiarities, hopes and myths to which it gave rise as well as the rapid urban development that succeeded them after 1990.
Saturday, 16 März 2019, 17:00
Round table
»Von der Marktlücke zum Pilot_innenprojekt: Rückblick auf das Projekt Kunstcoop©«
With Ana Bilankov, Susanne Bosch, María Linares, Ulrike Stutz
Chaired by: Naomi Hennig, Paula-Marie Kanefendt
In 2001 and 2002, Kunstcoop© offered a programme of gallery education at the nGbK. With its independent critiques, Kunstcoop© sparked debates both with the members and project groups behind the nGbK exhibitions and projects, and with their respective publics. Originally pitched in a seminar led by Carmen Mörsch at the Institute for Art in Context, the Kunstcoop© concept ultimately established gallery education as an independent discipline in Berlin. Former Kunstcoop© members discuss the repercussions this form of art agency has had in recent years, the various practices it has fostered, and which intersections and divergences can be noted with regard to gallery education at the nGbK today.
Financed by
