Archive Newsletter No. 3.2
October 2018
After the Kunstverein München had already lost much of its significance in the second half of the 19th century, it had to find a new home and identity after the two World Wars.
It was only in the 1960s that Kunstverein München succeeded in revitalizing itself, "[...]because now in public debate instead of through internal cliques the exhibition program was justified and thus a piece of lost, political public sphere was regained". [1]
This was accompanied by increased cooperation with the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. The new managing director Reiner Kallhardt faced heated public debate in Munich with a cooperation with the Academy. In 1968 the student protests at the Academy had escalated, so that the school was temporarily closed by the Ministry of Culture on January 20, 1969. After the closure of the academy, the students presented the exhibition Die herrschende Ästhetik ist die Ästhetik der Herrschenden (“The ruling aesthetics are the aesthetics of the ruling ") at the Kunstverein, responding to the events at the academy and documenting the recent political history of the institution. This endeavor was considered as a supplement to the exhibition Transform the world! Poetry must be made by all! (1970). Before the Kunstverein München took over this exhibition as the first German station, it was shown at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. [2]
Borrowing its title from the writings of Comte de Lautréamont and Karl Marx, the exhibition was devoted to Russian revolutionary art and Surrealism within the context of the events of May 1968 in Paris and elsewhere, examining art’s role in transforming social and political realities. Kallhardt invited academy students to continue their protest and discussion in public over the course of the exhibition. In response, the Ministry of Culture cancelled all state subsidies for the Kunstverein and demanded that the exhibition be closed. Kallhardt had to resign from his office and the scandal occupied the press throughout Germany. [3]
In the following years, a close relationship was established between the Kunstverein and the Academy, which was continued by changing directors. From 1978 onwards, Wolfgang Jean Stock in particular promoted young art in Munich alongside international positions and expanded the collaboration with the Academy. On the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Munich Academy, the Kunstverein München showed the exhibition Junge Akademie. Hans Baschang and his Class .
Zdenek Felix, who became director of the Kunstverein in 1985, focused his exhibition activities on contemporary international painting. In his exhibition program, however, Daniel Spoerri (1986), Nikolaus Gerhart (1987), Axel Kasseböhmer (1990), Günther Förg (1992) and Gerhard Merz (1986) were also professors of the academy.
Helmut Draxler also cultivated a close relationship with the academy and the local art scene from 1992 to 1995. During the exhibition Sommerakademie. Eine freie Akademie auf Zeit by Stephan Dillemuth in June 1994, groups from the art academies in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Vienna and Munich discussed their educational situation in more than 40 events, showed their own projects, and attended theoretical lectures as well as presentations by other artists such as Four Walls.
"The term "academy" should be freed from its institutional constraints and the needs of the ubiquitous master class system, and replaced by self-organized projects, presentations, and a lively exchange with people from other academies. It was primarily a question of presence, but also of largely abolishing the hierarchy between teachers and students, all those present should be producers and audiences at the same time". [4]
The close exchange between the Kunstverein and the Academy has continued steadily in recent years. On the occasion of the exhibitions Motion by Karel Martens and Reclaimed Empire by Adam Putnam (2017), Kunstverein München presented Quality Time, a series of events and interventions by students of the Olaf Nicolai class and guests. With Motion, the Kunstverein München presented an extensive and multi-layered overview exhibition of the artist, typographer, graphic designer, and teacher Karel Martens, which extended over the staircase and three exhibition rooms and was accompanied by events in Amsterdam, Paris, Vilnius and New York. Reclaimed Empire by Adam Putnam, a video work consisting of 81 video fragments with sound that had been collected by the artist over time, was presented in the cinema.
With their works, the artists of the academy responded directly to the two exhibitions shown at the Kunstverein and within these exhibition spaces. Without a prescribed format or function, their ideas could be presented inside or outside the Kunstverein's physical premises, during opening hours, or at evening events. In the Kunstverein, a flood of installations, lectures, screenings, performances, and other interventions arose, which were shown at various locations in the Kunstverein, but were also broadcast on the Internet and via loudspeakers on a boat in the rear of the academy.
The aim of the project was to provide young artists with a platform for engaging with other artistic works that went beyond simply a discussion of an exhibition. Quality Time should serve as a model for how an institution that exhibits works by artists can collaborate with another institution that supports artists in their development. Hierarchies should also be dissolved and the exhibition space opened for artistic answers. In the course of the two-month exhibition, a publication of the same name developed, documenting all interventions and highlighting the different approaches of the artists.
The mutual exchange between the two institutions has existed since they were founded and is still actively maintained today. Students and alumni of the academy not only form a substantial part of the Kunstverein’s audience, but also regularly present their works in supplementary and discursive events related to larger exhibitions, in our annual Jahresgaben, and in independent events throughout the year. Since last year, students of the academy have also been granted particularly reduced admission to exhibitions at the Kunstverein München, and the classes are regularly guided through the exhibitions by arrangement. Visits to the annual diploma exhibitions in spring and the annual exhibition in summer are also a frequent and popular part of the Kunstverein München's membership program.
Text: Theresa Bauernfeind, Christina Maria Ruederer
Research: Theresa Bauernfeind, Christina Maria Ruederer
Translation ans Editing: Theresa Bauernfeind and Christina Maria Ruederer
If you have any questions or suggestions please contact us via archiv@kunstverein-muenchen.de.
[1] Cf. Walter Grasskamp: Die unbewältigte Moderne. Kunst und Öffentlichkeit, München 1994, S. 126 f.
[2] Cf. Walter Grasskamp: Konkurrenten und Partner . Kunstverein und Kunstakademie in München, in: Maria Lind, Søren Grammel, Katharina Schlieben, Judith Schwarzbart, Ana Paula Cohen, Julienne Lorz, Tessa Praun (Hrsgg.): Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen, Frankfurt am Main 2004, S. 36–51.
[3] Cf. Helmut Draxler und Hedwig Saxenhuber: (Re-)politisierung und kuratorische Produktion, in: Bernd Milla, Heike Munder (Hrsgg.): Tatort Kunstverein. Eine kritische Überprüfung eines Vermittlungsmodells, Nürnberg 2001, S.39–46, hier: S. 43.
[4] Ibd.
Fig.:
1. Verändert die Welt! Poesie muß von allen gemacht werden!, 1970. Installation View Kunstverein München e.V., 1970.
2. Sommerakademie / Stephan Dillemuth, 1994. Installation View Kunstverein München e.V., 1994.