Archive Newsletter No. 7.2
April 2020
In the first part of this newsletter series, the architecture and the fixed location of Kunstverein München were already outlined as recurring conditionalities for artistic and curatorial projects. Exhibitions such as Fareed Armaly’s Parts in 1997 or Heimo Zobernig’s solo exhibition two years later demonstrate how constantly and diversely the spaces on the north side of the Hofgarten, which have been occupied by the Kunstverein since the 1960s, have been reflected upon, changed, and dealt with in varying perspectives. This did not change in the following years, but since the beginning of the 21st century there has been an increasing attempt to open the institution to the outside and to think about it independently from its set location. The growing attention paid to a variety of curatorial formats [1] in the discourse of contemporary art, the ever more globally operating art market, and the growing importance of the European Union opened up new possibilities, which led to the questioning and spatial expansion of the institution as such and now also understood it as a space for action beyond its fixed architectural framework. This second part is dedicated to selected projects from the artistic program of the past twenty years and would like to take these as well as various curatorial orientations of the regularly changing directors and the respective curatorial team in order to provide an insight into how the structure of the institution has been deconstructed and further developed.
With the appointment of Maria Lind (Director 2002c04) as director, the institution’s responsibility to keep its self-reflexivity constantly awake, while at the same time overcoming architectural, local boundaries, once more took center stage. She understood this self-reflexivity “between museum and gallery as an extended studio into the public.” [2] This idea is evident in most of the projects realized at that time. The curatorial bureau [3] under Lind paid particular attention to overcoming the spatial cohesion, which is brought to bear by the fundamental redesign of the entrance area: “The Kunstverein München is located in the centre of town, right next to the Hofgarten, in a part of the city, which consists mainly of sightseeing attractions and places to stroll, and is dominated by the political and prestige interests of the city. It [...] also gives some indication of the expectations placed on the institution’s activities. In other words: from the very start, the location of this art institution within the city and its architectural shell, reflects and shapes its relationship towards the entire social environment surrounding it. This also includes the question as to who the space can be intended for. In addition to its site, architecture, and exhibition activities, the foyer conveys the Kunstverein’s most important message, its agenda with respect to its visitors and the way art should be introduced to them. [It] creates an interface between the institution and its users.” [4]
The redesign of the foyer was the first of the so-called Sputnik series, which took place continuously alongside the other exhibition program until 2004 and provided a space for curators, artists, and critics to exchange ideas and help shape the institution: “The word Sputnik, translated from the Russian, literally means partner or travelling companion. The Kunstverein [...built up] long-term relationships with a number of individuals in the art and cultural scene[, including Jan Verwoert, Deimantas Narkevičius, Jun Yang, Lynne Cooke, and Matts Leiderstam among others].” [5] As the first ‘sputnik,’ architect and artist Apolonija Šušteršič has been invited to rethink “the tunnel-like form of the ground floor, which serves as a foyer.” [6] Within her work, Šušteršič carries out critical analyses of spaces and their surroundings, reflecting on the “inscribed rituals and ideologies”[7] and restructuring them with the intention of a primarily social improvement.
“[T]he walls have therefore been turned into bookshelves. The stone floor has been covered with a capuccino-coloured, studded rubber flooring. This type of industrial flooring is similar to that found in other functional public spaces such as schools, sport centers, and public transportation vehicles; it reflects an everyday rather than an aesthetic purpose. It is better at muffling the sound; [for clairaudience always contributes to the authority of a space in which it acoustically transmits the movements and actions of users.] The bucket-seat chairs, which are made of wood and aluminum and were previously painted white, have been covered with foam and orange fabric.” [8] (see fig. right) In addition, the entrance area was equipped with a mobile and collapsible bar, a magnetic wall and a television. The choice of colors allowed the space to visually shrink, which was intended to contribute to a feeling of well-being, as
were the deckchairs provided. The element of relaxation as a counter-model to the unrestrained pressure of productivity in the art world appears repeatedly within Apolonija Šušteršičs work. “A ‘transdisciplinary,’ collaborative approach as such, it is absolutely indispensable when analyzing contexts as variegated as urban life, art museums, and other institutions and social spaces. Apolonija Šušteršič’s artistic research combines theory and practice to pursue a method of reflection in which a momentary situation of critique leads to activate constructive alternatives and spaces for hope.” [9]
The foyer thus became a space for exchange and encounter, making the institution‘s engagements visible and establishing a direct link between inside and outside. This was where people met, had conversations, read and worked. The staff of the Kunstverein were also present and accessible in this space. This supported a different perception of the activities of Kunstverein München, which was also evoked by the transparency regarding the daily work of the team. The greater visibility and opening of the foyer were the first step towards breaking up and overcoming the spatial limitations of the institution through the mobility of communication.
The curators and Šušteršič thought further ahead and also planned to move the glass entrance door to the side of the Hofgarten. “The Kunstverein’s new entrance [...] would then face the most popular path taken by people walking the garden, which lies between the Hofgarten and the Kunstverein like a membrane permeable from both sides: the arcades.” [10] It never went beyond the idea and remained unrealized. Further reconstruction plans under Maria Lind, such as the use of the roof truss as an artists’ hotel, failed to be implemented. [11] Nevertheless, the new “lobby-like room situation” [12] replaced the previous perception of the entrance area as a passageway. It now also offered a place to stay for the subsequent Sputnik projects and the participants, who repeatedly revived, observed, disturbed, and reflected on the structure of the institution over a long period of time. The lobby, as it was called during this period, developed into the anchor point for the underlying curatorial stance.
Maria Lind’s considerations on overcoming institutional boundaries were based primarily on the importance of exchange, but also on the awareness of temporality as a possibility for a more contemporary and more conscious perception of the Kunstverein’s activities. Not only the Sputnik projects, which were conceived as a year-long discussion among the invited participants, made use of the factor of time. Christine Borland’s Retrospective also focused on a larger time frame: from April 2002 to April 2003, the exhibition, which was divided into eight ‘stations’ [13], successively displayed works by the artist and also presented them at various locations in the building. The works conquered unexpected niches of the building as a presentation space, such as the cloakroom, the space adjacent to the mezzanine, which is now used as the curatorial office, the lobby, and the window display [14], which until then had rarely been considered for exhibitions. This enabled the dense and complex work to be presented in a manner appropriate to its receptivity, which also fully occupied the architecture. The eighth and final part, entitled A Place Where Nothing Has Happened, completely detached itself from the architectural spaces and was staged and exhibited on the grounds of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Borland “borrows methods from a wide range of disciplines: – archeology, ethnology, criminology, medicine, and science – involving people directly from these disciplines” [15] Together with an officer of the Munich police, this publicly accessible area was treated and examined as a crime scene: all legacies, such as cigarette butts, garbage or footprints were documented and classified and exhibited in a nearby construction container. Thus, the Retrospective ended in the open urban space.
The exploration of the question of how an institution can also operate and appear independently of its fixed architecture and location intensified in the 2000s. As a ‘sputnik,’ the artist Carey Young created parasitic interventions and thus irritated the marketing and communication structures of Kunstverein München with prorevolutionary appeals. The newly produced video work The Revolution is us! was shown between January 16 and 21, 2004 on the so-called ‘infoscreens’ at nine subway stations in Munich, including the central station, Sendlinger Tor, Odeonsplatz, and Marienplatz [16] as well as in the window display at the Hofgarten. In her work, Young investigates structures created by the capitalist motor that profoundly influence and control society. She accordingly uses her experience as a consultant in an internationally operating management consultancy for her artistic practice and “behaves like a chameleon, moving swiftly between the two worlds, which are traditionally understood to best stay apart: art and business. But in order to affect a system from the inside, one needs to have special knowledge.” [17] In her videos, performances, and ready-mades from the business world, Young articulates a criticism of the what can be called traditional institutional critique and searches for other forms, as becomes apparent through her use of the ‘infoscreens.’ These advertisement tools in the public urban space, disguised as a medium for conveying information, fit in perfectly by formally imitating the already existing poster spaces. In doing so, they suggest a supposed reservation which they do not maintain in terms of their media. Carey Young produced several works which she completed between 2002 and 2004. The Revolution is us! especially emphasizes the partial physical separation from the accustomed exhibition space, as it maintained the connection to the architecture of the Kunstverein through the additional inclusion of the window display at the Hofgarten, thus creating a shift to an outside space while at the same time keeping an eye on the architectural shell of the institution.
The exploration of the spatial boundaries of an institution can be found in other important projects under Maria Lind, most notably the exhibition Total Motiviert – Ein Soziokulturelles Manöver [Totally Motivated – A Socio-Cultural Manoeuver]. This project was preceded by reflections on the exhibition space and hence on the exhibition itself as a transborder form, incorporating three metaphorical concepts of space— Bubble, Borders and Doubling [18]—that are dedicated to the question of which spaces produce which discourses and which discourses take place in which spaces. [19] “The question as to the spatial performance of an exhibition space examines the possibility of experience and dialogue within a contextual framework of institutional space, artistic space, and the sphere of activities for artists and participants/visitors.” [20] The interplay of these complex components was made more and more aware during this time and entered the discourse of contemporary art. To this day, these thoughts continue to shape exhibition making.
The ever more global art world demanded a greater visibility from the institutions, enabling geographical expansion through new curatorial formats and allowing them to operate on a global scale. Stefan Kalmár (Director 2004–09) made it possible for the Kunstverein to gain a greater international profile by founding the project space Ludlow 38 on New York’s Lower East Side in 2008. It was a joint initiative with the Goethe Institute, then under the direction of Stephan Wackwitz, which brought the Kunstverein model to the American city. [21] During the first three years, Ludlow 38 offered the possibility of a one-year partial geographical outsourcing to Kunstverein München, European Kunsthalle, and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart and their respective programs. The integration of these institutions into the New York art scene took place at a time when the German art landscape was receiving special attention in the U.S. and enabled them to insert themselves into a lively, but also geocentric and privileged art scene. In 2011, the role of the space was reconsidered, which from then on through 2019 provided young curators with the possibility of a one-year residency program in the cultural metropolis.
The project Talk/Show, which was already developed in 2007 in cooperation with tranzit, [22] saw the Kunstverein’s program being entirely relocated to Bratislava for six weeks. There, 16 international artists and cultural workers were invited to give a lecture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava. In addition, an exhibition consisting of works contributed by the lecturers was developed during a workshop. Together, the participants, who worked in different artistic disciplines, explored cultural negotiation spaces outside of economic institutions. Starting from the urban setting in Bratislava, they looked for commonalities with other more western, European cities that were affected by the growing economization, privatization, and commercialization of public and discursive spaces during this period. Both examples formulate a detachment from the concrete architecture of the Kunstverein and also consider the institution as a space independent of its set location. The second example furthermore allows us to understand how institutions became aware of the new possibility of a wider reach, thereby realigning themselves and facing unfamiliar demands and responsibilities, which were not only reflected in the programmatic focus, but also expressed through new methods of communication and public relations.
The Schaufenster (window display) at the Hofgarten appears almost in opposition to this. Here, the interior of the architecture merges with its immediate surroundings, be it the location in the city center or the artificial nature of the Hofgarten and the interaction with passers-by. The local bonds are reflected in this place like nowhere else. Yet in an exciting way it renounces institutional boundaries and has become an exhibition space that can be viewed at any time, regardless of opening hours and admission tickets. With the exception of occasional projects, such as Borland’s aforementioned project, Inside Pocket, the window display remained a rather sporadically used exhibition space until 2015. The series The Local Contemporary, which invited Munich-based designers and photographers such as Fritz Beck, Jonathan Mauloubier, and Charlotte Talbot, saw the potential of the window display primarily based on the concept of the flâneur/ flâneuse. [23] This was reinforced by the installation Replica by the designers Ayzit Bostan and Gerhardt Kellermann which interacted with the window display. Following the example of the Venetian St. Mark’s Square, the arches of the northern arcades were covered with curtains.
Under the direction of Chris Fitzpatrick (Director 2015–19), this hitherto uncommon exhibition space was, on par with the rooms on the first floor, given the status of a presentation space for exhibitions and has been used as such continuously since then. Projects like those of Jochen Lempert or Juha Peka Matias Laakkonen reflected the artificiality of the surrounding nature. In 2017, the one-year exhibition series Theatre of Measurements showed artistic positions whose works were presented alongside and building on each other. They thematically dealt with the interaction between the measuring instrument and the object to be measured and were embedded in a scenography by the artist Jonas von Ostrowski, which established a connection with architectural and design elements of the Hofgarten and drew attention to the immediate surroundings. Apart from this one-year series, the window display at the Hofgarten remained a presentation space for individual positions or was linked to more extensive exhibitions and projects that spread across various spaces of the Kunstverein, including Lydia Ourahmane, Brud, Habima Fuchs, and Radio80000. Most of the works shown here were new productions by the artists. Currently, an onsite and online series is being presented here under the title Schaufenster, which interlinks the two permanently accessible spaces of the institution—the window display and the website. On the one hand, the format articulates a permanent viewing possibility at the site of the institution. On the other hand, it also formulates independency from institutional ties and opens itself up to non-physical visitors.
The curatorial team [24] under Chris Fitzpatrick worked more intensively on the de- hierarchization of exhibition spaces and formats, again making increased use of the foyer as a space for exhibitions, while also changing the architecture to create new spaces. During these years, artistic works like Insuline by Erik Thys and Adult Female by Nina Beier parasitically invaded unusual spaces, such as the fridge or the answering machine. By converting one of the exhibition spaces on the first floor into a cinema, a focus on moving images as well as cooperation with local cultural programs such as Dok.Fest, Queer Filmfest or the literary format meine drei lyrische ichs was made possible. From 2016 to 2019, The cinema was also a lively venue for events, collaborations and discussion formats such as symposia, artist talks, and the annual members meeting.
Since 2017, the archive has increasingly become an integral part of the institutional work and is particularly characterized by Theresa Bauernfeind’s profound, scientific work. In light of the forthcoming 200th anniversary in 2023, the archive of Kunstverein München will receive even more attention under the new direction of Maurin Dietrich (Director since July 2019) and the curatorial team. [25] The cinema has now given way to the new Archive Space, which opened in February of this year and was designed by the artist Julian Göthe in response to the Kunstverein’s architectural conditions. This has created a concrete and accessible space for the archive within the institution. The often- imperceptible archival work is now being exposed, allowing visitors to view publications and archival materials from 1969 to the present. In addition to providing greater visibility, the work of dealing with the archive will also become tangible in the form of curatorial, artistic, and mediating projects and events. Consequently, a place of encounter and exchange has been created here, which allows both spatial and programmatic links between past and present that can be jointly presented for the first time.
Since moving into the building at the Hofgarten, the regular conversion of the premises, as was recently demonstrated by the newly established Archive Space, as well as the noticeable change in perspective on the location and architecture of Kunstverein München has underscored the flexibility and adaptability that is required of the architecture in favor of curatorial and artistic decisions. Reflections on whether and how the institution can also act as a disembodied structure and in doing so always become aware of its own space of action in new ways can be found in the examples given above. It becomes clear how many dynamic components interact here, which continuously infiltrate and re-evaluate the defined architecture and are thereby able to free it from its authority and the hierarchies that accompany it. The great attention paid to contemporary art as well as the growing global networking required and enabled the decentralization of institutions, expanding their scope of action and with it their visibility. This in turn required more responsibility and foresight. Despite the increased attempts to detach the institution’s program from its fixed location, the examination of urban integration was incessantly incorporated into curatorial and artistic considerations. Moreover, it often forms the starting point for programmatic activities, which are always accompanied by current discourses.
Text: Christina Maria Ruederer
Translation and Editing: Gloria Hasnay, Adrian Djukic, and Christina Maria Ruederer
[1] This also includes curatorial formats which were developed not only by professional curators, but also by artists and other cultural workers.
[2] Kuhn, Matthias. “Wir sind kein Parkhaus für Objekte. Der Kunstverein wird 180 – Zeit, für einen längst fälligen Besuch,” in: go June. 2003, p. 80.
[3] The curatorial team under Maria Lind was formed by Ana Paula Cohen (2003), Søren Grammel (2002-04), Julienne Lorz (2004), Tessa Praun (2003), Katharina Schlieben (2002–03), and Judith Schwarzbart (2003–04).
[4] Grammel, Søren, “Eintritt. Zum Umbau des Foyers,” in: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004, p. 28–31, here: p. 28.
[5] Schlieben, Katharina, “Wohin die Reise geht...,” in: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004, p. 24–27, here: p. 24.
[6] Grammel, “Eintritt. Zum Umbau des Foyers,” p. 30.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Project website of artist Apolonija Šušteršičs: https://apolonijasustersic.com/about/publications/ [March 3, 2020]
[10] Grammel, Søren, “Eintritt. Zum Umbau des Foyers,” p. 31.
[11] The meticulous documentation of the projects and the curatorial work, which aimed for its own transparency, also allows insights into unrealized projects and exhibitions, making the larger context evident. Cf.: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et. al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004.
[12] Grammel, Søren, “Eintritt. Zum Umbau des Foyers,” p. 31.
[13] Cf.: Lind, Maria, “Ausdehnung in der Zeit. Eine Retrospektive mit Christine Borland, April 2002 Å April 2003,” in: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004, p. 90–97 and 114–127, here: p. 115.
[14] The installation Inside Pocket used two of the window displays as exhibition space, including the one at the Hofgarten, which has been used continuously for exhibitions since 2015, and the adjacent window of the office on the ground floor.
[15] Lind, Maria, “Ausdehnung in der Zeit. Eine Retrospektive mit Christine Borland, April 2002 – April 2003,” p. 90.
[16] Project website of artist Carey Young: http://www.careyyoung.com/philippe-parreno-carey- young [April 20, 2020]. [17] Lind, Maria, “Alles von Innen,” in: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004, p. 33–34, here: p. 33.
[18] Schlieben, Katharina, “Ausstellungsraum Per-form: Grenzfall,” in: Spring Fall 02 04. Gesammelte Drucksachen Collected Newsletters. Lind, Maria; Grammel, Søren; Lorz, Julienne; et al. (eds.), Kunstverein München, 2004, p. 161–163, here: p. 161.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Cf.: “The first 3 years of Ludlow 38,” Maier, Tobi; Lotz, Antonia; Kalmár, Stefan; et al. (eds.), Leipzig/New York, 2011.
[22] tranzit is a unique network of civic associations working autonomously in the field of contemporary art in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and beyond the borders of a wider Europe. Its main goal is to support and articulate emancipatory practices, and to establish connections between culture and society by moving across geographies, generations, and political spheres. Cf.: Project website of tranzit, https://www.tranzit.org [April 20, 2020]. [23] Flâneur / Flâneuse: from the French flâner, meaning to stroll, to wander, dawdle around, refers to the male/female city promenader, stroller, dawdler, but also loafer. A literary figure from the 19th century, the long exclusively male flâneur is particularly present in the work of the poet Charles Baudelaire (1821–68), who captures the zeitgeist of urbanism and modernity of the time. In Baudelaire‘s case, he is characterized as a wandering, dandy-like artist who discovers the world in the process of passing by, while reflecting on society. Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) also took up the term and perceived him more as an urban observer, voyeur, melancholic, and suspect at the same time, decoding the secrets and hidden characteristics of modern society. The concept of the flâneur did not foresee a female form until well into the 20th century. Baudelaire's work contains only the passante, the female passer-by, as a urbanite, which, however, in this temporal context is to be understood as sex worker or servant and was by no means the counterpart to the figure of the flâneur. It was not until the 20th century that women became participants and observers within urban life, one might think of Virginia Woolf, for instance. From the 2000s onwards, the common term flâneuse slowly became established. [24] The curatorial team headed by Chris Fitzpatrick consisted of Post Brothers (2016–19), Sarah Donderer (2016–17), Nina Gscheider (2015–16), and Christina Maria Ruederer (since 2017).
[25] Under the direction of Maurin Dietrich, the curatorial bureau is staffed by Gloria Hasnay (since 2019), Christina Maria Ruederer (until 2020) and Gina Merz (since 2020).
Fig.: Installation view of Heimo Zobernig at Kunstverein München e.V., 1999. Courtesy Kunstverein München e.V., photo: Wilfried Petzi (left) / Installation view of Entrance by Apolonija Šušteršič at Kunstverein München e.V., 2002. Courtesy Kunstverein München e.V. (right).