Thursday 8 December 2011

LAFFOLEY is critic's pick in the December-issue of ARTFORUM

Paul Laffoley, The Orgone Motor, 1981, oil, acrylic, vinyl lettering on canvas,


Paul Laffoley
"secret universe"
HAMBURGER BAHNHOF

September 4, 2011–March 4, 2012

The term post-critical has been thrown around in recent years to describe the ideals of hybridity and inclusivity governing much contemporary art. In this context, the exclusive category of “outsider artist” appears antiquated and counterproductive. Reflecting on this contemporary scenario, curators Udo Kittelmann and Claudia Dichter initiated a project space in Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof dedicated to artists who have been largely excluded from the mainstream art world. In the second exhibition in their program, titled “Secret Universe II,” the forty-year career of the Boston-based artist and architect Paul Laffoley is granted reassessment. Featuring over thirty paintings and prints comprising dense interplays between philosophical texts, mystical diagrams, and historical references, Laffoley’s superb draftsmanship frames his paranoid and hyperactive assessments of how history interacts with and constructs the future.

Combining a Conceptualist sensibility with New Age illustration techniques, Laffoley’s works reveal his engrossment in the alternative realities and lifestyles synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s. His paintings evoke a Philip K. Dick–esque world where history, psychosis, and science fiction come together in ways that are simultaneously thought-provoking, entertaining, and, frankly, weird. Aligning his artistic practice with historical figures from R. Buckminster Fuller to Heraclitus, Laffoley gives an architectural schema to speculative notions and mysterious historical forms, tackling subjects as diverse as kabbalah, the shroud of Turin, quantum theory, cosmogenesis, the work of Wilhelm Reich, and the philosophy of Lucretius. His unconventional theories are delicately spelled out with adhesive lettering on the surfaces of his paintings, conveying his esoteric beliefs and giving the exhibition its legibly driven character. Yet the innovative pictorial arrangements of works such as The Orgone Motor, 1981, and The Eloptic Nohmagraphon, 1989, are often more captivating than the theories themselves. The exhibition provides an engaging introduction to Laffoley’s fascinating career, and exemplifies the move in contemporary art to abolish “outsider” status.

Wes Hill, ARTFORUM, 12/2012

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Michael Patterson-Carver at NADA Art Fair


Michael Patterson-Carver
December 1–4, 2011


Solo presentation in collaboration with Sorry We're Closed (Brussels) and Laurel Gitlen (New York)

Deauville Beach Resort
6701 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL

www.newartdealers.org

Horst Ademeit at NADA Art Fair, Miami

Horst Ademeit, untitled, undated, 11 x 9 cm, mixed media on Polaroid
© Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne



Horst Ademeit will be showing at NADA Art Fair!
DECEMBER 1 – 4, 2011


VISIT
WHITE COLUMNS + CREATIVE GROWTH'S BOOTHS
AT THE 2011 NADA ART FAIR, MIAMI



WHITE COLUMNS WILL BE EXHIBITING
WORKS BY:

HORST ADEMEIT
JASON BRINKERHOFF
JEFF FUNNELL
JOHN HILTUNEN
JADRANKA KOSORCIC
ELLA KRUGLYANSKAYA
DANIEL RIOS RODRIGUEZ
BERRY VAN BOEKEL


EDITIONS BY:
RICCI ALBENDA
DAN COLEN
ANNE COLLIER
MARTIN CREED
SIMON EVANS
ELLA KRUGLYANSKAYA
ADAM MCEWEN


CREATIVE GROWTH ART CENTER WILL BE SHOWING
WORKS BY:

David Albertsen
Terri Bowden
John Hiltunen
Franna Lusson
Dwight Mackintosh
Dan Miller
Aurie Ramirez
Judith Scott
William Scott
Gerone Spruill
William Tyler
Valerie Tribble
Merritt Wallace

www.whitecolumns.org
www.creativegrowth.org

Friday 18 November 2011

Coming-up at Prinzhorn Collection: Prinzhorn's Book

The cover of one of Oskar Voll's books © Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne


Prinzhorn's Books

8 December 2011 – 5 February 2012

In 1922, Hans Prinzhorn published "Artistry of the Mentally Ill", today a classic, which has been reissued regularly until today: the 7th edition was published this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Prinzhorn Museum Collection.

Based on works of art sent from mental institutions all over Germany and collected in Heidelberg 1919-1921, Prinzhorn develops his own theory of expression. In his book, he illustrates his theory using works of art as examples; he introduces his ten "schizophrenic masters" in specific chapters and discusses important issues on the borders of psychiatry and art.

The publication was particularly noticed by national and international artists and people interested in art. A crucial factor in its success was the fact that it was illustrated with 187 images, partly in colour. For the first time, Prinzhorn made a chapter of artistic creativity visible, which previously had scarcely even played a role in psychiatric journals.
The exhibition takes Prinzhorn's selection of works for his publication as a model, and presents his ideas from a historical and critical perspective.


Museum Sammlung Prinzhorn

Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie Universitätsklinik Heidelberg

Voßstr. 2

69115 Heidelberg

Germany

www.prinzhorn.ukl-hd.de

Saturday 12 November 2011

New Chris Hipkiss show in Cologne


Chris Hipkiss
"The L.I.E.S"

11.11. - 22.12.2011


"The L.I.E.S" is an acronym of "London In Europe", a fact which, though not a real lie, is a reality accepted with reluctance by some. Wordplay is recurrent in the Hipkiss universe and a formal element essential to the idiosyncratic visual language that shapes the panoramic parallel worlds on the walls. Emblematic is an anarchic-style of hypnotic precision and restraint, intricately repetitive and laying bare an anthropomorphic, post-industrial world populated by mutant cyber-dominas – an army of Hipkiss alter-egos. For over 20 years Chris Hipkiss and Alpha Mason have been working together steadily on an uncompromising visual iconography which is mesmerizing, if not downright visionary. Turning their backs on the British suburban landscape they disliked, they moved to the French countryside in the early 2000s shortly after 9/11. The prolific body of Hipkiss-work is the result of a symbiotic interplay between two individuals, two co-conspirators in a creative process shaped by a relationship and its themes and the continuous exchange of ideas and techniques.

Self-reflexive and innovative, the works shown here lays bare the very processes of creation behind the concept of "The L.I.E.S.", allowing the viewer to catch a glimpse at the potential of revisiting and recreating landscapes. The exhibition is the culmination of a year's work and a mock-up of a museum show. It is precisely in the dialectic with the exhibition space that "The L.I.E.S" exposes the reinvented possibilities of large-format Hipkiss works which a restricted gallery space can only hope to allude to. The current body of work also highlights a fact often forgotten: that the drawings are not about repetitive detail drawn by an obsessive loner in seclusion, but about landscape, life and the world around us. Hipkiss work is represented in several collections such as the Collection Antoine de Galbert (Paris), the Cindy Sherman Collection (New York), the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam) and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI).

The show is on until 22. December at Galerie Susanne Zander in Cologne
www.galerie-susanne-zander.com

Monday 7 November 2011

George Widener at JMK Arts Center (WI)



George Widener at John Michael Kohler Arts Center

"Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts"

through December 2011

Memory is embedded in everything around us—in our culture, beliefs, possessions, relationships—it is a central component of human nature. Memory’s reach can be lifelong or fleeting. We define ourselves through memory, yet it can deceive us when we are least prepared. We continually search for new and inventive ways to keep memory alive: creating, preserving, and sharing memories through Internet databases, oral and written accounts, and visual records. All of this is in an attempt to keep memory out of the mind’s deep hiding places—to master time, hang on to things we no longer possess, and share recollections we hold dear. Many fear losing their memory, while others long to forget.

Hiding Places will draw on this complex and fascinating topic, breaking new ground in cross pollinated programming and engaging limitless audiences. The memory project will serve as a foundation for hosting intergenerational exchange, fostering new thinking about the aging process, finding new ways to apprehend and approach the Autism spectrum, examining the formation of personal and shared memories, and much more.

Because memory is a broad and inclusive topic, it is divided into four thematic components. Click on the names to view each component: From Memory, Holding Memory, Forget Memory, and Shared Memory.

The exhibition and accompanying book will delve deeply into each of the four areas. Artists involved in other programming areas—Performing Arts, Connecting Communities, and Education—will dovetail with the four components in various ways. The profusely illustrated book will include original writings by the exhibition’s curators and prominent scholars with expertise in savant syndrome, age and community, American culture, and art history.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI 53081
P 920.458.6144
F 920.458.4473
www.jmkac.org

Thursday 3 November 2011

Secret Universe 02: Paul Laffoley



Secret Universe 02:
Paul Laffoley


November 4, 2011 - March 4, 2012

Where can a secret still exist, if it’s exhibited in the public space of a museum? Does it lie in what is shown, in the conditions under which it originated, in the effect it has? It lies in all of the above. Secret Universe presents individual artistic positions that cannot be branded with any of the labels commonly used in the art world and do not follow a contemporary discourse, yet employ all of the strategies of contemporary art. With the series, secret universe, Hamburger Bahnhoff-Museum fur Gegenwart-Berlin is opening a project area in the museum’s eastern wing for a period of three years, which will present works of art that give insights into fascinating worlds of potentiality, as well as offering complex visual narratives.


© Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Foto: Imke Scholz


Curated by Claudia Dichter und Udo Kittelmann.
Publication by Verlag der Buchhandlung: Walter Konig.

Hamburger Bahnhof
Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof
Invalidenstr. 50 - 51
10557 Berlin

www.hamburgerbahnhof.de

THE KENO TWINS 5 at Colazione in Barriera, Turin

Sava Sekulić , untitled, undated, oil on wood, 36 x 41 cm


THE KENO TWINS 5
curated by Michael Bauer
From 4. November - 26. November 2011

“Colazione in Barriera”, in his fifth edition, is an appointment that every year takes place by hosting important contemporary art exhibitions during Artissima, the art fair of Turin.
This year Barriera hosts The Keno Twins 5, a show curated by Michael Bauer, who on this occasion has selected more than sixty works, including drawings, sculptures, photographs, and paintings made by thirty-eight artists of different ages and origins.
The idea behind the exhibition is to shed light on the possible affinities between apparently very different works and, as the artist explains, to trace out ‘hidden links, like surreptitious handshakes, in order to form a club that members do not even realise they belong to.’
The selection of works reveals Michael Bauer’s personal interest in independent research that is capable of inventing new worlds and private mythologies, and in obsessions that become forms of art.

‘The Keno Twins’ is a travelling exhibition project that acquires new forms and shapes at each stop. After being shown in Cologne and Esslingen (Villa Merkel), ‘The Keno Twins’ has now found space at Barriera, Turin, for its fifth event.

Keno Twins features:
Horst Ademeit, Francesco Barocco, Michael Bauer, Georg Bauer, Scott Calhoun, Steven Claydon, Michaela Eichwald, Frank Haines, Charlie Hammond, John Hiltunen, Chris Hipkiss, Paul Humphrey, Aurel Iselstöger, Erwin Kneihsl, Fabian Marti, David Noonan, Dietrich Orth, Michail Paule, Stefanie Popp, Aurie Ramirez, Alan Reid, Salvo, Sava Sekulic, Renee So, Ghédalia Tazartès, Miroslav Tichy, Mark van Yetter, Oskar Voll, August Walla, George Widener, Agatha Wojciechowski.

Michael Bauer was born in Erkelenz (Germany) in 1973 and lives in New York. On 2011 he had a solo show as well as an exhibition that he himself curated at Villa Merkel, Esslingen. In 2009 he had a solo exhibition at the Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel; in 2007 he had solo shows at the Kunstverein in Bonn and at the Städtische Galerie in Delmenhorst. He works with Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich; Norma Mangione, Turin; Lisa Cooley, New York.

www.associazionebarriera.com

Thursday 27 October 2011

PAUL LAFFOLEY - New "secret universe" publication out now!



Verlag Walther König - Paul Laffoley: Secret Universe 2
EUR 24,80

Paul Laffoley hat Kunstgeschichte, klassische Geschichte, Philosophie und Architektur studiert, bei den Architekten Frederick Kiesler und Minoru Yamasaki in New York gearbeitet und für Andy Warhol nachts das Fernsehprogramm durchgeschaut. Seit Mitte der 1960er-Jahre setzt er sich in seinen Gemälden und Papierarbeiten mit komplexen Theorien zu Philosophie, Anthroposophie und naturwissenschaftlichen Themen auseinander. Er destilliert das Wissen von so unterschiedlichen Geistern wie Richard Buckminster Fuller, Goethe, William Blake oder C.G. Jung und entwickelt fantastische Theorien über Zeitreisen, schwarze Löcher oder mathematische Fragen zur 4. und 5. Dimension. Seine oftmals stark farbigen, mit Schrifteinheiten versehenen Arbeiten sind gekennzeichnet von einer technisch-geometrischen Formensprache, gepaart mit Einflüssen aus Spiritualität und Science-Fiction. In sogenannten "thoughtforms" legt er seine Überlegungen und geistigen Einflüsse zu jedem Werk schriftlich nieder. Die Publikation begleitet die erste Einzelausstellung Paul Laffoleys in Europa.

Since the mid-1960s, Paul Laffoley has grappled with complex theories on paper. He distils the wisdom from such varied thinkers as Richard Buckminster Fuller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, William Blake and C.G. Jung, developing visionary theories about time travel, black holes and mathematical questions on the forth and fifth dimensions. He uses "thoughtforms" to record to records his ideas about and intellectual influences in his works.



Laffoley: Secret Universe II, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2011 LAFFOLEY, PAUL - BERLIN, HAMBURGER BAHNHOF - Bestell-Nr: 1468822, ISBN: 978-3-86335-088-8, EUR 24,80

Wednesday 12 October 2011

ADEMEIT Film by Marcus Werner Hed & Michael Bauer in London





the gallery sketch
ADEMEIT Marcus Werner Hed & Michael Bauer
1 October to 19 November 2011

Frieze VIP Reception Saturday 15 October, 10am-11.30am
sketch presents ADEMEIT by Marcus Werner Hed and Michael Bauer, a film-portrait of Horst Ademeit that explores his life's research into 'cold-rays'.
Ademeit documented his research over many years through numerous intricately notated Polaroid photographs. Following an exhibition of his work at Galerie Susanne Zander in Cologne in 2009, filmmaker Marcus Werner Hed and artist Michael Bauer undertook extensive interviews with him to create a contemplative and celebratory film that explores the diversity of human perception.

Michael Bauer (b.1973, lives and works in Cologne) is an artist and co-director of Foundation of BROTHERSLASHER, Cologne. Bauer has participated in numerous exhibitions internationally and recent solo shows include K-Hole, Villa Merkel, Essling; The Summer I started Collecting Knives, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York and Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin; Euro Savage (with Charlie Hammond), Linn Luhn, Cologne !Golden Gong (with Stefanie Popp), Marquis Dance Hall, Istanbul; Anthem, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel; Legion Picknick, HOTEL, London; French Meat, Belgian Meat, Peter Kilchmann, Zurich; Basho's Friends, Jack Hanley, San Francisco; Basho's Bar, Kunstverein Bonn, Bonn.
Marcus Werner Hed is a London based filmmaker whose films have been screened in festivals and galleries world-wide. He founded Pundersons Gardens with Jeremy Valender in 2006 and has produced numerous artists-films by Wolfgang Tillmans, Daria Martin and Emily Wardill among others. TAZARTES, his new film, co-directed with Michael Bauer, about avant garde singer Ghedalia Tazartes is currently in production as well as Arctic Dreams, a feature length documentary about workers living in the oil and gas industries in the Arctic.
Opening Times - Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Kindly supported by Peroni & Marquis Vodka
For high resolution images or further details please contact Victoria Brooks victoriab@sketch.uk.com/ +44 7968 477 636
sketch 9 Conduit Street London W1S 2XG

Objet Secret, Judith Scott in Paris




Objet Secret

Judith
Scott

12. Oktober - 18 Dezember, 2011
Eröffnung: 11. Oktober 18h - 21h
Collège des Bernardins 18 - 24 rue de Poissy 75005 Paris

Begleitend zur Ausstellung finden im College of Bernardine zwei Vorträge statt:
17
. Oktober - 20 - 22 Uhr « A la frontière de l’art : les sculptures de Judith Scott ? » mit Bruno Decharme, Tom
DiMaria und Barbara Safarova

9 November - 20 - 22 Uhr « L’art de la dissimulation : la notion de ‘secret’ dans l’œuvre de Judith Scott » Mit Jerome Alexander, Bertrand und Jean de Loisy Hell

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Secret Universe II. Paul Laffoley at Hamburger Bahnhof



secret universe II. Paul Laffoley
4 November 2011 - 4 March 2012

In an exhibition series entitled secret universe, the Hamburger Bahnhof is dedicating itself to artists who have largely gone unnoticed within the established art discourse and will feature them in monographic projects.

The second exhibition in this series presents works by the American artist and architect Paul Laffoley (*1940). Since the mid-1960s, Laffoley has confronted scientific, philosophical and spiritual matters in his work with equal verve. He studied art history, history, philosophy and architecture and spent more than 38 years living in a one-room apartment in Boston, which he dubbed the 'Boston Visionary Cell'. He is influenced in his work by his collaboration with the visionary architect Frederick Kiesler, as well as by the theories of Buckminster Fuller and C.G. Jung and the literature of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and William Blake. Another factor that has left a mark on his work is the fact that Laffoley was once engaged by Andy Warhol to watch television through the night on his behalf so that he could keep abreast of events.

In his mostly large-scale works on canvas, Paul Laffoley devises complex theories and fantastical scenarios on time travel, the 4th or 5th dimension and cosmological and astrological questions. In accomplishing this, he creates diagrams, display charts or rigidly geometrically structured compositions in which text and image are woven together to form a whole. Underlying his elaborately structured paintings are multi-layered reflections, covering several disciplines at once, which he first lays down in writing before transposing them to a pictorial form. Since 1966, his work has been presented in numerous solo and group shows in the USA, South America and Europe. Today's exhibition in the Hamburger Bahnhof is the first solo show in Europe of the artist who still lives in Boston.

The 'secret universe' series has been made possible by the 'About Change, Stiftung'.

Curated by Claudia Dichter und Udo Kittelmann

Image: Mind Body Alpha, 1989 © Private Collection courtesy of Kent Fine Art, New York

Symposium in Berlin 14. / 15.10.



Symposium: KunstAußenseiterKunst // 14. & 15. Oktober 2011, Berlin
Die Faszination für künstlerische Werke von Autodidakten, seit 1972 oft »Outsider Art« oder »Außenseiterkunst« genannt, durchzieht das gesamte 20. Jahrhundert und hält bis heute an. In der Nachfolge von Hans Prinzhorn und Jean Dubuffet verteidigten viele Fürsprecher sie gegen eine Charakterisierung als angeblich weniger authentische professionelle Ausstellungskunst. Die Tagung geht der Frage nach, welche Bedeutung Outsider Art für die Kunst und den Kunstbetrieb heute hat.
Susanne Zander nimmt Samstag, den 15.10 um 15.30 Uhr an der Podiumsdiskussion über das Thema "Außenseiterkunst in Berlin" teil.
Weitere Sprecher: Udo Kittelmann, Leonie Baumann, Alexandra von Gersdorff-Bultmann, Uwe Herrmann, Matthias Kanter
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Karin Dannecker

Symposium
Fr., 14. und Sa., 15. Oktober 2011
Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“
Neuer Marstall, Krönungskutschensaal Schlossplatz 7, 10178 Berlin

.

Royal Robertson at White Columns / New York


Image Copyright by White Columns

Gallery Prophet Royal Robertson: NO PROUD BASTARDS
at White Columns
Oct. 21 - Nov. 19, 2011

Curated by Erik Parker and Scott Ogden Prophet Royal Robertson (1931-1997), originally a sign painter by trade, covered every inch of his Baldwin, Louisiana home and yard with apocalyptic hand-made signs and paintings. Visitors and passersby alike were greeted with large, weather-beaten signs warning, “All Crazy Persons Keep Off Lot” and “No Divorced Whores Allowed”. However once you got past these foreboding walls of language, an entirely different world opened up inside his small home. Shrines dedicated to his both beloved and despised ex-wife, Adell, were pushed up against walls that were lined floor to ceiling with poster board renderings of future cities, space autos, couples engaged in sex, weaponry, and calendars chronicling his daily woes and visions. Referencing sources as disparate as the Bible, science fiction magazines, pornography, and cheap tabloid newspapers, his work managed to graphically illustrate the daily concerns that occupied his mind, both real and imagined. More than a reclusive, self-proclaimed prophet, Royal believed himself to be a “Libra Artist, Mystic, Psychic, Lord, and Saint.” He lived in a world where daily visions blended seamlessly into a waking life spent obsessively documenting his otherworldly adventures. The resulting drawings and writings provide direct access into the mind of an evidently troubled, yet visionary individual who perhaps unintentionally created some of the most extraordinary ‘Pop’ art of the 20th Century.


Scott Ogden and Erik Parker
Prophet Royal Robertson NO PROUD BASTARDS is curated by NY-based artists Scott Ogden and Erik Parker. In 1996 Odgen and Parker visited Royal Robertson in his Baldwin home whilst they were studying art at The University of Texas at Austin. This exhibition will be the first in-depth consideration of Royal Robertson’s work to be held in New York City.

White Coumns,
320 West 13th Street
(Enter on Horatio Street, between Hudson and 8th Avenue)
New York, NY 10014
212 924 4212
212 645 4764 Fax




Tuesday 4 October 2011

WE MAKE VERSIONS at the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster (D) presents Chris Hipkiss

Chris Hipkiss, "A Sulk Exit" (2007), mixed media on papaer, 180 x 112cm


8. October – 23. December 2011


Chris Hipkiss, Edith Dekyndt, Hermann Finsterlin, Carla Guagliardi, Ilana Halperin, Friedrich Kiesler, Emma Kunz, Paul Laffoley, Susan McWilliam, Rune Mields, Gyan Panchal, Michael Pfisterer, Kerstin Stoll, Nina Tobien, Gitte Villesen

“In order to discover laws it is necessary to create them. The recognition of structures relies to a great extent on inventing and establishing them. Perception and creation go hand in hand.” (Nelson Goodman, 1978).

“We Make Versions“ presents a variety of different design models and “visionary” positions in art, science and related disciplines. The more than 10 international artists represented in the exhibition deal with the alternating relationship between knowledge gain and subjectivity: Chris Hipkiss' (*1964) highly detailed visionary landscapes are an essay on the boundaries of technology and man and posess a dystopic quality of terrifying fascination; "Universal Research of Subjectivity”, a group project that reflects on constants in artistic work, is only one example for Edith Dekyndt’s (*1960) occupation with individual and global positions in society. Text, music, air, video, neon light—everyday materials—all serve as variables in her poetic installations, which explore the boundaries of art, science and reality. Hermann Finsterlin (1887-1973), whose designs form a strong contrast to the clear line found in Bauhaus design, is considered to be a visionary architect. No project by Finsterlin has ever been realized, however there are numerous fantastic-surreal looking drawings and playful models made of wood, which document Finsterlin’s visions of architecture. The works by Paul Laffoley (*1940) seem to operate in a context that goes far beyond the reality portrayed by natural science. Using meticulously drawn diagrams and illustrative material, he constructs complex models of knowledge and presents his theories on time travel and black holes as well as the fourth and fifth dimension.

The title “We Make Versions” refers to a parallel and equally-weighted approach to different “versions” or models of representation and narration, with view to their awareness-raising and productive abilities. With reference to Goodman’s book “Ways of Worldmaking”, the multifaceted possibilities for describing the world are each allowed their own respective truth claim. It is about both the examination of awareness-raising practices, apparatuses and methods of presentation as well as the subjective, productive and visionary potential of designs that attempt to perceive the complex relationships and phenomena in a descriptive way. The approach to the production of knowledge in particular, which is not limited to just one discipline, will play an important role in the exhibition because it contains the potential to generate something new and meaningful. In this context the Westfälische Kunstverein is collaborating with the Academy of Fine Arts Münster. The art historian Dr. Anna Lammers will take up this theme in her seminar “Weltmodelle und Erkenntnis in der Kunst” (world models and awareness in art).

For more information click here

Friday 30 September 2011

The Antone Galbert Collection featuring Chris Hipkiss at me Collector's Room, Berlin



From October 1, 2011 to January 8, 2012 me Collectors Room Berlin is presenting the collection of Antoine de Galbert.

Antoine de Galbert has been collecting contemporary art since 1987 with the conscious intent of circumventing the mainstream and certain trends. Folk art, “art brut” and religious objects complete his collection of contemporary works. An interest in motifs of transience and sexuality relate Antoine de Galbert to Essen-based collector Thomas Olbricht; it is in his exhibition venue in Berlin that parts of de Galbert’s collection are now being shown. Antoine de Galbert will be introducing his Berlin audience to works by artists living and working in France, providing an insight into the French art scene (Julien Berthier, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Claire Fontaine, Damien Deroubaix, Mathieu Pernot, Stéphane Thidet …) Concurrent with the exhibition in Berlin, La Maison Rouge in Paris is in turn presenting Thomas Olbricht’s collection. In 2004, Antoine de Galbert opened his own exhibition venue—in parallel to his La Maison Rouge collection activities—where he has been showing three to twelve exhibitions a year ever since. Only rarely does he exhibit works from his own collection. Solo and group exhibitions alternate and are complemented by the presentation of one other private collection each year.

List of artists:
Gilles Barbier, Julien Berthier, Olivier Blanckart, Pierre-Yves Bohm, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Mircea Cantor, Claire Fontaine, Nicolas Darrot, John Davies, Luc Delahaye, Philippe Dereux, Damien Deroubaix, Ernest T, Richard Fauguet, Didier Faustino, Valérie Favre, Dominique Figarella, Elika Hedayat, Chris Hipkiss, Jean-Charles Hue, Jackie Kayser, Bertrand Lavier, Natacha Lesueur, Enrique Marty, Théo Mercier, Nicolas Milhé, François Morellet, Mathieu Pernot, Chantal Petit, Eric Pougeau, François Ribes, Elsa Sahal, Thibault Scemama de Gialluly, Stéphane Thidet, Philippe Thomassin, Barthélémy Toguo, Ida Tursic & Wilfried Mille, Henri Ughetto

A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

My Paris - Collection Antoine de Galbert
01.10.2011 to 08.01.2012
me Collectors Room Berlin / Olbricht Foundation
Auguststrasse 68, 10117 Berlin

For more information click here

Thursday 29 September 2011

Gregory L. Blackstock at the Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne




From September 30, 2011 - February 19, 2012
show opening Fr. 29.09, 6.30pm

Gregory L. Blackstock catalogues the world into pictorial lists. All have in common their clean lines, factual calligraphy and careful grouping dishwasher, Gregory L. Blackstock (1946) is an autistic savant who took up drawing at the age of forty. Currently retired, he lives in Seattle, Washington.

For more in French click here

La Collection de l'Art Brut
11, av. des Bergières
CH - 1004 Lausanne

Wednesday 21 September 2011

TIERE - TIERE - TIERE @ Museum Charlotte Zander, Schloss Bönningheim




TIERE - TIERE - TIERE
zu Lande - zu Wasser - in der Luft
Bilder und Skulpturen Sammlung Charlotte Zander
25.9.2011 - 5.2.2012

Künstler:
A. Bauchant, E. Bödeker, I. Bosilj, A. Bois-Vives, F. Desnos, A. Dietrich, J. Eve, A. Forestier, P. Ghizzardi, A. Hoffmann, O. Jeremic, P. Leonow, J. Lloyd, E. Odenthal, M. Nedjar, K. B. Paletta, A. J. Pietsch, N. Pirosmanaschwili, M. Raffler, A. Sauter, S. Sekulic, M. Skurjeni, W. Teucher, J. Tisnikar, G. Van der Steen, E. Stern, J. Wittlich, S. Wilson, L. Vivin

Eröffnung am Sonntag, den 25. September 2011, 14 Uhr

Begrüßung und Einführung:
Charlotte Zander
Dr. Edmund Haferbeck, PETA Deutschland e.V., Tierschutz

Museum Charlotte Zander
Schloss Bönnigheim
Hauptstr. 15
74357 Bönnigheim
Tel: +49/7143/4226

Öffnungszeiten:
Di-Sa: 11-15 Uhr, So und Feiertag: 11-16 Uhr
www.sammlung-zander.de

Thursday 1 September 2011

Exhibition #4 at The Museum of Everything, London

From September 2 - October 25th, 2011
Selfridges, London



The Museum of Everything returns on 2 September with its fourth exhibition. This time round, we can expect ‘over two hundred drawings, paintings and sculptures by international contemporary artists for whom creation is not just art, it is language’.

In a departure from previous exhibitions, the new show will not make use of the museum’s usual Primrose Hill venue. Instead, it’s decamping to Selfridges for what’s described as the ‘most expansive art collaboration in the history of the shop’. As well as taking up internal space, the exhibition will also occupy all of the department store’s famous windows. The show will be accompanied by a yet-to-be-announced events programme and the optimistically named Shop of Everything.

Exhibition #4 features hundreds of artworks by new undiscovered artists information on progressive art studios worldwide physical exhibition and online digital exhibition events, talks, screenings of The Films of Everything.

Dan Miller, William Scott, Harald Stoffers, Thomas Beisgen, Katsuhiro Terao, Tomoyuki Shinki, etc

Exhibition #4 runs at Selfridges from 2 September to 25 October.

www.museumofeverything.com

Tuesday 30 August 2011

REVIEW "Auf Augenhöhe" - Udo Kittelmann & Matthew Higgs über die Outsider Kunst heute, Süddeutsche Zeitung (30.08.2011)

"Auf Augenhöhe: Wie soll Outsider Art heute im Museum gezeigt werden - ein Gespräch mit Udo Kittelmann und Matthew Higgs " in SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, Nr.199, S.12 (30.08.2011)




"Outsider Kunst auf Augenhöhe"
Auch die Kunst von Außenseitern gehört gleichberechtigt in die Museen. Diese These vertritt der Direktor der Nationalgalerie Berlin, Udo Kittelmann. In einem Interview der Süddeutschen Zeitung bricht er eine Lanze für die sogenannte "Outsider Art". Es gelte die Grenzen gängiger und konservativer Vorstellungen von Kunst auszuloten. Wie die Kunst selbst sollten auch die Kunstinstitutionen immer in Bewegung bleiben. Auch für die Werke von Außenseitern im Kunstbetrieb müsse Platz sein. Und dabei dürften solche Ausstellungen aber nicht zu einer Freak-Show verkommen. Kittelmann kritisierte, dass zu oft die außergewöhnlichen Lebensläufe oder Krankengeschichten von derartigen Außenseitern in übertriebener Art und Weise präsentiert würden.

(Text© 2011 Deutschlandradio/Kulturnachrichten)

Monday 29 August 2011

OSTALGIA at the New Museum, New York

From July 14 - September 25th, 2011


Alexander Lobanov / courtesy of Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne

This exhibition takes its title from the German word "Ostalgie", a term that emerged in the 1990s to describe a sense of longing and nostalgia for the era before the collapse of the Communist Bloc. Twenty years ago—after the fall of the Berlin Wall—a process of dissolution led to the breakup of the Soviet Union and many other countries that had been united under Communist governments. From the Baltic republics to the Balkans, from Central Europe to Central Asia, entire regions and nations were reconfigured, their constitutions rewritten, their borders redrawn. “Ostalgia” looks at the art produced in and about some of these countries, many of which did not formally exist two decades ago. Mixing private confessions and collective traumas, the exhibition traces a psychological landscape in which individuals and entire societies must negotiate new relationships to history, geography, and ideology. “Ostalgia” brings together the work of more than fifty artists from twenty countries across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. Many of the works offer a series of reportages on aspects of life and art under Communism and in the new post-Soviet countries. The exhibition pays particular attention to the unique place that artists came to occupy in Socialist countries, acting simultaneously as outcasts, visionaries, and witnesses. Unlike a conventional geographical survey, the exhibition includes works produced by Western European artists who have grappled with the reality and the myth of the East. Some of the preoccupations that unite the artists in “Ostalgia” are a romantic belief in the power of art as a transformative, almost curative agent; an obsession with language; the conception of a new aesthetic of the body; a fascination with the ruins of history as represented by monuments and architectural vestiges; and an understanding of artwork as a form of sentimental documentary that mediates between cultural pressures and individual anxieties.

All images of Alexander Lobanov with courtesy of Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne

Combining seminal figures and younger artists, “Ostalgia” does not follow a chronological perspective, establishing instead a series of dialogues between different generations and geographies. Zigzagging across distant cultural landscapes, the exhibition exposes local avant-garde practices and highlights international affinities, which indirectly question the centrality of Western art historical paradigms.

“Ostalgia” is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, with Jarrett Gregory, Assistant Curator. Extended labels by Chris Wiley.

Ostalgia presents: Alexander Lobanov, Phil Collins, Chto Delat?, Ion Grigorescu, Jonas Mekas, Boris Mikhailov, amongst others artists

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
newmuseum.org


Friday 15 July 2011

Chris Hipkiss and Agatha Wojciechowsky @ Kunstwerke /Berlin

Curated by artist Corinne Wasmuht



Die Ausstellungsserie KW69 im Vorderhaus der KW Institute for Contemporary Art versteht sich als ein Dialograum für Künstlerinnen und Künstler, eine Probebühne, in der über den Zeitraum eines Jahres im schnellen Wechsel künstlerische Projekte stattfinden. In der Abfolge der Projekte tauschen die Beteiligten die Rollen, agieren zuerst als Künstler und laden anschließend selbst ein. Das dynamische Wechselspiel ermöglicht unkonventionelle Bezugnahmen, permanente Perspektivverschiebungen und aufeinander aufbauende Annäherungen an die Räume.

The exhibition series KW69—situated in the front building KW Institute for Contemporary Art—provides a space for dialogue for artists, a kind of experimental stage that for one year will be the home to a number of artistic projects in quick succession. Moving on from one project to the next, the participants will shift roles, as the artists exhibiting then invite the next project. This dynamic interplay will enable unconventional points of reference, continuous shifts in perspective, and uses of the exhibition space that refer to and build on one another.
KW69 is conceived as an open cycle of exhibitions, which will only become concrete as the year progresses.




KW69 ist ein offen konzipierter Ausstellungszyklus, der seine konkrete Ausprägung im Laufe des kommenden Jahres erfahren wird.

KW69 #6
by Corinne Wasmuht
28.07. – 28.08.2011
Eröffnung: 27.07.2011, 19 Uhr

KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69
D-10117 Berlin
Images:
1. Chris Hipkiss, My Faith Blister, Copyright Galerie Susanne Zander Köln
2.Agatha Wojciechowsky ohne Titel
, Copyright Galerie Susanne Zander Köln

Outsiders artist ROYAL ROBERTSON artwork featured in Sufjan Stevens' new video




Outsider artist and self-proclaimed prophet Royal Robertson (1936-1997) is featured as a central inpiration for multiinstrumentalist Sufjan Stevens' artwork and live visuals on the Album Age of Adz.

His latest video to the track "Get Real, Get Right" was recently released and can be viewed here:
http://vimeo.com/25681821





sufjan stevens on wikipedia
royal robertson on wikipedia

Alexander Lobanov @ New Museum / New York


Ostalgia

This exhibition takes its title from the German word ostalgie, a term that emerged in the 1990s to describe a sense of longing and nostalgia for the era before the collapse of the Communist Bloc. Twenty years ago—after the fall of the Berlin Wall—a process of dissolution led to the breakup of the Soviet Union and many other countries that had been united under Communist governments. From the Baltic republics to the Balkans, from Central Europe to Central Asia, entire regions and nations were reconfigured, their constitutions rewritten, their borders redrawn. “Ostalgia” looks at the art produced in and about some of these countries, many of which did not formally exist two decades ago. Mixing private confessions and collective traumas, the exhibition traces a psychological landscape in which individuals and entire societies must negotiate new relationships to history, geography, and ideology. “Ostalgia” brings together the work of more than fifty artists from twenty countries across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. Many of the works offer a series of reportages on aspects of life and art under Communism and in the new post-Soviet countries. The exhibition pays particular attention to the unique place that artists came to occupy in Socialist countries, acting simultaneously as outcasts, visionaries, and witnesses. Unlike a conventional geographical survey, the exhibition includes works produced by Western European artists who have grappled with the reality and the myth of the East. Some of the preoccupations that unite the artists in “Ostalgia” are a romantic belief in the power of art as a transformative, almost curative agent; an obsession with language; the conception of a new aesthetic of the body; a fascination with the ruins of history as represented by monuments and architectural vestiges; and an understanding of artwork as a form of sentimental documentary that mediates between cultural pressures and individual anxieties. Combining seminal figures and younger artists, “Ostalgia” does not follow a chronological perspective, establishing instead a series of dialogues between different generations and geographies. Zigzagging across distant cultural landscapes, the exhibition exposes local avant-garde practices and highlights international affinities, which indirectly question the centrality of Western art historical paradigms. “Ostalgia” is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, with Jarrett Gregory, Assistant Curator. Extended labels by Chris Wiley.

Exhibition from 7/6/11 until 9/25/11
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222

New Publication about Horst Ademeit







Buchhandlung Walther-König - Ademeit: Secret Universe 1
EUR 24,80

Rund 20 Jahre lang (1989-2007) erstellt Horst Ademeit eine Dokumentation über das Vorhandensein von Kältestrahlen, die auf ihn einwirken und ihn beeinflussen. Anhand von Aufzeichnungen, die er fast täglich anfertigt, untersucht und dokumentiert er deren Existenz. "Tagesbilder" nennt er die durchnumerierten, auf dem Küchentisch arrangierten Bilder von Zeitungen, Lebensmitteln und Meßgeräten, die zu Tagesbeginn hergestellt werden und die jeweilige Kältestrahlenbelastung verzeichnen. Diese Bilder beschriftet er eng mit Kommentaren. Es entstehen mehrere Tausend solcherart beschriftete Polaroid-Photos, später auch Digitalphotographien, etliche eng beschriebene Leporello-Kalendarien und etwa 3000 gedrechselte Kügelchen aus verschiedenen Hölzern.*****

Horst Ademeit documented the presence of "cold rays", unseen negative forces, for almost 20 years (1989-2007). The inventory he accumulated and added to almost every day during this period was his attempt to study them: thousands of Polaroid and digital photographs, several leporello notebooks full of meticulously logged data and around 3,000 small spheres made of various kinds of wood. At the beginning of each day he also produced a "Tagesbild" (picture of the day), numbered images of newspapers, groceries and measuring instruments arranged on the kitchen table, which were intended to record the respective cold ray exposure.

Ademeit: Secret Universe I Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König 2011 ADEMEIT, HORST - BERLIN, HAMBURGER BAHNHOF - Bestell-Nr: 1462861 ISBN: 978-3-86560-997-7 EUR 24,80

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Detektiv des Alltags

von Matthias Reichelt

Veröffentlicht im Feuilleton der Tageszeitung "Junge Welt" (08.07.2011) in redigierter Fassung unter dem Titel "Eine Unterkühlung - Kunst als empirische Sozialforschung: Eine Ausstellung in Berlin"
online: http://www.jungewelt.de/2011/07-08/036.php




Die Welt ist kompliziert, wird von Tag zu Tag undurchsichtiger und ist für viele Menschen kaum mehr zu verstehen. Es bedarf einer genauen Beobachtungsgabe, eines starken Willens zur Erkenntnis und Fleiß zur kontinuierlichen Dokumentation, um den Geheimnissen des Alltags auf die Spur zu kommen. Das klingt nach Wissenschaft, nach Empirie und in der Tat gibt es Bezüge zu der von Horst Ademeit (1937–2010) in großer Akribie betriebenen Erforschung seiner persönlichen Umwelt. Nachdem Ademeit Ende der 1980er Jahre eine Sozialwohnung im Düsseldorfer Stadtteil Flingern bezogen hatte, wurde er auf verschiedene merkwürdige Phänomene aufmerksam. In nur 14 Jahren dokumentierte der ausgebildete Künstler auf 6006 Polaroids detailliert seine nähere Umgebung und hielt alles fest, was ihm auffällig und registrierenswert erschien. Arglos in der Straße abgestellte Fahrräder oder Einkaufswagen, denkwürdige Schaufensterauslagen, schadhafte Stellen am Haus und zahlreiche Arrangements von Objekten und Messgeräten.

Nach einer Ausbildung als Maler und Anstreicher in den 50er Jahren hatte er als Feinmechaniker gearbeitet, bevor er ab 1964 die Werkkunstschule in Köln besuchte. Kurzzeitig nahm er auch an der Beuys-Klasse in Düsseldorf teil und absolvierte in den 1970er Jahren noch ein Pädagogikstudium, ohne je als Lehrer zu arbeiten. Stattdessen wurde er arbeitslos und besserte seine Sozialhilfe durch Schwarzarbeit mit Renovierungen auf. Eines seiner ersten Polaroids machte Horst Ademeit am 5. Oktober 1990 um15.30 h und kennzeichnete es in der linken Ecke mit „4 e“. Er hielt darauf die Schaufensterauslage des Geschäftes „HAKO“ fest. Auf dem weißen Rand notierte er: „Schadowstr. Düsseldorf/ Auslagen Kompasse! Insgesamt eher Nord als sonstige Ausrichtung laut Leuchtblattziffern.“ Diesen Tagesbildern fügte er immer alle ihm wichtigen Informationen und Beobachtungen hinzu. Sie enthalten Bezüge zu Zeitungsmeldungen, Information über das eigene Befinden sowie die gemessenen Strahlungen. Ademeit entschloss sich, seine für zu niedrig befundene Körper- wie auch die Raumtemperatur in Messungen nachzuweisen und die Ergebnisse festzuhalten. Dafür benötigte er unterschiedliche Messgeräte, die er wiederum im Bild festhielt. Den „Kältestrahlen“ wollte er wissenschaftlich auf den Grund gehen. Seine Rapporte notierte er aufgrund des zunehmenden Textvolumens in immer kleinerer Schrift auf den Polaroids und auch in Faltkalendern. Nach dem Ende der Polaroidtechnik führte er seine fotografischen Untersuchungen in digitalem Format fort und legte dazu Karteikarten an. In der ersten Ausstellung einer von Claudia Dichter und Udo Kittelmann begründeten Reihe „secret universe“ wird dieses konzeptuell geschlossene Werk im Hamburger Bahnhof erstmals in Ansätzen vorgestellt. Die Kölner Galerie Susanne Zander war vor einigen Jahren auf Ademeit aufmerksam geworden und stand lange in persönlichem Kontakt mit dem unter einer Psychose leidenden Künstler, bevor dieser im letzten Jahr an Magenkrebs starb. Gesellschaft und Kunstbetrieb sind immer schnell mit ihren Schubladen zur Endlagerung auffälliger oder als psychopathologisch eingestufter Persönlichkeiten und deren Arbeiten. Sie erhalten das Label „Outsiderkunst“ oder „Art Brut“, die Schublade geht wieder zu und wird nur noch von Leuten geöffnet, die über Geisteskrankheit und Kunst forschen. Das ist nicht nur zu kurz gedacht sondern auch falsch. Denn wo sollte die Grenze gezogen werden, wären von allen gehypten Künstlern die psychischen Krisen und deren Auswirkungen auf die Werke bekannt? Und zum anderen besteht ja das Faszinosum des Systems Kunst darin, dass sich in ihm Gestaltungswille und individueller Ausdruck materialisiert. Es ist ein Abenteuer, eine fremde Welt zu entdecken und zu entschlüsseln. Am Anfang steht vielleicht nur die Faszination für die Beharrlichkeit und den Umfang des Werks. Dann ist die Gestaltung zu entdecken, die formalästhetisch ihre Reize hat. Das Verhältnis von Text zu Bild, die Zunahme des Textvolumens und das darin zum Ausdruck kommende Mitteilungsbedürfnis sowie Ademeits immer dezidierterer Gestaltungswille bei der Nummerierung wecken die Neugier, das komplexe Werk zu durchdringen. In der Ausstellung sind die Polaroids sowohl in Vitrinen wie auch en bloc als massiver Fries an der Wand appliziert. Gerade an Ademeits Arbeit lässt sich ein geschlossenes und nachvollziehbares Dokumentationssystem erkennen, das in seiner Kompaktheit und Konsequenz beeindruckt. Es ist gleichzeitig das Tagebuch eines hypersensiblen Künstlers, in dem sich die Tagesereignisse anhand von Zeitungen und Kommentaren spiegeln. In vielen seiner Polaroids gestaltete er Stillleben aus Messgeräten, Lebensmitteln und anderen Objekten auf Ausgaben von Springers Bild-Zeitung. Im Arrangement ist Ademeits Gespür für den Wahnsinn der medialen Politik erkennbar. Irak-Krieg, Verona Feldbusch und Terrorismus werden zu einem Mahlstrom der Banalisierung vereint.

Übrigens sind Ademeits Ängste vor den Kältestrahlen so falsch nicht. Angesichts aller heutigen Erkenntnisse über Elektrosmog oder schädlicher Dämpfe durch Wärmedämmung an Häusern haben sie einen realen Hintergrund. In einer Broschüre über Baumaterialien hatte er die Angaben mit Skepsis betrachtet und kommentiert. Unter Asbest stand bei Gesundheitsgefährdung: Ungiftig. Ademeit hat es markiert und dahinter lakonisch vermerkt: „Heute giftig“.

Die Ausstellung "Horst Ademeit - secret universe" läuft bis zum 25. September im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

Eine begleitende Publikation ist im Verlag Walther König erschienen:
www.buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de

Thursday 23 June 2011

Art brut collectors António Saint Silvestre and Richard Treger in the PÚBLICO (22.06.2011)



Art brut collectors António Saint Silvestre and Richard Treger were featured in the Portuguese press with their intent to bring their exquisit art brut collection to Portugal. They now are in search of a museum that is up to the challenge of their unique collection: over 700 works from Henry Darger and Oskar Voll to Foma Jaremtschuck and Augustin Lesage hand-picked for over 40 years.












(Coelho, Alexandra Prado. "Eles querem um museu que nao seja adormecido" in Público, P2 (22.06.2011). S. 4-5.)

all images of artworks © Galerie Susanne Zander, Cologne

Wednesday 15 June 2011

FILM "George Widener" (2008/14') by Bruno Decharme




In 2008 Bruno Decharme (Collection abcd, Paris) directed a 14' minute documentary film on George Widener. Click here to watch it in full length

For further information on Bruno Decharme:
www.brunodecharme.com

Friday 10 June 2011

LECTURE George Widener at the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne

Guest Lecture „Time Machine“
George Widener at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne
by invitation of Prof. Mischa Kuball


"Time Machine", 2011, mixed media on paper, 184 x 139 cm

Thursday, 16th of June 2011, 5 pm

Auditorium, Filzengraben 2, 50676 Cologne, Germany


George Widener (*1962 in Covington, Kentucky)

is a self-taught artist who employs his mathematical calculating capability and his love for numerical puzzles to create art ranging from complex calendars and numerical palindromes to antiquarian landscapes and Asian scrolls. His early fascination with calendars was so intense, that he developed a habit of mentally converting any number he saw into a calendar date. He predicts that some day his art will be enjoyed by super-intelligent machines such as the high-capacity computers under development today. His art “will help make these machines friendlier to us.”

Widener has pursued his interest in numbers, calendar dates, statistics and factual information as far back as his childhood. His personal notebooks with facts and figures have accompanied him throughout the years: through a turbulent childhood; later at eighteen, when working with the military in intelligence in a department shared with the cryptographers and code breakers; during the two years he was enrolled in engineering at the University of Texas, but also in the time after dropping out of university, after countless jobs and in the time following, when living in homeless shelters in a string of American cities. On several occasions, after saving enough money from odd day jobs to buy plane tickets, Widener travelled to European cities, including Amsterdam, London and Berlin, where he slept in public parks or squatted in abandoned buildings. He continued to draw obsessively, withdrawing socially. Only later was he identified as a savant with Asperger Syndrome.

Since 2000 his art has focussed on elaborate large-scale works, which combine drawings of architectural structures with the lists of dates, statistical information and which often integrate calculations from magic squares. The result is a grid of numerical patterns and correlations of detailed numbers inspired by cartography, mathematics and numerology, that seeks to shed light on time and the unfolding of human events and the codification of the systems of chance and historical aribratiness.

Widener's work is presented internationally, most recently in a solo exhibition at Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York, in the group exhibitions „World Transformers“ at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt and „Exhibition 1“ at the Museum of Everything, London. Galerie Susanne Zander will open in the Fall 2011 with a comprehensive one man show in Cologne.

George is currently residing at the Neues Kunstforum Cologne (www.neues-kunstforum.com) and will work here until the end of June 2011.

For further information on the Academy of Media Arts / KHM: www.khm.com

On the artist George Widener: www.galerie-susanne-zander.com


George Widener giving his lecture "TIME MACHINE" at the Academy of Media Art in Cologne on the 16th of June 2011


Friday 27 May 2011

REVIEW "So ein Wahnsinn - Horst Ademeit in Berlin" in FAZ 27.05.2011



Horst Ademeit in Berlin

So ein Wahnsinn

Horst Ademeit war besessen von der Idee einer gefährlichen Kältestrahlung. In mehr als sechstausend Polaroids aus dem Alltag wollte er diese Gefahr dokumentieren. Zeigt sich darin mehr sehen als nur seine Obsession?

Von Niklas Maak, Berlin

"Wenn man es sieht, glaubt man es nicht: Über sechstausend Polaroidfotos, aufgenommen über einen Zeitraum von mehreren Jahrzehnten, minutiös durchnummeriert. Man sieht Zeitungen, Eisenteile, Stromzähler, Elektrokabel, Fahrräder, Alltagsdinge. Im weißen Rahmen, der ein Polaroid umgibt, hat jemand mit einem mikroskopisch feinen Stift ganze Romane notiert - pro Foto findet sich oft der Gegenwert von fünf engbedruckten Seiten: Fakten, Theorien, Anmerkungen, ein arabesker Irrgarten aus schwer zu entziffernden Worten.

Horst Ademeit hat 1989 begonnen, auf Polaroids Dinge in seiner Umgebung zu dokumentieren; er war besessen von der Idee, dass von bestimmten Dingen eine „Kältestrahlung“ ausgehe, die ihm schade. So entstand über die Jahre ein Konvolut, das wie ein streng konzeptionelles Kunstwerk wirkt, der Bilderatlas einer privaten Obsession, dem auf engstem Raum ein obsessiver Roman eingeschrieben ist. Wenn man weiß, dass es Ademeit darum ging, bedrohliche Strahlungen sichtbar zu machen, bekommen die Dinge, die man sieht, etwas Unheilvolles: Das Auto schaut böse, das Kabel sieht nach Verhängnis aus (...)"

Klicken Sie hier um den FAZ- Artikel vollständig weiterzulesen.

Niklaas Maak: "So ein Wahnsinn - Horst Ademeit im Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin" in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, S.36, Nr. 123 (27.05.2011)

Online abrufbar hier.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

EXHIBITION Horst Ademeit at Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art, Berlin


secret universe:
HORST ADEMEIT

13.05 - 25.09.2011
opening: 12.05, 8 pm

With the exhibition series secret universe, the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art inaugurates a project space, which presents singular artistic positions that go beyond categorization in terms of current art keywords, but which nevertheless revert to common strategies of contemporary art. secret universe offers insight into fascinatingly coherent worlds and complex, visual narrative spaces of hitherto largely neglected artistic positions. Some of the artists presented are denominated as "outsiders"; their work cannot be clearly integrated into the art establishment. secret universe introduces these positions of astounding visual intensity beyond the clear demarcation of "inside" and "outside," revealing idiosyncratic and autonomous approaches with a potential of breaking down the discourse of art criticism and the cultural establishment.


The first exhibition of the secret universe series presents the photographic oeuvre of Horst Ademeit. Over a period of over twenty years Ademeit compiled an archive comprising thousands of Polaroid images. In two groups of parallel works - observation images and diary images - he meticulously documented the impact of radiation on his surroundings, particularly the influence of cold rays. Making use of scientific measuring methods, he encompasses the formal canon of 20th century art, ranging from street photography to conceptual art.

Born in Cologne in 1937, Horst Ademeit completed an apprenticeship as a house painter and then went on to study Textile Design before attending the Kölner Werkkunstschule. In 1970, he was briefly enrolled in the class of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. After a first series of documentary photographs, which depicted renovation works in dilapidated buildings, he turned increasingly to the documentation of radiation in the late 1980s. His body of work was discovered only two years prior to his death. Although originally pushed by personal motivation, Ademeit actively supported the late recognition of his work within the context of the art establishment. The National Gallery at the Hamburger Bahnhof dedicates Ademeit the first museum exhibition.


Horst Ademeit's oeuvre questions the interplay between autonomous artistic production, public awareness and art evaluation in terms of its theoretical and critical context. The secret universe series, curated by Claudia Dichter and developed with the assistance of Susanne Zander, raises these questions in regard to concepts of disposition for collections and temporary exhibitions, abandoning common practice in favour of opening the museum space to a long-term debate.


The series secret universe was made possible by the About Change, Stiftung.

All works on display have been loans from Galerie Susanne Zander.


www.hamburgerbahnhof.de