Alexander Forbes' Berlin Art Brief
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Richter Exhibition Brings in 380,000 Visitors
The German Capital’s headlining museum show of the year, “Gerhard Richter: Panorama” at the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Alten Nationalgalerie closed yesterday with over 380,000 visitors. The exhibition, opened on February 11 to coincide with the Cologne-born and based painter’s 80 birthday, won a new attendance record for the Neue Nationalgalerie, seeing over 7000 visitors on Thursday, March 15. Throughout the exhibition’s run, a line could be seen outside the Mies van der Rohe designed museum. However, the Nationalgalerie claims wait times never exceeded an hour.
In a statement, director of the Nationalgalerie, Udo Kittelmann, said, “In terms of public interest, it has become one of the most successful exhibitions of contemporary art worldwide. Quite different reasons may be the cause of this success, but the main reason to me is the appearance and effect of his work on view.” On the final weekend alone, 10,000 people came to see the exhibition off, prompting the Stadtliche Museen zu Berlin to extend opening hours from 9am to 10pm.
Documenta Artistic Director and Catholic Church in Dispute
Amidst fervent interest and speculation regarding documenta 13’s artist list, which has the art world looking for any clues possible to upset the traditionally secret document, documenta artistic director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and the catholic church have exchanged blows over a sculpture installed on the spire of Kassel’s St. Elizabeth’s Church. The work, Stephan Balkenhol’s “Man in the Tower” (2012), is a rough-hewn wooden rendering of a male figure dressed in a white shirt and grey trousers, with arms outstretched as if on a crucifix.
Susanne Gaensheimer to Curate German Pavilion at 2013 Venice Biennale
After last year’s Golden Lion winning success for the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Susanne Gaensheimer was tapped once again to curate the country’s offering in 2013. The announcement was made Tuesday morning by the art and exhibition committee of the federal foreign office in Berlin.
Larger than Love: a Collaborative Exercise in Dichotomy
Though an official collateral event to the 7 Berlin Biennale, “Larger than Love,” could not be farther from Artur Zmijewski’s exhibition. Even for Berlin at large, the installation seems fit for only a very few gallery spaces or institutions. The project is a collaboration between artists Shony Rivnay and Lindsay Compton and curator Tim Goossens, as brought together by branding consultant Thomas Rom. Entering the Halle am Wasser, the Hamburger Bahnhof’s “Art Campus,” which lies behind the museum, transports one into a strange surreality: part futuristic, part illuminated dungeon, part high production value art, it’s an exercise in balance such that no one part overpowers the other.
Formally, the piece consists of a large installation, which Rivnay modeled after a cloud and on which he wrote the Hebrew phrase for, “Love me,” obsessively for five months straight. However, this initial component transformed greatly upon Rom’s introduction of Goossens into the mix. “Tim [Goossens] brought in Lindsay, because he thought that we needed a fresh perspective. He loved the installation, but he felt that if we’re doing it for the biennial, then let’s do something that they haven’t seen before,” says Rom. That something was Compton’s magnificent sound installation that floods the space with an aural dark chaos by the combination of Rivnay’s voice, moans from a porn flick, scratching, and deep bass. The sound truly adds a weight to a piece that is, on it’s own, sufficient, but perhaps a little too nice. Goossens also introduced a hole in the back of the cloud such that it rises and falls with a travel of two or so meters every seven minutes, trying in perfectly to the uncanny nature of the audio track.
Making the Domestic Artistic: SALTS Basel Collaborates with Autocenter
For their second collaboration, Basel’s SALTS and Autocenter present “Stepping stone,” in the latter’s Friedrichshain space, featuring Frank Altmann, Awst & Walther, Nina Beier, Eva Berendes, Stefan Burger, Martin Soto Climent, and Adam Thompson. Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, the exhibition features artist across mediums who are taking common materials and redefining them through fairly minute gestures. In conversation with ARTINFO Deutschland, Leuenberger said, “The relation of the artists towards their objects is more about transforming a domestically familiar object into something personified or intimate…It is less about the physical appearance but about the relation the viewer experiences being located between the work and the surrounding room.”
Jewish Collector Speaks Out Against Auction of “Der Schrei”
Ahead of tonight’s auction of Edvard Munch’s “Der Schrei” at Sotheby’s in New York, Rafael Cardoso, the great grandson of Jewish art collector Hugo Simon has spoken out against its sale, claiming that the current owners are not truly those who posses the work. “Wir sind mit dem Verkauf nicht einverstanden,” Cardoso, who now lives in Brazil, told Die Welt.
Seventh Berlin Biennale Gets off to a Raucous Start
Before most had even seen the exhibition, it was clear that the 7. Berlin Biennale would not be your average international art exhibition, with the press conference erupting into a lively debate courtesy of the participation of the various occupiers within the exhibition. It was already expected that the exhibition would be rather non-visual, but upon entering the Villa Elizabeth, one could tell that it wouldn’t be a traditional press presentation either with chairs oriented in rings around a central void.
After initial remarks by KW’s Gabriele Horn, MoMA chief curator Klaus Biesenbach, and curators Joanna Warsza and Artur Zmijewski, international members of the occupy movement took over, explaining their concept for the exhibition. “People from the movements decided to participate in the biennial as a way to push the movements forward,” a member said. “We are ready to question our near religious faith that the capitalist market system can work for everyone,” they continued. Nothing surprising there, but immediately the group’s leader said, “We wanted to show you what we’re doing by just doing it,” proceeding to ask the press, “What can you as journalists do to change the situation?” Silence.
NADA: Art Cologne’s New Partner Brings Good Work but Slow Sales
For the first time the New Art Dealers Alliance, better known as NADA, brought their group of young galleries to the Kölnmesse. Though technically separated from the main fair by a large overhead banner cutting a square into Art Cologne’s second floor, NADA is most recognizable but a markedly more low-key atmosphere from its neighbor and, according to dealers, much slower sales.
That’s not to say the work on view pales in comparison to the big boys next door. Quite the opposite in fact. But, many of the artists being unknown quantities in Germany, collectors seem to be more reticent to write a check. Many of the best booths hailed from New York — another divide as compared to the more heavily domestic Art Cologne.
