Alfredo Jaar

The Way it is. An Aesthetics of Resistance

Alfredo Jaar

In cooperation with the Berlinische Galerie, the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) is showing the first retrospective exhibition in Germany of the internationally acclaimed artist Alfredo Jaar (* 1956 / Santiago de Chile). The artist, who lives in New York, received a grant from the DAAD and spent some time in Berlin 20 years ago (1991). He made a name for himself in Germany with some spectacular individual projects - for instance, an DAAD/NGBK presentation in the Pergamon Museum (1992) or his participation at the documenta (twice, in 1987 and 2002).

I.

Berlinische Galerie

15.06.–17.09.2012

The emphasis of the exhibition in the Berlinische Galerie will be on works produced in and for Berlin. These include "A New World", a series of five large-format photographs, which were taken at the Brandenburg Gate shortly after the fall of the Wall and are now being presented for the very first time. The Berlin projects will be supplemented by works on Africa-related themes, which have been a key emphasis of Alfredo Jaar's creative work for many years. 

His impressive works on genocide in Ruanda, Nelson Mandela's politics, and the tragic fate of South African photo journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Carter are being presented in Berlin for the first time. Lesser known early pieces, highly political interventions into public space that were made in Chile between 1974 and 1981, will also be shown as part of the retrospective, in a parallel presentation in the rooms of the NGBK. Both sections will be supplemented by a pointed intervention in the Alte Nationalgalerie.

An exhibition of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) in cooperation with the Berlinische Galerie, the Nationalgalerie - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin-Program. Realised with funding from the Capital Cultural Fund and the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. Supported by the artEDU Stiftung, Zurich.  [ more ]

II.

NGBK

15 June – 19 August 2012

An exhibition of the NGBK [RealismusStudio]

The Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (New Society for Visual Arts) presents an exhibition by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar (Santiago de Chile, *1956) simultaneously at three Berlin institutions. The monographic show offers a retrospective survey of an artistic production spanning close to four decades. It gives insights into the political topicality of the works by the two-time documenta participant and elucidates the critical methods of archiving, research and intervention employed by the artist.

The artist, trained as architect and filmmaker, works with urban spaces and spaces of the museum. He dissects surfaces and structures, producing artistic statements related to spatiality and society. The main focuses of the show is the artist’s observation of the language and programme of the image, as well as its deconstruction, what the artist has called the politics of the image. They address the artistic strategy of refusing images, present Jaar’s research work and display his considerations on the presentation and accessibility of various public spheres. Investigations of the visualisation of political and social events and the treatment of the resulting images demonstrate Alfredo Jaar’s critical approach to the media and media publicity. 

The point of departure and reference point of Alfredo Jaar’s art is formed/informed by the careful methodology of the architect, a systematic and thorough analysis of the backgrounds and effects of concrete events and situations. His early works from the 1970s already deal with forms of resistance in public and semi-public spaces, thus criticising the conditions in Chile without becoming subjected to state censorship. After Jaar moved to New York City which was followed by an international artistic career, he continued to apply the poetic methods developed and tested in Chile.  [ more ]

Forst

FORST 

Michael Sailstorfer

Vattenfall Contemporary 2012

26.04.-08.10.2012

Michael Sailstorfer (*1979 Velden/Vils), is the prize-winner of “Vattenfall Contemporary 2012”. This choice pays tribute to an artistic position that re-questions and extends the classical concept of sculpture. In his often lavishly produced works he creates new, unfamiliar relations between everyday objects and processes, so generating images with great poetic effect.

The central motif of his first major solo exhibition in Berlin is the forest. Five trees in the installation Forst, hanging upside down and revolving around their own axes, take up the whole of the 10-metre high exhibition space. While Sailstorfer brings nature into the exhibition space here, with his second work Schwarzwald (Black Forest) he takes art into nature: he produced a square field in an area of forest using black paint, which is reminiscent of Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square dating from 1914/15. Its slow disintegration, triggered by natural processes, is watched over by a video camera and transmitted via live stream to a screen in the exhibition space.

The prize "Vattenfall Contemporary" is a re-conception of the “Vattenfall Kunstpreis Energie”, which has been awarded annually since 1992, experiencing its 20th anniversary this year. The prize was re-conceived in collaboration with the Berlinische Galerie in 2010. Since then it has been presented to internationally acclaimed artists living and working in Berlin.   [ more ] 

The prize Vattenfall Contemporary represents a new conception of the “Vattenfall Kunstpreis Energie”, which had been presented on an annual basis since 1992. In 2010 the prize was re-designed in collaboration with the Berlinische Galerie. Since then, it has been awarded to internationally acclaimed artists living and working in Berlin. The accolade includes a solo exhibition in the Berlinische Galerie, the production of an exhibition catalogue, and a guaranteed acquisition for the Vattenfall Collection. Previous prizewinners have been Julian Rosefeldt (2010) and Angela Bulloch (2011). 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the art prize.

Manifesto Collage

Manifesto Collage
 About Change, Collection Visits the Berlinische Galerie,

23.05.–17.09.2012

Collage entered the modern era in the early 20th century, and in the 1920s DADA gave it a particular Berlin flavour. We have been observing for some time how contemporary artists are finding new ways to use collague techniques in order to express their personal perceptions of reality in a fitting manner. They might adopt the classical approach – glueing, overpainting and alienating existing images – but they also draw on new, computer-aided media.

About Change, Collection centres on art which tries to grasp reality by these means. To mark the publication of Manifesto Collage: Collage in den Künsten und Wissenschaften, the Berlinische Galerie is showing selected international positions from the collection, including works by Ceal Floyer, Ellen Gallagher, Thomas Hirschhorn, Tobias Rehberger and Martha Rosler.     [ more ]

 

Berlinische Galerie

Berlinische Galerie

The Berlinische Galerie is one of the newest museums in the German capital and collects art from Berlin dating from 1870 to the present day – with both a local and international focus.

Founded in 1975, the State Museum reopened in its own building close to the Jewish Museum in 2004, moving into a spacious industrial hall that has been rebuilt to provide 4,600 square metres of exhibition space. Fine art – painting, graphics, sculpture, multimedia – photography, architecture and artists’ archives provide a rich source, whose interdisciplinary relationships create exciting dialogues.

Its outstanding collections include Dada Berlin, the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and the Eastern European avant-garde. The art of the divided and reunified city of Berlin provides another focus

The collection of Berlinische Galerie differs in a fundamental way from those of other museums in the capital. This is not a collection with royal roots, but one founded by citizens of the city in 1975 and that since then has grown with great enthusiasm. In addition, the collection is unusual due to its specialization on art created in Berlin since 1870. This makes Berlinische Galerie unique as a museum, something exceptional. The specialization on the art of a single region should not be understood as a limitation, but should be considered a way of proving the collection with a unique focus.


 

From a current point of view, the decision to base the collection on this guiding principle now seems almost prophetic, for it was impossible at the time of the museum’s founding to imagine that Berlin would develop from an isolated, highly subsidized city fragment into an international center of art.

While the focus was first placed on acquisitions from the realm of painting, sculpture, prints, and drawings, with the photography collection, the architecture collection, and the artist archives additional areas of the collection have been added that exemplify the dynamic principle of reflecting on aesthetic practices.

The special development of the history of art in Berlin is closely tied to recent political history. The various parts of the collection enable an exciting conversation among the disciplines, and various media interact with one another in the collection’s presentation. Organized thematically, the museum tells the history of art in Berlin with varying emphases.   [ + more ]