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 ]