Annual program 2017

KW Institute for Contemporary Art is delighted to announce its future program as part of a larger institutional restructuring process under the new directorship of Krist Gruijthuijsen. After 25 years, KW continues building upon its successes as a lively platform for progressive art practices, and will affirm its position as a local meeting place specialized in experimental discursive programming. The fundamental mission of the new artistic program is that it is “artist-driven,” meaning that every part of the program is filtered through the lens of the artistic vision. The 2017 program unfolds in several seasons with various temporalities in which on-going investigations into singular art practices or thematics form the basis for corresponding commissions and exhibitions.

In January 2017, KW reopens its doors after a short period of closure due to renovation works. The inaugural artistic program examines the work of artist Ian Wilson through three corresponding solo presentations by Hanne Lippard, Paul Elliman, and Adam Pendleton. Wilson’s work will be physically embedded within each exhibition, serving as a framework for exploring roles of language and communication, and the broader significance of interaction between human beings. In the spirit of Wilson’s practice, weekly commissioned performances, readings, lectures, and events titled The Weekends shall take place in and around KW, and throughout the city of Berlin. With Wilson’s work in mind, the future program will emphasize dialogue and experimental uses of language, fostering visible exchange between artists and audiences in Berlin, and beyond. Other key themes for the 2017 program are the relationship to the other and the notion of cultural adaptation as globalized methods for cohabitation in an age of migration and hybrid cultural identities. What is one’s “own” and what is “foreign” is a focal question guided by topics ranging from cultural authority, patrimony, and authorship, to the politics of translation and moral and ethical notions of collaboration as cross-cultural and cross-temporal strategies.

The inherent politics of language is further explored with a cluster of consecutive exhibitions planned for the spring of 2017. Spearheading the series is a group exhibition curated by American artist Jason Dodge and Krist Gruijthuijsen that reflects on Ronald Jones’ artistic and theoretical practice in regards to the current political climate. During the 1980s and ’90s, Jones employed disparate formal and minimal languages, using history as a medium. Through juxtapositions of historical events, innovations, discoveries, violence, and fears he explored the complex interrelation of occurrences defining our perception of self, and of the world. Simultaneously, two ambitious solo exhibitions survey the work of Australian artist Nicholas Mangan and Iraqi-Kurdish artist Hiwa K—winner of the Schering Stiftung Art Award 2016. Mangan’s work maps our (colonial) understanding of land, trade, and economics through the lens of geology and systems theory, while Hiwa K’s autobiographical constructs form the backdrop for performative interventions in which the politics of migration and refuge are critically tackled.

In the fall, KW will present a survey of Dutch artist Willem de Rooij’s work from the past 20 years. The ethical and political consequences of mass-distribution of visual media, and the representation of appropriated imagery taken from cultural and historical artefacts, and artistic sources are some of the main concerns in de Rooij’s practice. The exhibition also features significant early works made with his former collaborator Jeroen de Rijke under the name de Rijke/de Rooij, which will be on view for the first time in over a decade. Additionally, two concurrent solo exhibitions will show newly commissioned and key early works by British artist Lucy Skaer, and a new body of work by German artist Andrea Büttner.

Punctuating the program will be the series “Pause,” envisioned as a platform for bridging relationships between the past, present and future. Singular artworks will be presented for a short period of time, up to three times a year. Anthony McCall’s 1971 iconic light work A Line Describing A Cone is the first in the series, and will be presented in direct dialogue with Ian Wilson’s circle and disc works from the late ’60s.

Alongside the exhibition program, KW will continue pushing beyond the confines of the physical building through its commission, events and education program. These commissions will take on various forms, including Philippe Van Snick’s intervention on the entrance gate, and the re-instatement of the KW Garden by atelier le balto, which occupied the courtyard from 2000–09, and was rebuilt for the 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. Also, the legendary Pogo Bar will be re-established at KW with a new design by American artist and designer Robert Wilhite for hosting weekly, one-night-only special events, conducted by artists and creative individuals.

Furthermore, the new series A year with offers in-depth explorations into influential typographers and designers, developed over the course of a year. For 2017, British typographer Will Holder shall investigate his practice by inviting guests to collaborate and use his archive of publications from the past two decades as a starting point. Holder’s serial publication F.R. DAVID will find a new home at KW—its future co-publisher.

New opening hours
Wednesday–Monday 11am–7pm
Thursday 11am–9pm
Closed on Tuesday
 

Upcoming exhibitions

Ian Wilson
January 20–May 14
Opening: January 19

Hanne Lippard
January 20–April 9
Opening: January 19

Paul Elliman
February 10–May 14
Opening: February 9

Adam Pendleton
February 24–May 14
Opening: February 23

Press contact
Katja Zeidler
T +49 30 243459 41 / press [​at​] kw-berlin.de

The cultural programming of KW Institute for Contemporary Art is made possible with support from the Governing Mayor of Berlin—Senate Chancellery—Cultural Affairs.