John Bock: im AntliTZ des SchädelapparaTZ / Alexandra Bachzetsis: Instruction Pieces

John Bock. im AntliTZ des SchädelapparaTZ
June 15–July 28, 2019

Opening: Friday, June 14, 2019, 7pm, with a performance by John Bock

Curator: Kathrin Becker

John Bock has developed a new project for Neuer Berliner Kunstverein that intermeshes elements of installation, film, and performance in four different spaces. The pivotal work of the exhibition im AntliTZ des SchädelapparaTZ is a 4.2-meter-high metal wedge hanging from the ceiling of the exhibition space. It serves both as an action space for four dancers and one actor, and as a set for a film that will be shown in a projection room at n.b.k., starting on June 25, 2019. The transient element of the performative and the time-based nature of the medium video permeate each other. Being an integral part of the exhibition, performative “lectures” involving the five live actors will take place on Monday, June 17, 2019, Tuesday, June 25, 2019, and Friday, June 28, 2019, beginning at 7pm respectively. In each of the two adjoining rooms at n.b.k., Bock has created another independent, extensive installation.

In his works, John Bock brings together live actions, drawings, sculptures, installations, film sets, and film projections to create a Gesamtkunstwerk. His spatial arrangements, which are characterized by material combinations, can become a place for live actions, which the artist calls “lectures.” His work is built on a darkly tinted humor, which expresses itself not least on a linguistic level by means of neologisms, repetitions, onomatopoeia, and surprising language combinations. Neuer Berliner Kunstverein is realizing the exhibition with John Bock on the occasion of its 50th anniversary as a project that exemplarily continues the many years of the n.b.k.’s practice as an educational institution and place of aesthetic experience.

John Bock (b. 1965 in Gribbohm, Schleswig-Holstein) lives in Berlin. Solo exhibitions (selection): The Contemporary Austin (2017); La Panacée, Montpellier (2017); Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017); Museum of the Moving Image, New York (2016); Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2013); REDCAT, Los Angeles (2008); Group exhibitions (selection): Fondazione Prada, Milan (2017); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2015); Documenta 11, Kassel (2002); Venice Biennale (2013, 2005, 2003, 1999).


Public Program

Monday, June 17, 2019 / Tuesday, June 25, 2019 / Friday, June 28, 2019, 7pm
Performance by John Bock

Tuesday, June 27, 2019, 7pm
Zum Begriff des Performativen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst (On the Notion of the Performative in Contemporary Art)
Panel discussion with John Bock (artist, Berlin), Gabriele Brandstetter (Professor of Theater Studies with a focus on Dance Studies, Freie Universität Berlin), Anna-Catharina Gebbers (curator, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin), moderated by Dorothea von Hantelmann (Professor of Art and Society, Bard College Berlin)
In German

Sunday, July 14, 2019, 5–10pm
Das Fest.50 – On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
Performances and concerts by John Bock, Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excited Strings (with Jörg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi), Adda Kaleh (aka Alexandra Pirici), Luci Lippard
Catering: Zagreus Projekt / Cocktails: Straight Up, Berlin

Free admission to all events


n.b.k. Showroom
Alexandra Bachzetsis. Instruction Pieces
June 18–July 26, 2019

Opening: Friday, June 14, 2019, 7pm

Curator: Arkadij Koscheew

Alexandra Bachzetsis presents her first solo exhibition in a Berlin institution at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.): A thematic overview of more recent and older works that revolve around the topic of instruction. Since 2001, the artist has been creating performance works, some of which have been realized in collaboration with various partners. More and more, she transfers these performative works into videos, publications, and sculptures. The exhibition Instruction Pieces brings together five works by the artist that deal with the interfaces between language, body, movement, and space.

By inviting Alexandra Bachzetsis, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein presents an artist who, in an innovative way, addresses questions of the performativity of gender, the politicization of the body and of desire, and ways of capturing the ephemeral medium of performance by means of videos, notations, and sculptural props.

Alexandra Bachzetsis (b. 1974 in Zurich) lives and works in Zurich. Her performances were presented at, among others: Pioneer Works, Brooklyn (2019); Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin (2019); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019); Pact Zollverein, Essen (2018); High Line Art, New York (2018). Solo exhibitions (selection): Centre culturel suisse, Paris (2018); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017); Bonner Kunstverein (2014); Kunsthaus Glarus (2010). Group exhibitions (selection): Marta Herford (2019; 2005); Museum Tinguely, Basel (2017); documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017); Kunstverein Hannover (2016); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2012; 2004); Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2009); Kunsthalle Basel (2008); Berlin Biennale (2008); De Appel, Amsterdam (2006; 2005).