1989–2019: Politics of Space in the New Berlin / Candice Breitz: Labour

1989–2019: Politics of Space in the New Berlin
September 12–October 13, 2019
Opening: Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 6pm

A project by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) in cooperation with ARCH+

With works by Guerilla Architects in cooperation with Philine Schneider and Shahrzad Rahmani, Verena Hartbaum, Andrej Holm, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (with students from Technische Universität Berlin), Daniel Poller, Schroeter & Berger, Florine Schüschke

Artistic directors: Marius Babias, Anh-Linh Ngo
Curatorial team: Frederick Coulomb, Nora Dünser, Mirko Gatti, Dorothee Hahn, Christian Hiller, Max Kaldenhoff

The end of the bloc confrontation between East and West, heralded by the fall of the Berlin Wall—a turning point that prompted the political scientist Francis Fukuyama to speak of the “end of history”—had quite particular consequences for the urban development in Berlin, where, geographically, the capitalist and the real-socialist world orders directly collided. On the one hand, new political and cultural spaces were opened up; on the other, the fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for the neo-liberalization of politics.  

The exhibition 1989–2019: Politics of Space in the New Berlin outlines the urbanistic and architectural development from the point of view of the supposed “end of history”: How did Berlin become what it is today? Projects realized especially for the exhibition exemplify various urbanistic policies and their consequences for today’s Berlin. They depict partly contradictory processes and narratives that to this day are superimposing and intensifying in Berlin as a constructed city. There is not only one Berlin, but many myths and ideas of what Berlin is supposed to be. The exhibition reflects the perspectives and myths of history, of the market, and of creativity.

Discourse program

Thursday, September 19, 2019, 7pm
Mythos des Marktes (The Myth of the Market) I
Discussion with Daniela Brahm (artist, ExRotaprint, Berlin), Andrej Holm (sociologist, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Karin Lenhart-Roth (political scientist, Hochschule Hannover), Florine Schüschke (urban researcher, Berlin), Steffen Zillich (politician, Berlin)

Thursday, September 26, 2019, 7pm
Mythos der Geschichte (The Myth of History)
Discussion with Adrian von Buttlar (art historian, Technische Universität Berlin), Michael S. Falser (art historian, Heidelberg University), Verena Hartbaum (architectural theorist, University of Stuttgart), Daniel Poller (artist, Berlin)

Wednesday, October 2, 2019, 7pm
Mythos der Kreativität (The Myth of Creativity)
Discussion with Florian Hertweck (architect, University of Luxemburg), MetroZones – Center for Urban Affairs (Berlin), Nina Scholz (journalist and author, Berlin), Schroeter & Berger (designers, Berlin)

Tuesday, October 8, 2019, 8pm
Die Inszenierung des Urbanen (The Staging of the Urban Element)
Screening of works from the n.b.k. Video-Forum collection, selected by Kristina Paustian (n.b.k. Video-Forum), with a commentary by Sophia Gräfe (media and cultural scientist, Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research, Berlin)
Films by Denis Beaubois, in the event of Amnesia the city will recall… (1997); Arno Brandlhuber / Christopher Roth, Are You Happy? (2012); KP Brehmer, Walkings Nr. 1–6 (1969–1970); Niklas Goldbach, Habitat C3B (2008); Allan Kaprow, Sweet Wall (1970); Holly Zausner, The Beginning (2003)

Thursday, October 10, 2019, 7pm
Mythos des Marktes (The Myth of the Market) II
Discussion with Arno Brandlhuber (architect, Berlin, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich), Katalin Gennburg (politician, Berlin), Guerilla Architects (Berlin), Katrin Lompscher (Senator for Urban Development and Housing, Berlin), Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (architect and urban designer, TU Berlin / ETH Zürich), Birgit Möhring (general manager Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH, Berlin)

Free admission to all events

n.b.k. Showroom
Candice Breitz. Labour
September 12–October 25, 2019

Opening: Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 6pm

Curator: Kathrin Becker

Candice Breitz (b. 1972 in Johannesburg, lives in Berlin) is an influential chronicler of the contradictions that haunt popular discourse. She is best known for a practice that analyzes the dynamics of identity formation via multi-channel video installations which are either shot fresh or composed from existing images, video clips and material drawn from mainstream media. Labour, a new work commissioned by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, receives its world premiere in this solo exhibition and will remain in the collection of the n.b.k. Video-Forum.

Candice Breitz holds a professorship at the Braunschweig University of Art (since 2007). Solo exhibitions (selection): West Den Haag (2019); Boston Museum of Fine Arts (2018); Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2016); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2013); Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2012); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2010); The Power Plant, Toronto (2009); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2008); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2007); Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2006); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2005); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2004); De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam (2001). Breitz has participated in numerous group exhibitions as well as in the following biennials: Aichi (2019), Sharjah (2019), Cleveland (2018), Dakar (2014), Singapore (2011), Gothenborg (2009), New Orleans (2008), Venice (2005), Gwangju (2000), Taipei (2000), Istanbul (1999), São Paulo (1998) and Johannesburg (1997). In 2017, she represented South Africa at the 57th Venice Biennale.