Lois Weinberger
March 20–September 6, 2015
Opening: Thursday, March 19, 7pm
Kunsthalle Mainz
Am Zollhafen 3–5
55118 Mainz
Germany
Hours: Tuesday–Friday 10am–6pm,
Wednesday 10am–9pm,
Saturday–Sunday 11am–6pm
T + 49 6131/12 69 36
F + 49 6131/12 69 37
mail [at] kunsthalle-mainz.de
www.kunsthalle-mainz.de
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Born in Tyrol in 1947, Lois Weinberger is an unusual artist in many ways. Despite his considerable success, such as participating in documenta X and the Venice Biennale in 2009, he remains true to his role as an outsider in the art business—someone who does not conform to the customary way of doing things, but instead chooses his own path.
A crucial element of Weinberger’s work is his external perspective, which is informed by his affinity to wild plants that quickly grow on disturbed or abandoned plots of land and his close relationship with nature. This is not to be understood as escaping from civilization, but instead as a critical way of encountering it. At the same time, Weinberger’s work also explores the meaning of concepts such as nature, culture, order, or chaos. This point of view becomes particularly clear in his Wild Cubes: steel cages that enclose nothing, but rather humanity is being locked out. Weinberger gives wilderness space; he breaks free of the urban and questions man’s ubiquitous striving for complete control. The concept of nature does not necessarily have to be the opposite of culture; Weinberger shows us where nature and culture come into contact, while also making evident the boundaries between these two concepts.
Although at first glance specific materials and localities appear to be in the foreground in Weinberger’s works, they can also be looked at as ecological and social metaphors. While artistic creation is traditionally given a place of honor, Weinberger assigns importance to uncontrolled growth. His method of work is thus systematically different from that found in conventional artistic production. He does not create paintings or sculptures; instead he creates spaces which can develop on their own, or exhibits documentations of real-world situations that confront the viewer with fundamental political and philosophical questions.
From a historical perspective, the museum—and also the artist’s workshop—function as a protected space in which the representation of the world can be negotiated from a safe distance. However, Weinberger’s work follows other rules. He steps directly into the outside world and brings the uncontrolled into the exhibition, in order to debunk and counteract the exaggerated total shaping of the world. He impressively counters the general fear of losing control with the diversity and freedom of wild growth.
Curated by: Thomas D. Trummer; Co-Curator Samuel Fath
Views on Mainz
111 Artists in One Office
Opening: March 23, 7pm
Closing date to be determined
With works by Nicole Ahland / Nevin Aladağ / Maria Anwander / Heike Aumüller / Josef Bauer / Marc Bauer / Lothar Baumgarten / Thomas Bayrle / Anne Berning / Johanna Billing / Monica Bonvicini / Brandstifter / Kerstin Brätsch / Andrea Büttner / Daniele Buetti / Tom Burr / Gerad Byrne / Ernst Caramelle / David Claerbout / Attila Csörgő / Edith Dekyndt / Anna Dot / Nils Dräger / Björn Drenkwitz / Heinrich Dunst / Uroš Đurić / Anne Eggebert / Stephan Engelke / Samuel Fath / Vadim Fishkin / Frank Gabriel / Rainer Ganahl / Susann Gassen / Agnès Geoffray / Harald Gfader / Nicola Goedecker / Polly Gould / Tamara Grcic / Sofia Greff / Sabine Groß / Katharina Grosse / Sandra Heinz / Nina Heinzel / Marc von der Hocht / Nikolas Hönig / Anne Hoffmann / Sofia Hultén / I. Helen Jilavu / Sven Johne / Franz Kapfer / Dieter Kiessling / Oliver Kelm / Herwig Kempinger / Esther Kläs / Jakob Lena Knebl / Peter Kogler / Anton Kokl / Claudia Larcher / Marko Lehanka / Sonia Leimer / Sara Masüger / Christian Mayer / Gerhard Meerwein / Ilka Meyer / Sarah Mock / Matt Mullican / João Onofre / Daniel Pauselius / Goran Petercol / Peter Piller / Emilie Pitoiset / August Priebe / Florian Pumhösl / Tobias Putrih / Katja von Puttkamer / Max Reintgen / Cornelia Rößler / Michael Sailstorfer / Judith Samen / Hans Schabus / Benjamin Schaefer / Markus Schinwald / Erik Schmelz / Marten Georg Schmid / Thomas Schmidt / Martin Schwenk / Mary Sherman / Six & Petritsch / John Skoog / Slavs and Tatars / Margherita Spiluttini / Friedemann von Stockhausen / Stoll & Wachall / Bernd Thewes / Sabine Tress / Stephan Truschel / Anna-Lena Tsutsui / Upper Bleistein / Gediminas Urbonas / Winfried Virnich / Simon Wachsmuth / Markus Walenzyk / Christoph Weber / Lisa Weber / Peter Weibel / Jonas Weichsel / Lois Weinberger / Anna Witt / Leo Wörner / Bruno Zhu / Heimo Zobernig
The offices at galleries and museums fall into a different category from the exhibition space. They are working areas for everyday bureaucracy and organization, with neither high insurance or real estate values, nor any aura or discursive meaning. However, spatial hierarchies become more flexible during periods of transition. This, therefore, is an invitation to rediscover space and art. As my tenure as director of the Kunsthalle Mainz comes to an end—and before my successor moves in—I have transformed my office into a temporary exhibition. The furniture in my office has been temporarily removed, creating space for objects from artists’ workshops to be put on display by Erik Schmelz.
The types of items exhibited are random. This “collection” embellishes the conventional concept of art and takes a gentle poke at canonized ways of perceiving it. It is about condensed forms and purported use, about improvisation and personal vedute, the forgotten and the outcast, and not least, about a trove of souvenirs, thoughts, and stories.
–Thomas D. Trummer
Events and lectures:
Guided tour with Silvia Eiblmayr (art historian and curator who lives and works in Vienna)
Wednesday April 8, 7pm
Artist talk with Lois Weinberger
Wednesday September 2, 7pm
The director of the Kunsthalle Mainz in conversation with Lois Weinberger
Fade into You—a series of film screenings
View, drink, and discuss
Wednesdays, 7pm
episode XL: Stoll & Wachall, High Heel Obsession, 2012 / Christian Jankowski, The Hunt, 1992
April 1
episode XLI: Simon Wachsmuth, Rain, 2000 / Günther and Loredana Selichar, GT Granturismo, 2001
April 22
episode XLII: Harun Farocki, Inextinguishable Fire, 1969
May 13
episode XLIII: Jordan Wolfson, Infinite Melancholy, 2003
June 24
