The first-ever, site-specific literature about Krefeld Bauhaus villas
For decades, artists have produced and exhibited works highlighting Haus Lange and Haus Esters in Krefeld. Now for the first time, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld have invited three authors to produce site-specific literary works. Marion Brasch, Matias Faldbakken and Mark von Schlegell have written three exciting short stories which instill new life into these historic villas in different ways. Short Stories for Haus Lange Haus Esters is now available for purchase. The book is part of the Collection Satellites series and is available in both German and English. Because the originally planned public reading by the authors had to be cancelled, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld have posted excerpts of the readings and a video with the authors on the website www.kunstmuseenkrefeld.de/short-stories.
“With these ‘short stories’ we have expanded our understanding of art and enabled our audience to enjoy art under the extraordinary circumstances at present from the comfort of their homes,” explained museum director Katia Baudin. “This exhibition in book form offers an entirely new way to experience the villas Lange and Esters, and even experts can look forward to many fascinating discoveries.”
The book can now be ordered by e-mail from servicekunstmuseen [at] krefeld.de or by phone at T +49 2151 97558-137.
Many visitors to Haus Lange and Haus Esters have imagined themselves actually living in one of them. Built by the internationally renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) in the late 1920s, they form a unique ensemble in the history of New Objectivity architecture in Germany. A total artwork emerged from the interplay of architecture, design and nature, which provides fertile ground for exciting stories. The personal artistic style of Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich still shapes the atmosphere there today. The Krefeld textile manufacturers Hermann Lange and Josef Esters lived with their families in these villas that numerous artists have filled with installations, biographies and narratives since 1955.
Marion Brasch (*1961) was born in East Berlin. After graduating from high school, the trained typesetter worked in a print shop, various publishing houses, the GDR Composers’ Association and as a freelance radio journalist. Her debut novel Ab jetzt ist Ruhe was published in 2012, followed by the road novel Wunderlich fährt nach Norden in 2014 and Die irrtümlichen Abenteuer des Herrn Godot in 2016. Her latest novel Lieber woanders was published in spring 2019.
Matias Faldbakken (*1973) works as an artist and writer in Oslo. He has exhibited at the documenta 13 (2012) and represented Norway in the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2005). He has had solo exhibitions at WIELS, Brussels; Le Consortium, Dijon; Fridericianum, Kassel; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; the National Museum of Art, Design and Architecture, Oslo and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo. The Cocka Hola Company, his debut novel, was published in 2001. Between 2001 and 2019 Faldbakken published five novels.
Mark von Schlegell (*1967) received his PhD in literature from New York University in 2000. He has taught at CalArts, the San Francisco Art Institute, and directed the Pure Fiction Seminar at Frankfurt’s Staedelschule from 2011 to 2018. Since the 1990s, his writing has extended from science fiction and literary theory to art, literature and beyond. Today he works regularly in the international art world, writing essays, stories, scripts, performances and collaborating with artists in the process.
Established in 2018, the exhibition series Collection Satellites invites artists from different fields twice a year to engage with the museum’s collection and present works in an entirely new light. The Stiftung Kunst, Kultur und Soziales of the Sparda-Bank West is the partner of the Collection Satellites series.
Bibliographical details
Marion Brasch, Matias Faldbakken, Mark von Schlegell
Short Stories for Haus Lange Haus Esters
Collection Satellite #4
Edited by Katia Baudin, Sylvia Martin, Magdalena Holzhey
120 pp., German/English, Grass Publishers, Brauweiler 2020
