Karla Black / Marcel Tyroller / Fred Sandback

Karla Black
Marcel Tyroller / Fred Sandback
July 4 – September 6, 2009

Opening
Friday, July 3, 2009, 7 pm

Forms of exhibitions
Lectures
July 11 – July 12, 2009

Der Kunstverein, since 1817.
Klosterwall 23
20095 Hamburg

www.kunstverein.de

The works of Kostis Velonis having so far occupied the upper floor of the Kunstverein alone, the sculptures of the Scottish artist Karla Black (*1972, lives in Glasgow) are now the focus of attention. Whereas Velonis’ sculptures were from the outset developed to provide a platform for the further activities of the Kunstverein, they now perform this function in particular measure. In keeping with the additive exhibition format, Karla Black rearranges some of Velonis’ works, removes others, and installs her own sculptures in this framework. A large work based on powdered gypsum and developed especially for the venue together with a hanging sculpture form a dense ensemble that rechoreographs the exhibition hall and creates an exciting, new spatial image. When in September the third artistic position concludes the additive exhibition concept, the works of Karla Black will in their turn be presented in a changed context and spatial setting.

On the ground floor, two minimalist artists meet: Marcel Tyroller (*1971, lives in Munich) and Fred Sandback (1943-2003). Tyroller’s “Schnur 2″ (Cord 2) throws a loop of red thread against the walls of the exhibition space. The line of the thread takes on every unevenness of the wall, every peculiarity of the space as it finds its way, tracing a constantly changing mural. The choice of material and the reduced form recall the American artist Fred Sandback, who is among the most important protagonists of minimal art. Sandback used threads of various colours, a material which appealed to him no least because of the slightly shimmering nature of the fibres, to create sculptures with no body or clear definition that relate to a specific spatial situation. Marcel Tyroller translates the reposing emptiness of Sandback’s abstract works into a contemporary, mechanistically mobile concept of minimalist sculpture, at the same time transcending its bounds to adopt a painterly gesture that in the 1970s had been excluded from minimal art.

Forms of exhibitions
Saturday, July 11 – Sunday, July 12, 2009

Exhibitions are designed experiential systems in which art and works of art, objects and information are placed in relation to one another. Messages and meanings are negotiated at the spatial, aesthetic, ideological, and emotional levels. In recent years, exhibition practice has expanded in the temporary sphere beyond the classical “white cube” to include new sites for the presentation of art such as public space, numerous international biennials, and the internet.

The two-day symposium at the Kunstverein Hamburg is devoted to the various aspects of staging exhibitions. The aim is to explore the importance of the exhibition as a medium and to develop an understanding of how exhibition practice not only shapes content but has itself become content. The selected contributions combine historical references with current positions, examining key issues: Is the exhibition a medium that can be continued ad infinitum or expanded? Does the expansion of exhibition practice necessitate a different public? How important is the exhibition as a component of cultural production?

Speakers: Martin Beck, Beatrice von Bismarck, Ann Demeester, Laszlo Glozer, Jan Hoet, Monika Pessler, Hanno Rauterberg, Dorothee Richter, Nicolaus Schafhausen, Raimar Stange, Florian Waldvogel, and Antonia Wunderlich

The Kunstverein is funded by Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Kultur, Sport und Medien.

For further information please contact Beate Anspach, presse@kunstverein.de