11 December 2005 – 19 February 2006

TIME LINES

Nairy Baghramian, Steven Claydon, Gego, Runa Islam, Silke Schatz, John Stezaker

The exhibition »Time Lines« shows works by artists from different generations who are all occupied with time in their respective ways.  The works pose questions about a linear course of time in particular and connect different points from the past, present and future.  The projects—some of which were specially realised for the exhibition—play with changes in perspective, serial principles or the emphasis on production time.  The thematic treatment of time leads in some of the works to a more abstract form, but in the case of others a more concrete pictorial language obtains, oriented toward man himself or cultural processes.

13 – 27 November 2005

FIKRET ATAY

As part of  "the new orient"

The young Kurdish artist Fikret Atay (*1976 in Batman) is exhibiting video works originated over the past few years. All of these films feature children at play in Anatolia. The various scenes that are convincingly characterised by an unpretentious pictorial language could well have been recorded in other places. The situations shown by Atay are both familiar and strange at the same time. In »Tinica« a youth is playing drums on tin cans in front of the silhouette of the town Batman. In »Bang Bang« some boys are staging mock shoot-outs between the trains. Atay shows homo ludens  in a region in which the past and the future are closely woven together and yet where the capacity to engender the possibility of alternative models for action shines through.

10 September – 6 November 2005

MARC CAMILLE CHAIMOWICZ

Marc Camille Chaimowicz’s (*1947) installations combine diverse media such as painting, sculpture, photography, film and performance. Commencing with a visual repertoire drawing upon art, interior architecture, literature and film, he develops complex connections in which both applied and autonomous aspects are combined. The sculptures appear to be in the throes of transformation and oscillate between their concrete matter and abstract form. Wallpaper and carpets, eccentric black ceramic pots, stools and wall consoles create an estranged sense of »home«. The works presented in the Kunstverein were originated during the period 1975 until 2005, some of which were especially created for this exhibition. Curated by Anette Freudenberger. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.

30 July – 1 September 2005

HENNING BOHL

The magazine The Studio, which was co-founded by Aubrey Beardsley in 1893 and which strove to effect the unification of art and life, forms the basis of Henning Bohl’s exhibition. Borrowing from the 1902 edition, Bohl uses themes and motifs, which he duly transfers into paper works and installations. A trellis of roses shows artists names that appear as pseudonyms in the periodical, whereas other works on paper reflect the fin de siècle interest in Japonism. Henning Bohl often uses paper , which he transfers onto canvases in the manner of a silhouette. He paints over copies, draws and institutes sculptural intrusions into available space. The references in his works are for the most part utopian impulses from the past, which he then investigates in terms of their current potential. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.

7 May – 17 July 2005

RAFAL BUJNOWSKI

In his first solo exhibition Rafal Bujnowski (*1974 in Krakow) provides an overview of works originated  since 1998.  His conceptually arranged paintings, projects, videos and objects play with expectations placed upon art and conventions within the art industry.  Bujnowski questions received notions about art such as genius, uniqueness or complexity and analyses art’s salient contexts and conditions.  When presented them in showroom of a furniture store, his paintings—using banal motifs—destroy the idea of a work of art as something individual and unique.  He applied for a visa for entry into the United States of America using a reproduction of a painted self-portrait.  Whether the unpretentious »image-objects« (video cassettes, alarm systems, bricks) are objects, paintings or sculptures remains a matter for continued speculation. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. Supported by the Ministry for Civic Planning, Housing, Culture and Sport of the Federal State of NRW. The project was co-financed by the Adam-Mickiewicz-Institut using funds provided by the Polish Republic’s Ministry for Cultural Affairs as part of the » German–Polish Year 2005/6«

19 February – 24 April 2005

ARS VIVA 04/05 – TIME

Michael Hakimi, Peter Piller, Katja Strunz, David Zink Yi
In conjunction with the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.v.

The »ars viva« prize winners Michael Hakimi, Peter Piller, Katja Strunz and David Zink Yi were nominated by the Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI. The artists exhibited works in Mannheim, Düsseldorf and Warsaw on the topic of time.  The Kunstverein is presenting thus four young artistic positions.  The exhibited works revolve around different aspects of »time«— processuality, biographical time, the dynamic relationship between physical and experienced time, as well as social and economic aspects of time. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.