Documenta 12 Pavilion Dispute; Changes at Haus der Kunst; Three Museums Split Ricke Collection; Weerasethakul Film Censored
HOT AIR BETWEEN BUERGEL AND PAVILION ARCHITECTS
The plastic pavilion being built for Documenta 12 is creating some heat between artistic director Roger M. Buergel and the pavilion's architects, Jean-Philippe Vassal and Anne Lacaton. Die Süddeutsche Zeitung's Holger Liebs interviewed the French duo, recently nominated for the Mies van der Rohe prize, who are also behind the open interiors at Paris's Palais de Tokyo. Apparently, the two parties have a difference of opinion regarding how best to ventilate the interior: cool like a white cube (Buergel), or hot like a greenhouse (Vassal and Lacaton).
"The problem is not the form of the pavilion," explains Vassal. "It's the system. One should feel the atmosphere of fresh air in the [Karlsaue] park, close to the river. In the summer, the Karlsaue should become a resting place that is as natural as possible and understood as part of the exterior. The climate should be felt inside, too, in a way that's different from the traditional museum. . . . A greenhouse should not be sealed off."
Buergel is insisting on a ventilation system to protect the artworks—a full one-third of which will be shown in the pavilion. Yet Vassal points out that neither the Kulturbahnhof nor the factory were specially ventilated for Documenta 11. Moreover, the architect insists that an open system is closer to Buergel's own idea of India-inspired "palm groves" where visitors can sit and discuss the works.
"The most important factor for the museum climate is the sweat of each individual visitor," Vassal told the newspaper. "There, a purely artificial atmosphere becomes a problem. If Buergel has an image in mind of people sitting under trees in India, then he should think about what kind of architecture comes closest to this image."
CHANGES AT HAUS DER KUNST?
Die Süddeutsche Zeitung's Holger Liebs also paid a visit to Chris Dercon—director of Munich's Haus der Kunst—whose contract has just been extended for another five years. Why does the international networker want to stay in Munich? Dercon explains that he wants to secure the architectural future of the massive Haus der Kunst, foreseeing possible alterations on top of some much-needed renovations. "Of course, we don't need more space," said Dercon. "But a polyvalent use of the east wing is conceivable. We have contracted studies of the entire building from architects who value the museum, in particular Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron. The goal is not architectural designs but a public debate about the future of the Haus."
ONE COLLECTION, THREE MUSEUMS
The Rolf Ricke collection—which includes works by artists such as Richard Artschwager, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Richard Serra—found three permanent homes through a process that might be the future for cash-strapped museums trying to expand their holdings. The collection—on loan to the Neue Museum Nürnberg from 2000 to 2005—was purchased at the end of last year by three separate institutions: Frankfurt's Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, and the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen.
To find out more about this unusual shared acquisition, Die Frankfurter Rundschau's Natalie Soondrum and Janina Kalle spoke with Udo Kittelmann, director of the MMK. The institution paid €1.8 million ($2.4 million) for their portion, more than a third of the collection's €4.5 million ($6.1 million) price tag. But Kittelmann points out that the MMK also acquired more than a third of the collection: 62 works from a total of 157.
But how to make the difficult decision of which museum gets which works? "We made sure that the works were divided in such a way that they supplement the respective museum collections optimally and in a sensible manner with respect to donations." An early Richard Serra sculpture—pined after by all three museums—ended up going to St. Gallen, since the museum already has a large Serra sculpture in front of the building.
"The MMK did not absolutely need the Serra," said Kittelmann. "What was important to me was extending our collection with outstanding female artists from the '60s, for example works by Harriet Korman, Lee Lozano, and Jo Baer. The importance of these works was fully and unjustifiably neglected at that time by an art market dominated by male artist colleagues." It seems that shared purchases can also lead to an art-historical reassessment.
WEERASETHAKUL FILM CENSORED IN THAILAND
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest film has been censored in the director's native Thailand. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Michael Althen reports, Sang Satawat (Syndromes and a Century)—which premiered at last fall's Venice Film Festival—did not please Thai censors, who requested four cuts to the film before its commercial release in the country. Instead of complying, Weerasethakul decided to cancel the release and raise questions about Thai film policies via an online petition. The censor board offered its own form of resistance by refusing to return its viewing copy to the director.
In an open letter to the National Legislative Assembly and the Thai government, Weerasethakul writes, "I, a filmmaker, treat my works as my own sons or my daughters. When I conceived them, they have their own lives to live. I don't mind if people are fond of them, or despise them, as long as I created them with my best intentions and efforts. If these offspring of mine cannot live in their own country for whatever reasons, let them be free. Since there are other places that warmly welcome them as who they are, there is no reason to mutilate them from the fear of the system, or from greed. Otherwise there is no reason for one to continue making art."