print November 2007

Yilmaz Dziewior

“MANY PEOPLE JUST PLAY THE CHANGES; I like to change the play.” This statement—wry, gnomic, a touch haughty, and evincing a nonchalant economy of terms—seems like a good starting point for any discussion of the art of Cosima von Bonin. True enough, the words are not actually hers; they belong to Mayo Thompson, front man for the band Red Krayola. Yet the aphorism nevertheless aptly describes von Bonin’s modus operandi, which is to make work that examines and intervenes in the rules of the game—the game being art as a cultural and social practice. Moreover, to enlist Thompson here—he’s a friend

interviews May 2001

1000 WORDS: THOMAS DEMAND

Thomas Demand works in the eastern part of Berlin, in a blue-collar neighborhood closer to Mitte’s industrial waterfront than to its galleries and fashionable cafés. His studio is located in one of those light-manufacturing buildings typically found in the innermost reaches of Berlin courtyards. When I went to visit the studio, nearly the entire loft space was filled with giant cardboard models for his recent series “Poll,” 2001. The setup was extremely disconcerting: I couldn’t tell whether the chair or table in front of me would support even the weight of the bag I was carrying, or whether it

news Summer 2000

Thomas Ruff

WHEN THOMAS RUFF’S NEW IMAGES of Mies van der Rohe’s Haus Lange and Haus Esters go on view in the newly refurbished Krefeld villas this June, the German photographer will help reinaugurate a pair of structures almost as important for the recent history of art as for architecture. Closed for more than two years to accommodate badly needed renovations, the Rhineland buildings boast an exhibition history that includes not only first institutional shows by the likes of Yves Klein, Cy Twombly, and Marcel Duchamp but appearances by everyone from Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter to Bruce Nauman and

print Summer 2000

GALA Committee

With the revival of interventionist art practices in the ’90s, which at times decidedly refer to procedures of the ’60s and especially the ’70s, there are frequently moral pretenses at play. Art (market) mechanisms are critically scrutinized, artistic requirements analyzed, and the relationship between public and private spheres and their reciprocal influences investigated. Always, the artists are concerned to condemn prevailing power structures.

Although the project “In the Name of the Place” deals with similar questions, it happily lacks any such moralistic disposition. In 1995, Mel Chin, then

print May 2000

Kai Althoff

A narrative thread connects the individual works in Kai Althoff’s exhibition, “Ein noch zu weiches Gewese der Urian-Bündner” (A still too soft comportment of the Urian Fraternity), 1999. In a typewritten text, Althoff tells of a fraternity of young men who have made a pact with evil. Youth, desire, and despair determine the otherworldly sphere in which they move, a sphere beyond time and corporeality. A sort of memorial to these boys’ earthly existence, the exhibition contains photos of a harmonious family and of a young, attractive, yet seemingly diabolical man, as well as sculptures in the

previews May 2000

Isa Genzken

Even though German artist Isa Genzken has received solo surveys at institutions like Krefeld's Museum Haus Lange (in 1979) and Rotterdam's Boijmans (in 1989) and was selected to participate in Documentas 7 and 9, only of late has a new generation of curators discovered her current relevance, as evidenced by her influence on a host of contemporary artists Among the is Braunschweig director Karola Grässlin, who is installing this show of twenty-five sculptures and twenty photographs dating from 1973 to the present. A catalogue including installation views of the exhibition and an essay by critic

print March 2000

Björn Dahlem

Once a year the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf opens its doors, offering a glimpse of the students’ work. One finds that the young artists seldom work in a truly autonomous or innovative manner; often their work looks plagiarized from their teachers’. And so it was remarkable that at the open studio a year ago, a number of curators and critics spoke with unreserved enthusiasm about an installation by the then-twenty-four-year-old Björn Dahlem. Although a student of Hubert Kiecol, Dahlem’s installation had more in common with the material aesthetic of Georg Herold combined, perhaps, with that of Thomas

interviews February 2000

1000 WORDS: SHARON LOCKHART

The concept behind Sharon Lockhart’s latest work is straightforward enough: Shoot a thirty-minute roll of film, from a single angle, of an audience listening to a piece of music created as a score for the film in question (by composer Becky Allen) and performed live by a chorus offstage in the orchestra pit. The film blankly registers the reaction of its less-than-rapt subjects: At the outset most follow the music more or less attentively, but eventually, with nothing to look at onstage save the camera, some begin to converse, joke around, even flirt and banter with one another.

As simple as it

print January 2000

Andreas M. Kaufmann

In 1962, the Hungarian composer György Ligeti premiered his Poème Symphonique, a musical piece for a hundred metronomes. By positing the metronome as the performer of the concert (the pendulum weights were set so that each beat at a different speed), the work inverted the normal functions and roles of practical aids and musical instruments. Although he was perhaps not explicitly referencing Ligeti, Andreas M. Kaufmann practiced a similar reversal in his recent exhibition “Move,” distributing twenty-seven metronomes across five levels of scaffolding and the gallery floor. The uneven clicking of

previews January 2000

Ed van der Elsken

Since Ed van der Elsken’s recent turn in Catherine David's Docurnenta X, interest in the work of the Dutch photojournalist and documentary filmmaker is on the rise. Credited as a pioneer of cinema verité, van der Elsken bluntly yet sympathetically documented his immediate social environment, including (in his final film, Bye) his own approaching death in 1990. The comprehensive exhibition brings together 180 photographs, as well as dummies of his photo books, a slide show with sound, and his best-known films. An extensive catalogue, including texts by Annelie Lütgens, Hans Schoots, and Nan

previews January 2000

Bas Jan Ader

Since her appointment last February, Kunstverein Braunschweig director Karola Grässlin has breathed new life into the 168-year-old institution, producing a host of ambitious projects for the space. On the heels of exhibitions by Mike Kelley and Cosima von Bonin, Grässlin will present the first solo show of the work of Bas Jan Ader in Germany since the artist’s disappearance at sea in 1975. Curated by Christopher Müller, the exhibition includes almost all of Ader’s extant work and is sure to add momentum to the rediscovery of this Southern California–based Conceptual artist set in motion with

previews January 2000

Manfred Pernice

Inasmuch as Manfred Pernice frequently prepares site-specific installations involving containers of various types, he should enjoy Portikus—essentially a giant drum behind an ornate entryway, the sole surviving part of the Neoclassical budding shelled during World War II. For some time the enclosure and encompassing of space has been a leitmotiv in the German artist's work, and the Frankfurt show will feature his recent sculptural pieces, constructed from large barrels and canisters, as well as photos and drawings. In conjunction with the exhibition, a catalogue/artist's book (a collaboration