Annette Wehrmann
Wir gucken fern, weil wir uns die Revolution nicht leisten können
(We’re watching TV because we can’t afford a revolution)
Atrium
Laura Horelli: Returns
11 July–7 September 2014
Opening: Thursday 10 July, 7pm
Badischer Kunstverein
Waldstraße 3
D – 76133 Karlsruhe
Germany
info [at] badischer-kunstverein.de
Annette Wehrmann
Wir gucken fern, weil wir uns die Revolution nicht leisten können
(We’re watching TV because we can’t afford a revolution)
Badischer Kunstverein presents an extensive solo exhibition by Annette Wehrmann (1961–2010). Wehrmann’s works can be located within the politicisation of art in the 1990s. Her drawings, sculptures, installations, performances, videos, and texts form an accessible language undermining normative structures. Wehrmann voiced her unease about the world in an idiosyncratic mix of anarchic prose, intellectual discourse and dry humour while reinforcing an autonomous position not only inscribed in her art, but also in her entire life.
The exhibition brings together a range of the artist’s individual pieces and series of works. Fußbälle/Kugeln (1991) is an early sculptural work consisting of balls made from bricks, which is accompanied by a performance video and drawings. Wehrmann’s UFO architectures are given a central role. The artist described these works, assembled from cheap materials and influenced by feminist science fiction literature, the jazz musician Sun Ra and the architectural group Archigram, as a “retreat into oneself” and a “desire for a better, different life.” Public space, in particular its increasing privatisation and commercialisation, is another main theme in Wehrmann’s art. In her photo series “Blumensprengungen” (1991–95), the artist literally exploded a number of flowerbeds arranged in urban locations. For her installation DSB für die Zukunft (1993–96), Wehrmann introduced a new currency, thus developing an alternative economic space. Wehrmann’s text-based and performative artistic practices are also evident in her texts typed on paper streamers.
Curated by Ort des Gegen e.V. and Anja Casser, Badischer Kunstverein.
Ort des Gegen e.V. was founded in Hamburg in 2011 to preserve the artistic estate of Annette Wehrmann. The association members are Erzsébet Ambrus, Hans-Christian Dany, Sabine Falk, Katharina Gerszewski, Jochen Möhle, Christoph Rauch, Holger Steen, Inga-Svala Thorsdottir, Laila Unger, Brigitte Wehrmann, Monika Wucher and Ina Wudtke.
www.annettewehrmann.de
In 2013 Annette Wehrmann: Luftschlangentexte was published by Starship Verlag, Berlin.
www.starship-magazine.org
Atrium
Laura Horelli
Returns
Returns, presented in the atrium of the Badischer Kunstverein, shows four works by Finnish artist Laura Horelli (b. 1976). The artist works primarily with video, but also in the formats of photography and text. Her works revolve around the subjects of identity, representation and memory. Horelli is interested in historical connections, but she deliberately undermines their alleged facticity.
In her most recent video works, Haukka-pala (A-Bit-to-Bite, 2009), The Terrace (2011) and A Letter to Mother (2013), presented as a trilogy in the exhibition, the artist addresses her own biography, yet always embeds it within a larger social and political context. In these works, a central moment is Horelli’s early loss of her mother, whose absence she approaches through various filmic means.
The Jokinen Trial (2014), an installation exploring the history of Finnish immigration to the United States, is being premiered at the Badischer Kunstverein. The photographs and audio narration are based on research into the life of August Jokinen, a Finnish communist. Jokinen arrived in the United States in 1916, and was accused of racism in a show trial in New York in 1931. Rather than seeking to uncover a unified identity, Horelli deliberately utilizes various image and textual sources to open up complex and diverse narrative readings.
Talks & events
Friday, 11 July
6pm
Guided tour through the exhibition by Annette Wehrmann
with Ina Wudtke (Ort des Gegen e.V.)
7pm
Talk by Stephan Dillemuth for Annette Wehrmann
“fiat DSB—Deutscher Seifenbeton and other alternative currencies”
8:30pm
Reading by Ina Wudtke
Annette Wehrmann: Luftschlangentexte
10pm
Concert/performance
Tulip, die singende Tulpe
Wednesday, 3 September, 7pm
Artist’s talk with Laura Horelli
