Pictures in Time
Goetz Collection in Haus der Kunst
January 25–June 15, 2014
Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstrasse 1
80538 Munich
Germany
In 2011, after renovating its former air raid shelter, Haus der Kunst started a long-term cooperation with the Goetz Collection, which is unparalleled in both its quality and variety, in which selections of videos and film installations from the collection are presented. In September 2013, Ingvild Goetz announced the donation of parts of her comprehensive collection to the State of Bavaria. The congenial partnership between Haus der Kunst and the Goetz Collection represents a strong base for deepening the exploration of the collection and developing further presentations.
Pictures in Time investigates the relationship between the still and moving image. Carefully selected shots—often based on models in painting—are dominant in the films, videos and slide projections on display here. The remarkable slowness with which the images in these works follow each other also draws attention to the aspects of subject and time.
A noteworthy role in the selection of works in Pictures in Time assumes the “tableau vivant” (French for “living picture”), or the reenactment of paintings and sculptures by real people. This practice of reducing a theater performance to a single image evolved in France in the mid-1800s. When video art of the 1990s revisited this format, the focus was on minimal movement, such as the inhaling and exhaling of performers, who, as living beings, could not remain motionless. In Sam Taylor-Wood’s film The Servant (2007), a breath of air that ignites the flame of a cigarette lighter animates the static image. The minimal movement makes the passage of time perceptible, which distinguishes this film from a painting. Otherwise, the nearly four-minute film shows a single static image: A man on a dark street about to light a cigarette. He stands half turned away from a house window, out of which a woman gazes.
Some of the videos selected forgo plot, sound, and voice, thereby shifting attention entirely to the image. Trusting in the narrative power of images, Selg’s Storråda (2011) e.g. creates an action that is structured like a filmed series of paintings without need of dialogue. Sigrid Storråda (“The Proud”), a tenth-century Viking queen, refused to accept the Christian faith. Selg shows artist Habima Fuchs’s depiction of Storråda as she leaves her community to find a new purpose in harmony with nature. Storråda is a parable about separation, parting, departure, and renewal. In expressive settings, both the external events as well as the inner transformation of the main character unfold.
Blumenprojektion, Herbst (Flower Projections, Autumn) by Fischli & Weiss is rooted in the genre of landscape painting and still life, and so is Kathrin Sonntag’s slide projection Annex, whereas Seth Price opted for a clear conceptual approximation to the medium of painting.
Exhibited works include:
Yael Bartana, Entartete Kunst lebt / Degenerate Art Lives, 2010
Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Blumenprojektion, Herbst (Flower Projections, Autumn), 1998
Gary Hill, Remarks on Color, 1994
Cyril Lachauer, 32 m.ü.NHN. – 114.7 m.ü.NHN. (II), 2012
Seth Price, ‘Painting’ Sites, 2000–1
Florian Pumhösl, You have several times been paralleling or anticipating some (as yet not fully appreciated) recent developments in exact science—of which you may not be fully aware (few are), 2001
Robin Rhode, Untitled, Spade for Spade, 2005
Anri Sala, time after time, 2003
Markus Selg, Moloch (Juggernaut), 2007; Storråda, 2011
Kathrin Sonntag, ANNEX, 2010
Sam Taylor-Wood, The Servant, 2007
Zhao Liang, Heavy Sleepers, 2006
Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites
January 25–May 25, 2014
With this exhibition, Haus der Kunst stresses its continuing commitment to pronounced positions of sculpture in contemporary art. This exploration included Sculptural Acts (2011), a presentation of sculptural objects which were characterized by the acts executed during production: the enveloping, tearing, folding, bending and compressing of the materials involved. The installation by Manfred Pernice, installed in autumn 2013 in the middle hall (Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst. Manfred Pernice, Tutti IV) navigates in the ambiguous zone between stability and instability, combining pieces from earlier works. The Autoconstrucción Suites by Mexican-born artist Abraham Cruzvillegas presents an intriguing concept of thinking about sculpture in its urban and social context.
Over the past ten years, Abraham Cruzvillegas (born in 1968 in Mexico City) has developed a compelling body of work that integrates his interest in form and matter within the physical landscape of Ajusco, a volcanic landscape just south of Mexico City. The construction of a settlement there began in the 1960s. The building was a direct consequence of the migration from country to city caused by the state’s neglect of agricultural issues in favor of industrial development, which was perceived as a recipe for progress. The numerous immigrants from the countryside found themselves in a precarious economic situation once they arrived in Mexico City. They therefore created their own dwellings with no funding and no architectural plan. The materials and techniques people used were almost entirely improvised and based on whatever was available in the immediate surroundings.
Elements of composition are the disparate, the cumulative, and the search for expressive signs. A distinctive feature of Cruzvillegas’s work is that it always possesses a consciousness of physical presence, immediacy, and urgency—as a result of an interaction with objects.
Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites is organized by the Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A., where it was first on view from March 23 to September 22, 2013. It will travel to the Jumex Foundation in Mexico City and Museo Amparo in Puebla. Curated by Clara Kim, the exhibition’s Munich presentation is being adapted in collaboration with Dr León Krempel.
Major support for the exhibition is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support is generously provided by Nelly and Moisés Cosío Espinosa, the Rose Francis Foundation, Gabriela and Ramiro Garza, Eugenio Lopez, Leni and David Moore, Jr., Donna and Jim Pohlad, Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney, and Marge and Irv Weiser.
Currently on view at Haus der Kunst:
Richard Artschwager!
11 October 2013–26 January 2014
Lorna Simpson
25 October 2013–2 Feburary 2014
Der Öffentlichkeit – Von den Freunden Haus der Kunst: Manfred Pernice
18 October 2013–21 September 2014
So Much I Want to Say: From Annemiek to Mother Courage
Goetz Collection at Haus der Kunst
19 April 2013–12 January 2014