BEING LAID UP WAS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ART / #UNFINISHEDTRACES

The Kunstverein in Hamburg is delighted to present the summer program 2020 with its experimental exhibition series BEING LAID UP WAS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ART and #UNFINISHEDTRACES by Jeewi Lee, Lerato Shadi, Viron Erol Vert and Christophe Ndabananiye.

BEING LAID UP WAS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ART
Like most branches of life, the arts and culture scene has considerably suffered during the Corona crisis over the past few months and continues to do so. A time of upheaval like this is nevertheless an opportunity to rethink how we work and to develop new possibilities for presenting art. A clear sign and perceptible feeling of this is the unity and display of solidarity among all artists. Multi-discipline collaborations can come out of a variety of collective endeavors. With the experimental exhibition series BEING LAID UP WAS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ART, the Kunstverein in Hamburg would like to set an example of solidarity: in two chapters, actors from different branches of the arts and culture scene in Hamburg who had to cancel their events will be invited over the summer to present their work together with many international colleagues.

A lot of art has been made in the last few weeks. The first chapter of the exhibition series checks in on the status of humor post-#MeToo, feminism today, and how we imagine continuing to live together. The second chapter will give diverse and very different voices a chance to speak in the Corona Sound System in order to reflect on the possibilities of sound in empty spaces, experience sounds including minimal ambient to radio plays, and reflect on our NOW, or simply to drop into a melody. There will be two very different exhibitions to see, which play experimentally with formats, widening them and pushing them to the limit in order to provide surprising insights.

In cooperation with a.o. Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, ZDF / ARTE, Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel, Hauptsache Frei e.V., Galerie Kai Erdmann.

You can find the continuously updated list of artists as well as all information about the screenings, talks, performances and concerts on our website. Whether this will be experienced in analogue or digital form remains open. Stay tuned.
 

#UNFINISHEDTRACES: Jeewi Lee, Lerato Shadi, Viron Erol Vert and Christophe Ndabananiye
The Kunstverein in Hamburg is pleased to present the winners of the Villa Romana Prize to a wide audience in the exhibition series #UNFINISHEDTRACES. The Villa Romana Prize is Germany’s oldest art prize and has been awarded to four artists every year since 1905. Artists Jeewi Lee, Christophe Ndabananiye, Lerato Shadi, and Viron Erol Vert were the 2018 Villa Romana Prize winners selected by Nasan Tur (artist) and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (director of SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin).

With #UNFINISHEDTRACES, the artists themselves have provided the title for the series. It refers to shared qualities in their works, which each pursue the search for traces in different ways; memories, untold (hi)stories, the artist’s personal biography, and the attempt to experience what is absent are focal points in the content of each project. The title’s reference to what is left unfinished opens up a field of tension between the future and the past. Every exhibition is the realization of a possibility – ambiguity, permeability, and mobility play a large role here, both on the side of the institution as well as on the side of the artists. An experiment emerges that points beyond the specific projects. Supplemented by an online program, a multifaceted dialogue will develop over three months.

The exhibition series is produced in cooperation with Villa Romana Florence.

Lerato Shadi: Batho Ba Me
June 27–July 19

Jeewi Lee: re-
July 25–August 16

Christophe Ndabananiye: 11°40′S 27°29′O
August 22–September 9

Viron Erol Vert: “Ich mag keine Ausländer, aber bei dir ist es was anderes.”
September 19–October 11