For the Time Being: Hidden Behind Plaster
July 20–October 27, 2013
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Lichtentaler Allee 8a
76530 Baden-Baden, Germany
For the Time Being: Wall Paintings – Painted Walls
August 4–October 20, 2013
Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Artur-Ladebeck-Strasse 5
33602 Bielefeld, Germany
For the Time Being
An exhibition project produced in collaboration by the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Focusing on the wall as an artistic medium, the two presentations in Baden-Baden and Bielefeld take the 1960s as a point of departure. Artists working outside the classic limitations of the framed painting—a phenomenon that art historian Laszlo Glozer referred to as “Exit from the Picture”—indicate the explosive force of this groundbreaking 20th-century art form. Once regarded as a gesture of rebellion against the art market, temporary murals and installations have become an established element in the field of contemporary art. Hence, For the Time Being explores the mural’s past and present.
In both Baden-Baden and Bielefeld, major works by artists such as Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner, Blinky Palermo, and Richard Tuttle will be reconstructed. In this context, Lawrence Weiner’s seminal work A 36″ X 36″ REMOVAL OF THE LATHING OR SUPPORT WALL OF PLASTER OR WALLBOARD FROM A WALL (1968) is one of the main starting points for the exhibition in Baden-Baden. By removing a 36-x-36-inch large piece of plaster, the work uncovers the material underlying the surface, but more importantly, it exposes the very logic of the white cube exhibition space. Lawrence Weiner’s IN THE MIDDLE OF (cat. #1055, 2012) on the outside wall of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld greets visitors approaching from afar.
Additionally, newly commissioned works by contemporary artists are an important part of both shows, while bridging the gap to the present day. In Bielefeld the wall piece conceived for this exhibition by Kay Rosen, Wanderful!, plays with linguistic analogies in German and English. Dan Perjovschi comments on current political and cultural developments in his text-marker pictograms: positions that are evidence of the diverse forms of expression used in contemporary mural painting.
For the exhibition in Baden-Baden, Franz Ackermann created a new work that overlays the walls of a whole room with luminous colors, mixing monochrome areas with ornamental elements. In his work A (not so) White Cube (2001–present) Nedko Solakov points out the tiny irregularities of the gallery walls, like cracks and drops of paint, that contest the concept of the supposedly ideal surface of the white cube.
The exhibition in Bielefeld is sponsored by Kulturstiftung des Bundes and the Kulturstiftung pro Bielefeld. The exhibition in Baden-Baden is kindly supported by the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
Catalogue
Walther König Publishers will release a comprehensive catalogue (German/English) with numerous essays and views of the installations in both exhibitions.
Artists on display at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden: Franz Ackermann, Elmgreen & Dragset, Jeppe Hein, Pierre Huyghe, Gabriel Kuri, Malene Landgreen, Liz Larner, Sol LeWitt, Christl Mudrak, Nedko Solakov, and Lawrence Weiner, as well as documentation of works by Holger Bunk, Daniel Buren, Günther Förg, Hamish Fulton, Michaela Melián, Gerhard Merz, Helmut Middendorf, Blinky Palermo, Giuseppe Penone, Tobias Rehberger, Karin Sander, K.R.H. Sonderborg and Corinne Wasmuht
Artists on display at Kunsthalle Bielefeld: Ernst Caramelle, Douglas Gordon, Arturo Herrera, Imi Knoebel, Sol LeWitt, Michel Majerus, Gordon Matta-Clark, Blinky Palermo, Dan Perjovschi, Kay Rosen, Bridget Riley, Ulrich Rückriem, Kilian Rüthemann, Karin Sander, Thomas Schütte, Anri Sala, Josh Smith, Richard Tuttle, Rinus Van de Velde, Alexander Wagner, Kara Walker, Lawrence Weiner and Richard Wright
