Open Stores #1
Anja Kirschner and David Panos
“The Empty Plan”
29 June–9 October 2011
Film and presentation from the stores and archives of the Staatsgalerie StuttgartOpening:
Tuesday, 28 June 2011, 7pm
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 30-32
70173 Stuttgart
Germany
T+49 (0)711 470 40-0
info [at] staatsgalerie.de
www.staatsgalerie.de
The artists Anja Kirschner (b. 1977) and David Panos (b. 1971) from London will be presenting their “Open Stores” selection in correspondence with their new film “The Empty Plan,” which was produced with support from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. The protagonist of the film—to be premiered in Germany within this framework—is the German author, dramatist and director Bertolt Brecht. With a focus on his Hollywood period (1941–47), the film explores Brecht’s theoretical and practical theatre work and its changing historical conditions during the late years of the Weimar Republic and the period of exile in California, after his return to Germany and in the later German Democratic Republic. A collage of contrasting stage improvisations, imaginary dialogues in film studio settings and documentary reconstructions, “The Empty Plan” raises fundamental questions concerning ideological content in various forms of artistic presentation, as well as the relationship between art and politics—aspects still relevant to current aesthetic-political debates.
In their selection of works primarily from the store of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart’s Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Kirschner and Panos likewise explore the complex and ever-changing relationship between artistic forms and political movements in the critical period leading up to World War II. They base their deliberations on Brecht’s criticism of the naturalistic and nationalist constructions of realism which gained popularity during the period in question and were also present in the exhibition programme of the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. In his theoretical and practical work alike, Brecht defined realism—on the contrary—as a critical attitude towards the prevailing circumstances with regard to possibilities for collective change. The choice of works from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart was carried out in dialogue with the art historian Kerstin Stakemeier, one of whose research fields is Realism.
“The Empty Plan” film production was funded by Arts Council England through Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network, co-produced with City Projects / London and supported by Focal Point Gallery / Southend-on Sea, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Kunsthall Oslo.
Curator “Open Stores” series: Alice Koegel, Curator of Contemporary Art, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication with a foreword and an essay by Alice Koegel and a conversation by Anja Kirschner, David Panos with Kerstin Stakemeier (68 pages).
Programme accompanying the exhibition
Conversation
Anja Kirschner and David Panos in conversation with Alice Koegel, Curator of Contemporary Art, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Tuesday 28 June 2011, 9pm
Talk
Kerstin Stakemeier, Berlin
Realism – Attempts of Actualizations
Thursday 15 September 2011, 9pm
Film Screenings
Films by Anja Kirschner & David Panos
Polly II: Plan for a Revolution in Docklands (2006), 30’ Trail of the Spider (2008), 54’ Tuesday 4 October 2011, 7:30pm
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard (2009), 56’ Thursday 6 October 2011, 7:30pm
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse 30-32
70173 Stuttgart
Opening Hours:
Wed, Fri, Sat + Sun: 10:00 am–6:00 pm
Tues + Thurs: 10:00 am–8:00 pm
Mon: closed
www.staatsgalerie.de
info@staatsgalerie.de
+49 (0)711 470 40-0
+49 (0) 711 23 699 83
