Ampersand –
A Dialogue of Contemporary Art from South Africa & the Daimler Art Collection
June 11 – October 10, 2010
Opening: June 10, 2010, 7 p.m.
Haus Huth
Alte Potsdamer Straße 5
10785 Berlin, Germany
Participating Artists:
Zander Blom (ZA), Dineo Bopape (ZA), Willem Boshoff (ZA), Robert Filliou (F), Abrie Fourie (ZA), Kay Hassan (ZA), Jan Henderikse (NL), Nicholas Hlobo (ZA), Alicja Kwade (PL), Marcellvs L. (BR), Jim Lee (USA), Lawrence Lemaoana (ZA), Michael MacGarry (ZA), Nandipha Mntambo (SD), Patrick Fabian Panetta (D), Athi Patra-Ruga (ZA), Robin Rhode (ZA), Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié (F), Pietro Sanguineti (D), Lasse Schmidt Hansen (DK), Lerato Shadie (ZA), Rowan Smith (ZA), Monika Sosnowska (PL), Natalia Stachon (PL), Mikhael Subotzky (ZA), Luca Trevisani (I), Nontsikelelo Veleko (ZA), James Webb (ZA), Simone Westerwinter (D), Sue Williamson (UK).
From the context of the Daimler Art Collection, Jan Henderikse (*1937, NL) and Robert Filliou (1926-1987, F) and the South African artists Willem Boshoff (*1951, ZA), Kay Hassan (*1956, ZA) and Sue Williamson (*1941, UK) were selected as the forerunners and initiators of the most recent developments in art.
The works by young international artists from the Daimler Art Collection presented in Ampersand were chosen according to two different sets of criteria. On the one hand, the works – predominantly new acquisitions from the past three years – were chosen to represent the Daimler Art Collection’s minimalist section. These are the three young Polish artists Natalia Stachon, Monika Sosnowska and Alicja Kwade, the wall objects by New York artist Jim Lee and the Italian Luca Trevisani in the ‘Trash Minimal’ tradition, and, finally, the packing of ‘disposed-of’ pictures and the mobile phone videos by Patrick Fabian Panetta. On the other hand, the conceptual strategies and political implications of the selected works were also important, creating a connection with the artworks by the pioneers already mentioned. This can be seen in the videos by the Brazilian Marcellvs L., the VOID word-sculpture by Pietro Sanguineti, the poster edition by Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié and the works of the Danish artist Lasse Schmidt Hansen. Simone Westerwinter picked up on our curatorial idea of a ‘friendly match’ and ‘married’ a youth’s set of goalposts with a bridal veil, creating a cryptically ironic homage to masculinity and soccer fever.
Taken together, the works by younger South African artists reflect a full and representative spectrum of current themes and production forms. Concepts of gender, identity, HIV/AIDS, sexuality and the ongoing subcutaneous effects of discrimination under apartheid are central, for instance, to the sewn pictures by Nicolas Hlobo, the photographs and cow hide sculptures of Nandipha Mntambo, the sound installation by Kay Hassan, the video Bird’s Milk by Dineo Bopape about a failed romantic relationship and the fashion performances and photographic series by Athi-Patra Ruga. Ruga’s photograph series The Naivety of Beiruth refers to the so-called ‘bugchasers’, who intentionally infect themselves with HIV in order to ‘share’ the experience of HIV/AIDS sufferers (in a kind of Ruth-like altruism). Other works by South African artists included in Ampersand are characterized by explicit political analysis and critical statements. Lawrence Lemaoana attacks the manipulation of the media and the survival of corrupt patriarchal structures under the current president Jacob Zuma, Rowan Smith reconstructs bygone utopias and progress models as a sign of positive energy in the heart of disintegrating social structures, and in Welcome to Paradise! Lolo Veleko creates camera portraits of African refugees, who, in a kind of mimicry, are hoping to find a place for themselves in the false postcard idyll of the holiday island of Gran Canaria.
Our exhibition ‘Ampersand’ is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue published by Hirmer Verlag, which is available both at book trade, the exhibition space Daimler Contemporary or can be ordered online.
Furthermore a substantial supporting programme, consisting of artists’ talks, thematic discussions, lectures and guided tours, will go along with the exhibition. Free guided tours through the exhibition (available in German/ and in English on request) will take place on the following Saturdays at 4 p.m. (03 July / 7 Aug / 04 Sep / 2 Oct 2010). Our guided tour ‘Sculptures at Potsdamer Platz’ is available on the same dates at 5 p.m. Please check our website for updates and announcements.
If you would like to receive regular information about exhibitions and activities of the Daimler Art Collection please send us an E-Mail to: kunst.sammlung@daimler.com or join our Fanpage on Facebook
Various other exhibition catalogues are available at Daimler Contemporary, at bookshop Bücherbogen am Savignyplatz in Berlin or can be ordered online at: www.collection.daimler.com/publikationen/publikationen_e.php
Contact:
Daimler Contemporary
Haus Huth
Alte Potsdamer Straße 5
10785 Berlin
Germany
Open daily 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Admission free
Phone: +49 (0)30 259 41 42 0
Fax: +49 (0)30 259 41 42 9
E-Mail: kunst.sammlung@daimler.com
www.collection.daimler.com
