THREE COLOURS – RED
17.07. – 05.10.2008
Official Opening 13.07.2008 at 3pm
Villa Kellermann/ Potsdam
The XV Rohkunstbau annual festival of contemporary art is entitled “THREE COLOURS – RED”. In the third and final part of this trilogy, designed by Rohkunstbau co-founder and artistic director Arvid Boellert, the acclaimed Rohkunstbau exhibition has invited ten contemporary artists to explore the complex issue of “Fraternity”. In analogy to Three Colours – Blue, White, Red, the eponymous film series by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, the Rohkunstbau exhibition also sets out to highlight the personal perspective of each individual artist on the fundamental democratic principle of brotherhood and sisterhood. The festival has always highlighted the relationship between the exhibits and the location – and this year’s exhibition venue at the Villa Kellermann, located directly on the banks of the Heiliger See lake in Potsdam, has a chequered history of nobility, wealthy commoners and proletarian artistic circles that offers a unique projection surface.
Rohkunstbau curator Mark Gisbourne has taken the colour red as the leitmotif for the exhibition, adding the extra dimension of referencing this year’s 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Red has been closely associated with fraternity for years, just as much as with political ideas such as socialism and collectivism. Yet, at the same time, red is ambiguous, without a single defined reference, a colour not only evoking love, warmth and energy down the centuries but also epitomising the devil, and symbolising sin and danger. The artworks presented in Potsdam reflect just such a diversity.
Exhibiting Artists
Marc Bauer, Switzerland/ Drawings, Installation, Guy Ben-Ner, Israel/ Video, Installation, Richard Hamilton, UK/ Painting, Collage, Britta Jonas, Germany/ Objects, Installation, Alexandra Khlestkina, Russia/ Video, Jonathan Monk, UK/ Installation, Objects, Performance, José Noguero, Spain/ Objects, Installations, Photography, Bettina Pousttchi, Germany/ Photography, Video, Installation, Cornelia Renz, Germany/ Painting, Brigitte Waldach, Germany/ Painting, Drawing, Installation.
Rohkunstbau – Benefit – Auction, 13.07.08 at 4pm, Villa Kellermann/Potsdam
Auctioneer: Prof. Dr. Peter Raue
Most of the works in the auction have been donated by artists shown at previous Rohkunstbau. exhibitions including: Norbert Bisky, The Blue Noses, Sergej Bratkov, Micha Brendel, Maria Chevska, Thomas Florschütz, Laura Ford, Via Lewandowsky, Melanie Manchot, Boris Michailov, Steffen Mühle; Berit Myreboee, Thomas Rentmeister, Cornelia Renz, Cornelia Schleime etc.
They are planning to donate the money from their auctioned works to help establish a Stiftung Rohkunstbau Foundation to secure the continued existence of Rohkunstbau as an acclaimed private non-profit project. In that sense, this is far more than just an auction of works – it is the chance to ensure Rohkunstbau’s survival as an independent institution for new works in location-based art.
Further information: +49 30/ 486 20 800 or online at www.rohkunstbau.de
Patron of THREE COLOURS – BLUE WHITE RED from 2006 to 2008: José Manuel Barroso,
President of the European Commission
Artistic Director: Dr. Arvid Boellert, Exhibition Curator Mark Gisbourne
Venue: Villa Kellermann, Mangerstrasse 34 -36, 14467 Potsdam/ Germany
The Exhibition is open to the public from 17.07. to 5.10.08.
Official opening: 13.07.08 at 3pm
Opening times: Thursday and Friday 2pm 7pm, Saturday and Sunday 12noon 7pm
Online at: www.rohkunstbau.de Infoline: +49 30 / 48 62 08 00
Admission: Free admission under the age of 16.
Concessions for pupils and students, registered unemployed people and people with severe disabilities (at least 50% MdE – registered disability).
Press Office: Bluhm PR, Sylke Bluhm and Ron Bloch, info@bluhmpr.de
Media partners: zitty, rbb Radio Eins
Organised by the Brandenburg Branch of the Foundation SPI.
The XV Rohkunstbau is generously funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation, the Land of Brandenburg, the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung together with the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Potsdam, the city of Potsdam, Cision, and EMB.
Image above:
Cornelia Renz and Anna Renzthrills, 2008
Pigment pencil on acrylic glass, 100 x 100 x 6 cm incroyable + merveilleux, 2008
Triptych, pigment pencil on acrylic glass, 260 x 520 x 8 cm
Exhibition view: Villa Kellermann/ Potsdam
Photography: Roland Horn
©VG Bildkunst, Bonn 2008
Courtesy Cornelia Renz und Goff+Rosenthal Berlin/New York
