A Product of Free Will
David Hatcher, Michael Müller, Christine Würmell
7 July – 19 August, 2007
Curated by Astrid Mania
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
Chausseestraße 128/129
10115 Berlin, Germany
P +49 (0)30 2807020
F +49 (0)30 2807019
nbk [at] nbk.org
‘A Product of Free Will’ presents work by Berlin-based artists David Hatcher, Michael Müller and Christine Würmell. Each artist’s practice is an idiosyncratic response to the effects of and possibilities inherent to our institutionalized contexts for art, yet their enquiries exceed a mode of pure analysis. Witnessing the co-opting of conceptually radical or formally ephemeral works into an art canon or market, Hatcher, Müller and Würmell decide against strategic dematerialization of their work as an antidote to such forces. Frequently referencing movements from the 20th century–particularly the historical avant-gardes and work from the conceptual era–they instead insinuate their work into the cultural and economic paradigms of contemporary art and its institutions. In doing so they attempt to negotiate the complex nature of sites that distribute and display art–the gallery space and all that it is contingent upon–without relinquishing an investment in visual pleasure, a formal agenda, or the material foundation of their work.
David Hatcher probes the philosophical and political foundations of western societies to determine their structural integrity. He finds that a lot of what was once considered groundbreaking resides today in superficial references designed to lend a critical edge to aesthetic commodities. Rather than attempting a simplistic evasion of this condition, he creates art objects that stare down their fate. In his installations, however, he attempts to go further, attributing a practical, social use value to the art object.
In drawings and work with language Michael Müller questions his own potential to convey his artistic intentions and processes to the viewer. He does so by making reference to philosophical or scientific problems that resist resolution, and also by means of absurd endeavors of translation in which shifts in meaning are a foregone conclusion. He is fascinated by the discrepancy between scientific method and artistic product, between the seemingly infinite capacity of thought and the restrictions of all the systems it is bound to.
Christine Würmell’s work combines images and texts from the areas of politics, ecology, economics and the arts as she audits contemporary western culture. Her practice addresses the vacuous use of political, nonconformist gestures and concepts in pop culture and consumer societies, as well as the leeching of creative form and content as fine art is historicized and commodified.
The exhibition will also be on view at the Kunstverein Göttingen from 18 November – 31 December, 2007. A bilingual exhibition catalogue is available.
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Friday 12 – 6pm
Saturday & Sunday 2 – 6pm
