Archithese

in Archithese (2015), 2

When We Share More Than Ever

Book published by Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (2015)

6th Triennial of Photography, MK&G Hamburg When we share more than everThe show “When We Share More Than Ever” consists of 246 works. It is the very nature of sharing in the digital age that (most) visual ... [more ▼]

6th Triennial of Photography, MK&G Hamburg When we share more than everThe show “When We Share More Than Ever” consists of 246 works. It is the very nature of sharing in the digital age that (most) visual information is treated horizontally: democratically not in the sense of a philosophical prerogative, but rather a form of free-to-choose availability that is – at least partially – neutrally presented. This form of neutrality is based on a supposed pragmatic objectivity. Just think about Google Image Search. If I can have it at my fingertip, I am the one to make the decision. With the aforementioned in mind, we have created a central-access exhibition layout, which takes as a primary motif the ambition of the inventory. From all that we have heard, been told, seen and experienced, the show and its meta-narrative is dealing with (and producing) different forms and formats of the archival. Even the (forthcoming) blog functions as an archive. Producing a (spatial) inventory of all works (which you will find in this document), we have studied each “sharing”-cluster, investigating size against content and vice versa. The central driving force of our investigation is considering the huge number of works on show, the archival nature of the collection, and the meta-context of the Triennial as a form of Future Archive. Hence, our proposal for the show is dealing with the inherent relationship between art and trade, which – especially at the Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe – has, historically, been a major focal point. The exhibition design interrogates the role, function, and contextualization of an individual work within a cluster and the show at large. Moreover, it interrogates the relationship between different works as well as the role and position of the artist(s). In an exhibition format that attempts to unite 13 institutions (+ 38 satellite shows) within a content framework dealing with a specific form of production and output, photography and film, this underlying narrative of the archival becomes even more relevant. The exhibition design works around a single concept of hanging, which is horizontally organized around a 1,2m baseline. This form of organization produces a fixed horizontal datum. It further means that each work has to negotiate as well as that is has to be negotiated – it produces an archival show in its purest form. All physical elements and objects to be built react to the very same datum and are cut off vertically at the horizontal datum. This form of vertical and horizontal display allows for a no-nonsense inventory that formulates a framework for a virtual-era Neue Sachlichkeit. As part of our design, we would like to propose to go even a step further and remove any physically present information about artist(s) and work(s). Each individual work on the wall (or in space) would simply be allocated with a number, underlining the intrinsic relationship between spatial installation and the printed matter guide, which will act as a deciphering manual for the entire exhibition. The setting up of such scaffold and borderlines is crucial as each individual member of the audience to the project needs to take a position. Taking a position always has consequences. Only when a border is acknowledged, understood and recognised it can be broken, transgressed or (mis)used. By deliberately producing such agonistic field of (productive) encounters, the design aims to nurture and exploit notions of misunderstanding(s) and a pro-active outlook on the value of failure as the starting point of all forms of experiment. We understand the design of the show to act both as an act of enabling (facilitating consensus), as well as an act of disabling (exploiting dissensus). Invited Artists: Laia Abril, Ai Weiwei, Regula Bochsler, Natalie Bookchin, Heman Chong, Aurélien Froment, David Horvitz, Trevor Paglen, Doug Rickard, Taryn Simon, Jens Sundheim, Penelope Umbrico. From the Photography and New Media Collection of the MKG: Fratelli Alinari, Hanns-Jörg Anders, Nobuyoshi Araki, Francis Bedford, Félix Bonfils, Adolphe Braun, Natascha A. Brunswick, Atelier d’Ora-Benda, Minya Diez-Dührkoop, Rudolf Dührkoop, Harold E. Edgerton, Tsuneo Enari, Andreas Feininger, Johann Hamann, Theodor und Oscar Hofmeister, Thomas Höpker, Lotte Jacobi, Gertrude Käsebier, Kaku Kurita, Atelier Manassé, Hansi Müller-Schorp, Eadweard Muybridge, Arnold Newman, Terry Richardson, Max Scheler, Hildi Schmidt-Heins, Hiromi Tsuchida, Carl Strüwe, Léon Vidal, and more. [less ▲]

Rear Views, a Star-Forming Nebula, And The Office Of Foreign Propaganda: The Works Of Taryn Simon

Book published by Tate Publishing (2015)

"Born in New York in 1975, Taryn Simon is at the forefront of contemporary photography practice. Her artistic medium is based around three equal elements: photography, text, and graphic design, which ... [more ▼]

"Born in New York in 1975, Taryn Simon is at the forefront of contemporary photography practice. Her artistic medium is based around three equal elements: photography, text, and graphic design, which combined investigate the limitations of absolute understanding, examining the gaps between each element and how this can lead to disorientation and ambiguity. Simon's work ranges in focus and scope from a series of examinations of legal function specific to the United States: The Innocents, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, and Contraband; to a four-year examination of politics, history and individual agency on a global scale: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters; to works based on obscure and little-known stories and archives, addressing the nature of the production and circulation of knowledge: Black Square and The Picture Collection. Committed but never limited to these concerns, Simon's work has established her as a pre-eminent exponent of a practice that engages equally with issues of pressing importance in the modern world, and with the politics of representation. Published in close collaboration with the artist, this publication is the first to draw together Taryn Simon's diverse and complex range of projects, produced since 2002. With new and published essays by amongst others Salman Rushdie, Homi Bhabha, Daniel Baumann, Tim Griffin, Tina Kuklieski, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Elisabeth Sussman. With an introduction by Simon Baker, Curator of Photography at Tate Modern."--Tate Publishing. [less ▲]

What’s Next?

Book published by Kopaed (2015)

Die Welt ist im Wandel und mit ihr die Kunst. Was ist die nächste Kunst? Welche Themen werden künftig wichtig? Welche Formen, Methoden, Verfahrensweisen und Praktiken setzen sich durch? Welche Folgen hat ... [more ▼]

Die Welt ist im Wandel und mit ihr die Kunst. Was ist die nächste Kunst? Welche Themen werden künftig wichtig? Welche Formen, Methoden, Verfahrensweisen und Praktiken setzen sich durch? Welche Folgen hat das für das Denken über Bildung und Vermittlung der "nächsten Kunst"?Band 2 der Reihe "What's Next?" ist ein Reader. Er versammelt Essays, Interviews, Thesen, Manifeste und Zitate, die im Anschluss an den ersten Band "What´s Next ? Kunst nach der Krise" (herausgegeben von Johannes M. Hedinger und Torsten Meyer, Berlin 2013) Möglichkeiten der Verkoppelung von Kunst und Bildung - in der Schule, im Museum und an anderen Orten - thematisiert. Die Beiträge nehmen zum Teil Bezug auf Texte aus dem ersten Band, auf das Buch im Ganzen oder auf parallele Entwicklungen und Beobachtungen. Wie bereits im ersten Band wurden die Beiträge mit Blick auf den internationalen Diskurs und globalen Kontext zusammengestellt. Es gibt deshalb Beiträge in deutscher als auch in englischer Sprache.Das Buch soll Kunstlehrer_innen, Kunstvermittler_innen und Studierende anregen, die Verknüpfung von Kunst und Pädagogik vor dem Hintergrund der nächsten Kunst neu zu (be)denken. Es unterbreitet auch konkrete Vorschläge für Praxis, die helfen zu imaginieren, was Kunstpädagogik im fortgeschrittenen 21. Jahrhundert bedeuten könnte.Versammelt sind rund 120 Essays und Interviews sowie über 100 Thesen, Manifeste und Zitate von insgesamt weit über 200 Autor_innen zum Thema des möglichen Nächsten im Feld der Kunstpädagogik.Darunter finden sich unterschiedliche Denkanstöße von Marina Abramovic, Maria Acaso, Paolo Bianchi, Franz Billmayer, Nicolas Bourriaud, Bündnis kritischer Kulturpraktikerinnen, Sara Burkhardt, Jacques Derrida, Mary Drinkwater, James Elkins, Sabine Gebhardt-Fink, Lady Gaga, Neil Gaiman, Priska Gisler, Jean-Pierre Grüter, Talita Groenendijk, Jan Grünwald, Robert Hausmann, Johannes Hedinger, Christine Heil, Antonia Hensmann, Emiel Heijnen, Alexander Henschel, Gerrit Höfferer, Marike Hoekstra, Selma Holo, Christina Inthoff, Henry Jenkins, Peter Jenny, Konrad Jentzsch, Benjamin Jörissen, Notburga Karl, Lennart Krauß, Gesa Krebber, Marie-Luise Lange, Heinrich Lüber, Nanna Lüth, Oliver Marchart, Paul Mecheril, Markus Miessen, Carmen Mörsch, Chantal Mouffe, Karl-Josef Pazzini, Peter Piller, Stephan Porombka, Jacques Rancière, Irit Rogoff, Lisa Rosa, Andrea Sabisch, Ansgar Schnurr, Diederik Schoenau, Ulrich Schötker, Konstanze Schütze, Bernadett Settele, Michel Serres, Stefan Seydel, Keri Smith, Cornelia Sollfrank, Marcus Steinweg, Nora Sternfeld, Sabine Sutter, Adam Szymczyk, Sally Tallant, Kevin Tavin, Kristin Westphal, Georg Winter, Manuel Zahn, Jutta Zaremba, Rahel Ziethen und vielen anderen. [less ▲]

The Archive As a Productive Space Of Conflict

Book published by Sternberg Press (2015)

The applied research project and publication The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict deals with archival practice and its spatial repercussions. Inquiring whether any accumulation and organization ... [more ▼]

The applied research project and publication The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict deals with archival practice and its spatial repercussions. Inquiring whether any accumulation and organization of knowledge is productive—to the effect that it generates a narrative and/or history—the project focuses specifically on archives becoming productive due to their spatial framework. Consequently, the project debates the conflicts that arise when the topological and architectural structure of archives overcome existing models of reservoirs and storage units. The project interrogates whether archives necessarily need to be exposed to spatial permanence, and, if so, what design framework has to be applied in order for those components to be able to take on more than a singular form of existence. [less ▲]

Grand Tour

in Grand Tour (2014)

MARK VON SCHLEGELL Ickles, Etc.

Book published by Sternberg Press (2014)

It’s the late twenty-first century. Technological, environmental, and social catastrophes have changed the meanings of culture, nature, and landscape forever. But in what remains of the international ... [more ▼]

It’s the late twenty-first century. Technological, environmental, and social catastrophes have changed the meanings of culture, nature, and landscape forever. But in what remains of the international urban scene, architecture still refuses to admit it hasn’t been modern since the early twentieth century. Enter Ickles, Etc. Helming Los Angeles’s most misunderstood info-architecture practice is Henries Ickles, “the man without self-concept.” Time and again Ickles offers practical solutions to the most impenetrable theoretical entanglements of art, architecture, and science in the 2090s. In the fifth book in the Critical Spatial Practice series, Mark von Schlegell’s fusion of theory and fiction puts the SF back in notions of “speculative aesthetics.” A collection of interconnected comical sci-fi stories written for various exhibitions, Ickles, Etc. explores the future of architectural practice in light of developments in climatology, quasicrystalography, hyper-contemporary art, time travel, and the EGONET. Occupying New Los Angeles, visiting the Danish Expansion, Nieuw Nieuw Amsterdam, and 1970s St. Louis, the practice finds selves embroiled in very spicy mustards indeed, redefining info- architecture and jettisoning the burdensome “self-concept” of the Western tradition in the process. Just don’t expect a visit to the ruins of Disney Hall! [less ▲]

Hubs And Fictions. On Current Art And Imported Remoteness

Book published by Sternberg Press (2014)

Hubs and Fictions, originally a touring forum, invited international curators, writers, and producers to probe how fiction plays out in a globally distributed art-world ecology, and how infrastructures ... [more ▼]

Hubs and Fictions, originally a touring forum, invited international curators, writers, and producers to probe how fiction plays out in a globally distributed art-world ecology, and how infrastructures are invented against its background. In 2012, the forum was staged sequentially at Cooper Gallery (Dundee), Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (Gateshead), Goldsmiths University of London, and operated as a satellite event to Edgar Schmitz's exhibition “Surplus Cameo Decor,” curated by Sophia Yadong Hao at Cooper Gallery. The book functions as a deliberately discontinuous reader; it juxtaposes documents, negotiations, and reflections from and on these conversations. The publication also includes a preface by Andrea Phillips, a new image sequence by Schmitz, and a suite of reflexive annotations exchanged between Hao and Schmitz. [less ▲]

Promiscuous Encounters

Book published by GSAPP Books (2014)

Promiscuous Encounters, a day-long event organized by Francisco Díaz, Nina Valerie Kolowratnik, Marcelo López-Dinardi, and Marina Otero Verzier and held at the GSAPP in March 2012, examined the interplay ... [more ▼]

Promiscuous Encounters, a day-long event organized by Francisco Díaz, Nina Valerie Kolowratnik, Marcelo López-Dinardi, and Marina Otero Verzier and held at the GSAPP in March 2012, examined the interplay between the critical, curatorial, and conceptual capacities of architecture by asking a diverse group of theorists and practitioners to discuss their modes of promiscuous practice. Challenging the way in which a symposium is commonly recorded, for the discussion between Keller Easterling, Andrés Jaque, Reinhold Martin, Mitch McEwen, Markus Miessen, Felicity D. Scott, Pelin Tan, Rodrigo Tisi, and Mark Wasiuta, neither audio nor video recordings were made. [less ▲]

Judgement

Book published by Rice (2014)

This book illuminates a set of exchanges among architects, critics and art historians including Sarah Whiting, Hal Foster, Neil Denari, Ben van Berkel, Markus Miessen, Jeffrey Kipnis, Sylvia Lavin, R. E ... [more ▼]

This book illuminates a set of exchanges among architects, critics and art historians including Sarah Whiting, Hal Foster, Neil Denari, Ben van Berkel, Markus Miessen, Jeffrey Kipnis, Sylvia Lavin, R. E. Somol, and Brett Steele. First and foremost, Judgment is a conversation about architecture’s partisanships, the indispensable and biased engagements that catalyze architecture’s progress. Judgment is the result of a series of conversations that took place, and continue to take place, at the Rice School of Architecture. [less ▲]