hier und jetzt - basement, Berlin

Opening: 26.01.2023 6 - 9 pm

Duration: 26.01. - 08.04.2023

Participating artists: Pedro Boese, Cécile Dupaquier, Anne Gathmann, Peter K. Koch, Jak R. Maier, Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Martin Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Carlos Silva, Susanne Wehland, Markus Wirthmann

Introduction: Oliver Möst

hier und jetzt is the first of a total of four exhibitions at basement Berlin in 2023, the new temporary location for contemporary art of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Department of Culture. The basement, located between Europa-Center Berlin and Weltkugelbrunnen, sees itself as an interface to art in the urban space.

The first exhibition documents and reflects the artistic positions of artists who have significantly shaped the cityscape in the area around Tauentziehn and the Gedächtniskirche from the 1980s to the present day. In memory of these Berlin artists, the exhibition “Now” brings together selected works that relate to the works in the surrounding area. The works of art in the outdoor space must be imagined in the exhibition itself; visitors are invited to re-examine these works from the seventies and eighties in the context of contemporary art. In the exhibition, these selected works are juxtaposed with current artistic positions and refer to a common visual language, overlaps and interfaces between the art movements of the 1970s and 1980s and current contemporary positions.

The Berlin sculptor Susanne Wehland worked on the “Weltkugelbrunnen”, 1981-1983. In the exhibition, she is showing figurative wall friezes, juxtaposed with works by Cécile Dupaquier from the “Tableau” series from 2022. The paintings from the “Cosmos” group of works, 2018, by Carlos Silva are in the context of the steel sculptures by Brigitte and Martin Matschinski-Denninghof. In reference to the sculpture “Berlin”, 1987, on the Tauentzien, two works on paper by the artist couple Matschinski-Denninghof can be seen in the exhibition, while the “Clock of Flowing Time”, 1982, by Bernard Gitton, in the atrium of the Europa Center Berlin, finds its continuation in the group of works Tracht und Habitus, 2020, by Markus Wirthmann. The steel work “==”, 2021, by Anne Gathmann can be viewed in the context of the light sculpture “Obelisk”, 1987, by Heinz Mack; he created a second obelisk made of steel, which is located at the end of Kurfürstendamm, on Henriettenplatz.

The model of a steel sculpture by Jakob R. Maier, “Stahlskulptur 74”, stands as a representative for the disappearance of contemporary art in urban space. This sculpture was erected several times in Berlin in the 70s and 80s. Only a few photographs and an edition model bear witness to the artistic work of Jakob R. Maier, who taught as a professor of metal sculpture at the Hochschule für bildende Künste from 1971-1998. Curator Oliver Möst has selected the works “Zoe”, 2013 by Pedro Boese and Peter K. Koch, o.T. (Captain), 2022, as associative images for the disappearance.

Artist Talk: Saturday 11.02.2023, 5 pm

Text: Oliver Möst

Curator: Oliver Möst

Fotos: Oliver Möst