Room with a Historical View

Mauerspringer (Wall Jumper) by Gabriel Heimler

Gabriel Heimler was one of the artists involved in "the first joint art project between the two Germanys" after the opening of the Berlin Wall. The collaborative project by two artist associations, the VBK from the East and the BBK from the West, was titled the East Side Gallery, and was completed in 1990 with the participation of 102 artists [Arte Luise Kunsthotel, 2010a]. Heimler's work has now also "taken up residence"  in Room 421 at Arte Luise Kunsthotel and also "has been adapted to its current time and place": Mauerspringer leaped from West to East in 1989 in a symbolic gesture of bringing freedom, he jumps "from history into the reality of the present" [Arte Luise Kunsthotel, 2010a].

"All rooms in the hotel have been individually decorated by a renowned artist, whose concept incorporates the entire room. Every room is an original, and the only thing that they all have in common is high artistic quality". [Arte Luise Kunsthotel, 2010b]

Berlin History by Moritz Götze

Another room at the hotel features a collection of ironic images of Berlin by Moritz Götze. "By the window: an enamel skyline created by the artist with all the key orientation points, including the top floor of the hotel with a view of the Spree, the Reichstag building and the Chancellery. Next to the window is a shelf with selected Berlin literature and a telescope for remotely discovering the history-laden surroundings" [Arte Luise Kunsthotel, 2010c].

Arte Luise Kunsthotel [2010a] 421 Double Room with Shower. [Online] http://www.luise-berlin.com/en/rooms/421.htm [22/05/2010]

Arte Luise Kunsthotel [2010b] Arte Luise Kunsthotel. [Online] http://www.luise-berlin.com/en/index.htm [22/05/2010]

Arte Luise Kunsthotel [2010c] 432 Double Room with Shower. [Online] http://www.luise-berlin.com/en/rooms/432.htm [22/05/2010]

Sophie Calle Exhibitions

"To record this process, I visited places from which symbols of GDR history have been effaced. I asked passers-by and residents to describe the objects that once filled these empty spaces. I photographed their absence and replaced the missing monuments with their memories." [Calle, in German Bundestag, 2010]

The artist Sophie Calle documents how Berlin faces its history and its correlation of memory and personal identity. The installation "Die Entfernung - The Detachment" makes audiences aware of "the complex way in which we perceive reality - and to the equally complex way in which history and the present are interwoven" and "is one of the most revealing artworks on the history of inter-German relations and its contemporary afterimage" [German Bundestag, 2010]

 

Guides for the exhibitions Die Entfernung - The Detachment

and Talking to Strangers [PDF]

In Talking to Strangers, a documentary and performing arts by Calle, combines photography, film and text, balancing "conceptual rigour and the elements of chance brought about by including both herself and her subjects directly in the artistic process. This spirit of inclusivity is more likely to illicit feelings of intimate understanding than intellectual dispassion; Calle’s is a conceptual art born of the world, not the classroom or studio (Pellerin, 2009). The guide for Talking to Strangers suggests actions for the audience to take at the exhibition and elsewhere, alongside a dialogue by two artists, to enhance the experience at the gallery and to understand Calle's work further [Whitechapel Gallery, 2010]. 

German Bundestag [2010] Sophie Calle: Die Entfernung - The Detachment. [Online] http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/artandhistory/art/artists/calle/index.html     [22/05/2010]
Pellerin, A. (2009) Sophie Calle: Talking to Stragers. [Online] http://www.dazeddigital.com/ArtsAndCulture/article/5539/1/Sophie_Calle_Talking_to_Strangers [22/05/2010]
Whitechapel Gallery [2010] Conversations and Actions. [Online] http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/downloads/calle.pdf [22/05/2010]

Vukadin, A. (2009) Sophie Calle: Talking to Strangers. [Online] http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/2009-sophie-calle-whitechapel-gallery/1976 [22/05/2010]

Meat Love by Jan Švankmajer

Meat Love (Zamilované Maso) is a short film directed by Jan Švankmajer, a Czech animator, and released in 1989. Although governments in Eastern European states were collapsing in 1989, Czechoslovakia was still one nation then (Cowley, 2009). The Berlin Wall was opened in in this year also, and the plot of the film made me think of the German unification. 

Cowley, J. (2009) 1989 The Year of the Crowd. [Online] http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2009/03/world-crowd-end-wall-1989 [21/05/2010]

Meatpaper [2010] Jan Svankmajer’s “Meat Love” Animation from 1989. [Online] 

http://www.meatpaper.com/meatart/svankmajer/index.html [21/05/2010]
Michnik, A. & Havel, V. (2008) After the Velvet, an Existential Revolution? [Online]
http://www.salon.eu.sk/article.php?article=801&searchPhrase=velvet%20revolution&lang=EN [21/05/2010]

Eva Meyer-Keller

NNF10

"Death is certain started from a wish to do something really simple and easily accessible. I got interested in fairy tales, because they leave a lot of space for projection and the 'action' to project seems essential to perceive them." (Meyer-Keller, 2003)

Eva Meyer-Keller performs internationally as well as organising festivals and events. She collaborats with other artists and groups also. I have interviewed her between her performances of Death is Certain at Norwich and Norfolk Festival, on her work including Volksballons und geklonte Krieger/People's balloons And cloned warriors at Palast der Republik in Berlin, and how she connects with her audience.

Eva Meyer-Keller preparing Death is Certain

Meyer-Keller, E. (2003) From the Klapstuk festival program, October 2003: From an interview with Sally de Kunst. [Online] http://www.evamk.de/daten/d_sally.html [14/05/2010]

Goethe-Institut [2010] Eva Meyer-Keller. [Online] http://www.goethe.de/kue/tut/cho/cho/mr/mey/enindex.htm [14/05/2010]
Tollmann, V. (Trans. Mahoney, N.) (2009) Eva Meyer-Keller: Building after Catastrophes/Handmade. [Online] http://www.goethe.de/ges/umw/prj/kuk/fot/eva/enindex.htm [14/05/2010]
Vivid (2005) Artfest 06. [Online] http://www.vivid.org.uk/projects.php?work=34 [14/05/2010]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgctf7KEGro [15/05/2010]

http://www.goethe.de/ges/umw/prj/kuk/fot/eva/enindex.htm [15/05/2010]

Marina Abramović

"The work is done for the audience. Without audience the world doesn't exist: it doesn't make any meaning."
(Abramović, in MoMA, 2010a) 

"In an endeavor to transmit the presence of the artist and make her historical performances accessible to a larger audience, the exhibition includes the first live re-performances of Abramović’s works by other people ever to be undertaken in a museum setting. In addition, a new, original work performed by Abramović will mark the longest duration of time that she has performed a single solo piece... All performances, one of which involves viewer participation, will take place throughout the entire duration of the exhibition, starting before the Museum opens each day and continuing until after it closes, to allow visitors to experience the timelessness of the works." (MoMA, 2010b) 

Live between 14 March-31 May, 2010

Abramović claims that performance is a "unique form of art and is very temporary", and that "there's nothing to sell in performance: it's just memory". She also notes that she does not expect anything from the audience and "then it's up to the audience how they take it" (Abramović, in MoMA, 2010a). 

As well as broadcasting Abramović's performance on its website, MoMA has also created a photostream of participants' portraits online.

Day 53, Portrait 12; Day 53, Portrait 11; Day 53, Portrait 10 by Marco Anelli

Anelli, M. (2010) MoMA The Museum of Modern Art's Photostream. [Online] http://www.flickr.com/photos/themuseumofmodernart/ [15/05/2010]
MoMA (2010b) Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present. [Online] http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965 [15/05/2010]
MoMA (2010a) What is performance art? [Online] http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/marinaabramovic/conversation.html [15/05/2010]