Werkraum
WERKRAUM / 2006
WERKRAUM was a project carried out by students of the Intermedia Class over a two-week period in January of 2006.
The project tested out an unconventional exhibition model: a processual exhibition in the spaces of Leipzig’s Baumwollspinnerei- one of the most important establishments currently present in Leipzig’s cultural landscape and in the international art scene. The students found a format which thematised “exhibiting” as a gesture in regards to the spaces, and developed presentation forms that commented on the Baumwollspinnerei as a place.
The nature of an exhibition, the actions leading to its execution, and its major components take on great importance in places where the production of art—and especially its presentation—plays an exceptional role. Exhibitions are media-based formats that help us to see and experience cultural constructions through the presentation of audiovisual and textual elements. During class discussions, these questions formed a fundamental focus of the considerations in preparation for the action. The goal was to reformulate the relation between art production and presentation, to transform the exhibition into an event in which the various modalities of reception could be sampled and reflected upon.
In the final project the exhibition changed into an event, in which the most varied reception modalities could be tried out and reflected upon. In this way, a wide spectrum of display possibilities was offered during the exhibition. Possibilities, that were always temporarily re-formed- from forms of presentation similar to that of a gallery, and as far as situations likened to electronic musical concerts, or film screenings.
The entire event comprised of three different phases.
The Performance
Four lecterns with microphones were set up at different points in the exhibition space in preparation for the performance. The preview was not presented by the professor or an equivalent authority; rather, the students themselves took the situation into their own hands and read a pre-prepared text aloud. The action was planned to allow four students to begin speaking with a certain lapse in time that created an interesting effect of overlapping voices in the space.
The text for the “opening speech” was a composition, a patchwork of various text fragments and quotations that each of the students had handed in. Stefan Hurtig took over the synthesis. The texts were stacked on the lecterns following the performance, after which the space and the plans for future artwork slowly disappeared in artificial fog.
The Preview
The preview showed the emerging art works in their potentiality. The entire exhibition space presented itself as a possibility. On display was the space itself, the concepts, the ideas, the sketches, or the materials of exhibiting, before the moment of production.
The students opened the event with a performance in which the introductory words about the exhibition became the content of the art action.
The Exhibition Action
Joseph Beuys spoke of “permanent conference.” What the Class for Intermedia executed during the two weeks of WERKRAUM was a “permanent exhibition action”.
The basic idea was to make “creative” processes associated with private studio space accessible to the public, to continually use the space in a new way. Hence, the public was able to participate in the development of the ideas sketched out in the preview and during class discussions. To facilitate this, the students installed the class technology and furniture in the WERKRAUM and even held class meetings there.
The Opening/Closing Event
Many institutions that work with exhibitions of contemporary art complain about the low numbers of visitors—people will only stand in line for the well-packaged consumer shows (Picasso & Co.). Exhibitions are usually visited at the openings. For WERKRAUM we decided to show the “finished” works only on the last day of the two weeks. The opening simultaneously became the closing event, and the exhibition ritual was reduced to a few hours.
Participants
Organisation: Cindy Schmiedichen, Peter Frey, Stefan Hurtig, Rolf Sommer, Nadine Neuhäuser and Pia Heinlein
Film screening on 1/27/06: Video Club, Leipzig
Concert on 1/21/06: Alula Ton Serien & Finnardgruppe 01, Orange Dot/Leipzig
Jaap Versainc Ensemble/Leipzig-Berlin
Performance text and publication editing: Stefan Hurtig
Filming of the performance: Carsten Möller
Photographic documentation: Susanne Kaiser, Stefan Hurtig, Nicolas Reichelt, Gottfried Binder and others
Publication coordination: Patrick Franke and Dagmar Varady
Editor: Wiltrud Reichelt
Thanks to: I would like to thank Nicolas Reichelt for his assistance during my temporary disability, without whose help I would not have been able to continue supervising the project. And finally, I would like to thank the management of the Leipzig Baumwollspinnerei and Mr Bertram Schulze who made the exhibition space available to us.
Participating Artists
Binder, Gottfried Eschelor, Judith Miriam Franke, Patrick Frey, Peter Hartung, Anne Heinlein, Pia K.
Helbig, Verena Hennig, Luise Hernández Ruiz, Otto Oscar HM Kaiser, Susanne Ling, Tao Neuhäuser, Nadine
Schmiedichen, Cindy Sommer, Rolf Ullrich, Andreas Weinert, Carolin