ABGESTAUBT

ABGESTAUBT (Dusted off) / 2005

„Abgestaubt“ – a jointly developed project by the Class for Intermedia for the Rundgang of the HGB in 2005 – questioned space-time dynamics of the art system in regards to cyclical phenomena. The project examines the exemplary „skeletons in the closet“ of the academy.

The cellar, in which paintings hang since many years. Hardly anyone knows that they are the former diploma works from painting graduates during the GDR time, which remained after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the GDR it was common that a certain amount of the paintings produced for the Diploma were to remain in the possession of the academy. After the fall, as part of the abolition of this rule, the overfilled storage was emptied. As no author could be found, the exhibits remained in one of the cellars of the academy. The long-standing technical assistant of the HGB Manfred “Louis” Tränkner was the one who brought them back to the surface. After the refurbishment of the cellars, he installed a selection of works on the now white walls.

Transfer from the cellar

Video

The exhibition in room 232a was expanded by a video.
Long-standing staff as well as students from various departments were asked by means of a questionnaire about the paintings.

The series of interviews deal with questions regarding knowledge about the paintings in the cellar, or the possible effects of the art world on teaching in art academies, and in this way equally exemplarily shine a light on the operating system of art.

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Exhibition in the classroom

These paintings were taken by the Intermedia Class as an object of analysis in order to explore the art world at that time and the ritual of the Rundgang. Not the least in terms of the then media event „Neue Leipziger Malerschule“. And so the students decided to place these „forgotten“ paintings on display in their classroom during the Rundgang. The works were in the double sense of the word „abgestaubt“, taken, appropriated, dusted off, and brought once again to light. One selection was made once again by Herr Tränkner.

Exhibition of student works in the cellar

In return the students received the now orphaned cellar in which they presented their own works. This room change mirrored in exemplary fashion the current situation in the art market once again, and the alleged victory of the traditional over the new media.