“Exhibiting the Exhibition” takes a look into the past, at the present, and also gives us a glimpse of the future of the exhibition. Precursors of modern museums will mark the starting point of the exhibition and it ends with the curatorial situations we’re currently witnessing. The show brings together several hundred works, which show, for example, how objects used to be presented in early cabinets of curiosities, which forms of display emerged in the 20th century, and how art is presented today.
A historical section in the main galleries of the Kunsthalle will form the prelude to the exhibition itself. It includes two of the earliest known examples of photographs documenting an exhibition. Even earlier forms of exhibition will be illustrated by means of floor plans, hanging plans, images of galleries, and tools of display, such as historical showcases and pedestals from the 17th and 18th centuries. Another focus, also shown at the Kunsthalle, will be the art of the exhibition in the 20th century: this was a time when new approaches to displaying were experimented with, often by the artists themselves. Some of these were so extreme as to have remained revolutionary to this day. One example is the ‘Cabinet of the Abstract’, which El Lissitzky set up at the Provinzialmuseum in Hanover in 1927. This is presented as a digital reconstruction and re-interpreted by Polish artist Goshka Macuga. Reflections on the “infrastructure” of the exhibition are another topos of contemporary art. For example, museum carpets and benches have been playfully reworked into elaborate choreographic objects. This can be seen in the works of Nevin Aladağ and Jeppe Hein.
In addition, the exhibition can be experienced outside the premises of the Kunsthalle itself. Current works attest to the fact that almost any site can be transformed into a temporary exhibition space by the mere creation of a curatorial situation. It is in this sense that the exhibition will conquer the urban space of Baden-Baden: shop windows, a bridge which crosses the river Oos, even the trees of the famous Lichtentaler Allee will be turned into exhibition spaces.
Amid all the changes in the centuries-long history of the exhibition, there has been one constant: an exhibition is not an exhibition without its audience.
With works by Nevin Aladağ, John Bock, Mariana Castillo Deball, Tacita Dean, Christian Eisenberger, Andrea Fraser, Lasse Schmidt Hansen, Friedemann Heckel, Jeppe Hein, Julian Irlinger, Fabian Knecht, Louise Lawler, Allan McCollum, Maria Miottke, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Ivan Moudov, Philipp Modersohn, Walid Raad, Karin Sander, Evamaria Schaller, Kamen Stoyanov, Sebastian Thewes, Lukas Töpfer, Claudia de la Torre, Kaari Upson, Pae White, Fred Wilso, a.o.
NOWs: Robel Temesgen | የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎችNu Bunna Tetu at Fendika Cultural Centre, Addis Ababa Opening: Thursday 22 February 2018 6:00 – 9:00 pm Fendika Cultural Centre presents “የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎች”, a solo exhibition by Robel Temesgen. In this Exhibition, Temesgen walks us through the “Nu Bunna Tetu”; the highly proliferating small scale coffee drinking spots and their emergence as alternative public spaces. In the fast changing character of Addis Ababa, the coffee spots have become an integral part of everyday life in areas ranging from the fancy multipurpose malls to the demolished as well as new construction sites in the city. Using the painting approach the artist developed over the years, Temesgen elevates the Jebenas/coffee pots beyond the customary. Owing to their compelling presence, “የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎች” looks into coffee pots as floating to survive, to make it through the hustle and bustle and continue to offer a platform that affords customers a shared place for conversations as they sip on their cup of coffee. Imagining sites of “Nu Bunna Tetu” as spots that somehow connect ‘strangers’ constitutes part of his continued interest in the socio-political dynamics of the social, sociality, and sociability and spaces at which this manifest. After years of exhibiting abroad, this Exhibition is Temesgen’s first Solo show in Addis Ababa. Robel Temesgen: Untitled, 2017, Acrylic, ink, sticker, permanent marker on paper About Robel Temesgen Born in 1987 in Ethiopia, Robel Temesgen received an MFA from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, University of Tromsø, Norway in 2015, and a BFA in Fine Art (Painting) from Addis Ababa University in 2010. He recently took part in the Junge Akademie Program of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and was a resident artist at IASPIS, Stockholm, the Swedish Art Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts. Temesgen’s work has been exhibited at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017), Marabohparken, Stockholm (2017), Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016), Kurant Visningsrom, Tromsø (2015), Addis International Video Art Festival, Addis Ababa (2015), Art Future/Future Signs, Riga (2015), RomeAfrica Film Festival, Rome (2015), Lumen Festival, New York (2015), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2014) and Modern Art Museum/Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa (2013). He currently lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. NOWs: Robel Temesgen | የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎችNu Bunna Tetu at Fendika Cultural Centre, Addis Ababa Opening: Thursday 22 February 2018 6:00 – 9:00 pm Fendika Cultural Centre presents “የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎች”, a solo exhibition by Robel Temesgen. In this Exhibition, Temesgen walks us through the “Nu Bunna Tetu”; the highly proliferating small scale coffee drinking spots and their emergence as alternative public spaces. In the fast changing character of Addis Ababa, the coffee spots have become an integral part of everyday life in areas ranging from the fancy multipurpose malls to the demolished as well as new construction sites in the city. Using the painting approach the artist developed over the years, Temesgen elevates the Jebenas/coffee pots beyond the customary. Owing to their compelling presence, “የሮቤል ተመስገን ተንሳፋፊ ጀበናዎች” looks into coffee pots as floating to survive, to make it through the hustle and bustle and continue to offer a platform that affords customers a shared place for conversations as they sip on their cup of coffee. Imagining sites of “Nu Bunna Tetu” as spots that somehow connect ‘strangers’ constitutes part of his continued interest in the socio-political dynamics of the social, sociality, and sociability and spaces at which this manifest. After years of exhibiting abroad, this Exhibition is Temesgen’s first Solo show in Addis Ababa. Robel Temesgen: Untitled, 2017, Acrylic, ink, sticker, permanent marker on paper About Robel Temesgen Born in 1987 in Ethiopia, Robel Temesgen received an MFA from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, University of Tromsø, Norway in 2015, and a BFA in Fine Art (Painting) from Addis Ababa University in 2010. He recently took part in the Junge Akademie Program of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and was a resident artist at IASPIS, Stockholm, the Swedish Art Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts. Temesgen’s work has been exhibited at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017), Marabohparken, Stockholm (2017), Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016), Kurant Visningsrom, Tromsø (2015), Addis International Video Art Festival, Addis Ababa (2015), Art Future/Future Signs, Riga (2015), RomeAfrica Film Festival, Rome (2015), Lumen Festival, New York (2015), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2014) and Modern Art Museum/Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa (2013). He currently lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.