Feb 1994 – Nov 1994
EXILE AND MAINSTREAM
EXIL UND HAUPSTROM
An exhibition series in seven parts with artists Edith Pundt, Jorinde Rühaak, Tinte Gerstner, Erika Plamann, Michael Wendt, Mechthild Boeger, Hermann Stuzmann, Dietmar Dehs, Marikke Heinz-Hoek +Christian Meyer + Jens Werner, Reinhard Brunner.
Opening speeches by Katerina Vatsella in Greek, Mehmet Behzatoglu in Kurdish, Pekka Tanner in Finish, Cao Rong Fang in Chinese, Eugenia Gortchakova in Russian, Ali Karadag in Turkish, Libuse Cerna in Czeck.
On the one hand, the title of the exhibition has concrete references, the attacks on asylum seekers in Germany 1993, 1994, on those situated as “different”. Nevertheless, the title should create a field of tension that allows different chains of associations. The idea behind this is that each exhibition covers one aspect, they each show facets of one thing. In Edith Pundt’s work, peas are counted in an enervating monotony; in the large video installation by Marikke Heinz-Hoek, Christian Meyer and Jens Werner, the visitors find themselves in an observation situation on the stage in the large event space; monitors flicker on the dark, cordoned-off rows of seats, on which the visitors recognize themselves. In Hermann Stuzmann’s work, the visitor is locked in by the nailing up of the windows; strangely enough, this creates an almost sacred space. The works of the artists Mechthild Böger, Erika Plahmann and Michael Wendt refer to train stations, Jorinde Rühaak extended the exhibition space by an external container equipped with a monitor on which politicians celebrated endless parties.
A series of exhibitions allows for greater differentiation and attention, especially in the case of a complex topic.
The opening speeches were held in Greek, Kurdish, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Czech and Finnish, intended as a kind of small role reversal: the German-speaking exhibition visitors had the experience of not understanding, of foreignness. Everyone listened intensively, myself included, in the impossible effort to grasp the meaning through concentration.