Exhibition

OPEN MONUMENT project

Ephemeral Monuments in Public Space

4th May - 16th June 2013

Exhibition at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin

Open Air performances and public works in Kreuzberg Berlin

 

Artists: Carlos Bunga, Delio Jasse, Hironari Kubota, Matias Machado, David Maranha, Luca Pozzi, Cristian Rusu, Sancho Silva, Yukihiro Taguchi and Chiara Ciccarello, Nuno Sousa Vieira, Sinta Werner

Curator: Marta Jecu

Open air works and performances at: Cuvrybrache (work by Yukihiro Taguchi and Chiara Ciccarello), Yaam Bar at the River Spree (work byDvaid Maranha), Cafe Kotti Kottbusser Tor (work by Sinta Werner), Schwerbelastungskoerper (work by Luca Pozzi), Amphitheatre in front of Kunstquartier Bethanien (work by Matias Machado).

“OPEN MONUMENT” consisted of a 12 artists group exhibition in Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien and a series of ephemeral public works built by the same artists  in the Kreuzberg neighbourhod in Berlin. The interior and exterior 'monuments' are not meant to outlast, but elaborate a contemporary position towards the recent history by connecting the artist's own  set of references from their own living environments with problematics of public space use encountered in Kreuzberg.  The ephemeral monuments are meant to be used, transformed, functionalized by the city dwellers. One of the main objectives of the project is encountering forms of conceptualising the recent history, by introducing a  metholodgy of fixing and archiving historic meaning by the city dwellers. A progressive extension of meaning results from use, adaptation and reconsideration of historic facts by the citizens themselves.

During this process, the artists document the transformations of their own ideas and the reults of the construction processes in the Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien, by building up a work to be shown in the exhibition space of Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien.This final group show is thought as a seres of solo-exhibitions, in which every artist constructs an immersive installation.

The project has been accompanied by an externsive side program, among which:

Saturday, May 4, 2013:  guided tour to the exhibition and open air works by the curator.  
Tuesday, May 7, 2013, 16 clock, guided tour at the gallery Eigen + Art by architect Jürgen Mayer, who discusses his works regarding intersections between art and architecture.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013, 14 clock: One-hour guided tour of the architectural archives of the Berlinische Galerie by Mrs Ursula Müller, head of the archives. 
Wednesday, 22 May 2013, 17 clock: conversation with Mr. Ulrich Müller, Director of the Architecture Gallery Berlin on the topic: the intersection between architecture and art in curatorial practice based on past exhibitions of the gallery, 

The project was associated to the online platform: Think about SPACE, Design by Alessandro Geri Rustighi:
Prior to the exhibition sketches, ideas, models, texts, pictures and sounds have been gathered and collected on this platform, that deal with the possible forms, uses and meanings of ​​a contemporary monument.

Link: http://www.thinkaboutspace.net/

German text: OPEN MONUMENT – vergängliche Denkmäler im öffentlichen Raum