31/10/2020 – 29/11/2020,

in the garden of gazes – a dialogue between performance and collection

, Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster

Just like one “does” politics with one’s own body, affect theory has shown that the act of perceiving art does not solely happen via the senses, but also through the human body itself. Thereby both can propel critical thinking equally. Here an instable position of the audience can help to destabilize not only the body, but also hegemonies of thought. And isn’t the activity of collecting also deeply intertwined with the corporeal? Isn’t the procedure of accumulation only to be understood in the context of the utterly human strive to oppose its own decay and mortality?

What is the relevance of a collection of visual art today? How does one collect and what is collected? In the Garden of Gazes offers the opportunity to observe the encounter of live performances with collected art objects. Therefore, scenographer and author Celeste Burlina conceived an architectural intervention that creates a specific framework of active spectatorship. From the collection of Kunsthaus NRW, which spans over more than half a century, three artworks were selected. The works of Werner Heuser, Renate Göbel and Karin Kneffel are contextualized and examined regarding their topicality for a short and precious moment by three performances of Cassie August Jørgensen, Liina Magnea and Hanne Lippard.

In the light of such a dialogue between ephemerality and permanence that is full of individual decisions, blind spots as well as presences and absences, appears the projection of Christophe Berhault’s 250.000 Paintings – a digital photo archive of analogue amateur photography. The images were found in albums and photo boxes on flea markets and antique shops in Berlin. Berhault collects them, subjects them to his very own perspective and digitally re-produces a selection. Presented in a non-chronological order, each one is visible for only 10 seconds. The projection ran in the Klosterküche in the Kunsthaus NRW from October 31st to November 29th 2020.

31/10 and 1/11/2020: 3:00pm – Cassie Augusta Jørgensen & Karin Kneffel
4:30pm – Liina Magnea & Renate Goebel
5:00pm – Hanne Lippard & Werner Heuser

The performances are framed by a violin solo of Peter Son Götz, winner of the Jugend musiziert 2019 competition. Götz played a violin made by Falk Peters, internationally renowned violin maker from Kornelimünster.

Curator: Hanns Lennart Wiesner

Publication Building Moments, Perspectives, and Encounters. A Ceremonial of Attention, 2021, edited by Hanns Lennart Wiesner, Kunsthalle Münster