“Where the place begins”, Neue Berliner Räume, in collaboration with Kunsthaus Dahlem; Photo by Aap Tepper, courtesy of NBR
This Saturday, May 23rd, Neue Berliner Räume will be hosting its fifth and final portion of the Where the Place Begins series at Kunsthaus Dahlem. Since the start of April, NBR has been showcasing a number of works relating to Kunsthaus Dahlem in anticipation of the studio’s reopening in June. The building has a rich historical past, from its 1939 construction as a “state studio” for National Socialist commissioned sculptor Arno Breker to its post-WWII reappropriation by artists like Ouhi Cha, Jimmie Durham, Dorothy Iannone and Bernhard Heiliger. Its recent renovation as an exhibition space for post-war Modernist art of East and West Germany will only add to its colorful past.
The spring series, Wo der Ort beginnt (Where the Place Begins), is curated by Valerie Senden and Manuel Wischnewski and has included works spanning across a number of subjects and mediums. The first portion, titled ‘To mark a path’, consisted of a curated digital archive compiled by Sylvia Sadzinski, Valerie Senden, Aap Tepper, and Manuel Wischnewski. The archive was online for a short period of time and explored various locations that are relevant to the history of Kunsthaus Dahlem. The next bit, ‘Comfortable, in Spite of the Comfort’, was a collection of postcards designed by Sonja Hornung, still available at Kunsthaus Dahlem.
Kunsthaus Dahlem; Photo by Robert Conrad, courtesy of NBR
The third part of Where the Place Begins was a performance titled ‘André & Arno’, featuring actors Lisa Scheibner and Mariel Jana Supka. The performance was a “site-specific documentary” by Sonya Schönberger, focusing on a 1979 interview between journalist Andre Müller and sculptor Arno Breker. The fourth part, curated by Lukas Töpfer, will take place on May 31st, without works or an audience, only documented through the publication, which will be available for purchase on the Neue Berliner Räume website or at the Kunsthaus Dahlem museum shop.
The last edition of this ongoing series is titled ‘Stone is Laid on Stone’ and will include contributions by Vajiko Chachkhiani, Amir Fattal, Lynne Marsh, Alessandro Rauschmann, Sonya Schönberger, Sonja Hornung, Dan Stockholm, Lukas Töpfer, Gernot Wieland and more. The program will continue the dialogues set in place by the previous portions, with “works, artefacts, and other traces” entering the mix, alongside a number of site-specific performances, sound/video installations in the space and in the adjacent sculpture park, and a curated walk through the premises for one night only. Where the Place Begins: ‘Stone is Laid on Stone’ will take place on May 23rd, from 6pm to 10pm, and admission is free. All who are interested should head out to Dahlem, as the evening is sure to offer an informative and contemporary insight into a historical site of the past before it reopens as an exhibition space in June.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Additional Information
NEUE BERLINER RÄUME
“Where the Place Begins” – GUEST PROGRAM
Exhibition: May 23; 6-10pm
Kunsthaus Dahlem, Käuzchensteig 8 (click here for map)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Blog entry by Nora Kovacs in Berlin; Wednesday, May 20, 2015.
