The Prairie Project at 48 Stunden Neukolln

The Prairie Project is part of "48 Stunden Neukolln" June 26-28,2009 at the Magdalen Kirche on the Karl Marx Str.
It is an installation by Ex-Berliner Kat Citroen who lives and works in Canada and Berlin . Her Installation called "Epiphany" consists of Wall Sculpture, Photographs, Drawings and a Soundscape based on Native chanting recorded on wax cylinders, and re-mixed by Richard Citroen of the Grammy nominated* pop duo Lola Dutronic.
Further info can be found on the "48 Stunden Neukolln" website: www.48-stunden-neukoelln.de

All American Realism

It is fascinating to watch the visitors at the current Berlin Guggenheim exhibition, there is a dance that people seem to be doing, a slow waltz with the paintings on display. And it goes like this, gently moving right up to the paintings, close but not too close to draw the watchful gaze of the museum guards. Right up and then back away from the paintings and then right up again gazing all around from one corner to another and back again until finally moving on to the next work. The reason for this dance is that the viewers are confronted with a selection of iconic hyper/super/photo realism paintings and it would seem the main reaction people have when confronted with such “perfection” is to look for flaws. The flaws reveal that it is in fact a painting and not a photograph, that it was created by human hands and not a machine. The paintings can’t fail to astonish and amaze the viewers with the undeniable skill of these painters but what is also undeniable is that the more perfect the execution the colder and more inhuman the work is. A single flaw, no matter how small is all the viewer needs to see before moving on; the weave of the canvas, an uneven glossiness to the surface, a pencil mark around the edge of a car headlight, a brush mark for the highlight on a neon sign or even a tiny hair imbedded in the paint.
We get an airbrushed self-portrait by Audrey Flack, Cowboys on horses by Richard McLean, all American cars by Robert Bechtle, a shiny chrome truck by Ron Kleemann, wrecked cars by John Salt, a shiny chrome caravan by Ralph goings, a neon Bud sign by Robert Cottingham, the front of a VW Beatle by Don Eddy and on and on, each surface more perfect than the next.
The giant portraits of Chuck Close are astonishing in their perfection and this is intensified by the fact that they are painted with watercolour, which is far from a medium renowned for its accuracy. There is a dizzy feeling to be confronted by faces at such a scale and there is an ever so slight haziness to the surface which helps intensify this feeling.
The scenes presented by Richard Estes are quintessential New York capturing the look and feel of the city from the late 60’s and early 70’s. He gives us the neon, the glass doors, the chrome and stainless steel and all the reflections. He is following squarely in Edward Hopper’s footsteps in his ability to present the city at a very particular moment in history.
The fly in the ointment in the exhibition is Malcolm Morley, a British born artist in this “All-American” show whose paintings are less about dazzling the viewer with perfection and more about actual paint. These are very self-conscious paintings (in a good way) which play which the idea of super-realism but don’t deny the fact that they are paintings. Here we see brush marks and also a white painted edge which highlights the face that he is not painting reality but painting the reality of a photograph. The subject matter is less about a celebration of modern urban shininess and instead the two works here present a scene from a golf championship and a couple rowing a boat in a Central Park lake; there is something more mundane about both of these scenes. Here for the first time in this exhibition we question why the artist chooses to paint these particular scenes.
Over all, love them or hate them, this is a very good selection of work which epitomise the photorealism movement. We have some of the iconic classics here. The exhibition groups the works under three themes, Reflections on the City, Culture of Consumption, and American Life. There is an attempt to use these groupings to say something about American culture in the 1970s but this is best ignored.

Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s, the first major showing of Photorealism in Germany in nearly thirty years, features thirty-two paintings, a number of them the most iconic works of the period, by seventeen artists:
Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Franz Gertsch, Ralph Goings, Ron Kleemann, Richard McLean, Malcolm Morley, Stephen Posen, John Salt, Ben Schonzeit, and Paul Staiger

Deutsche Guggenheim
Unter den Linden 13/15
10117 Berlin
http://www.deutsche-guggenheim-berlin.de

Opening Friday 6th March - MARCUS SENDLINGER / THE RECURRENCE OF TRUTH

Galerie Jette Rudolph
6th March 2009 - 18th April 2009

Opening: Friday 6th March, 19:00 - 22:00

Marcus Sendlinger (* 1967 in Königsstein/ Taunus, based in Berlin) presents his third solo show entitled „The Recurrence of Truth“ at the gallery Jette Rudolph Berlin. Works include his most recent small and large-sized images and a metal sculpture.

The linchpin of this exhibition will be the sculpture “T.B.O.T.” (The Base of Thoughts), awakening reminiscences of a folded object. Despite its materiality it is set on a thin triangular metal sheet, fixed by steel wires from the ground to the ceiling. The construction suggests a stage-like but virtual character, reminiscent of installations of the Modern and captures the metaphorical idea of “the stoppage of time”, similar to a movie-still.

Featuring the exhibition title „The Recurrence of Truth” Sendlinger hints at the approach of “the eternal recurrence of the same” by F. Nietzsche. Comparable to the philosopher Sendlinger discounts the thought of progress in the art and works consciously with references taken from art history, architecture and design. References to philosophy, especially phenomenology, can also be found in the image titles, e.g. “Auge und Geist”/ “Eye and Mind”- the object of the image is composed between the evidence and the truth, the extract and the event.

Corresponding to the image strategy of faceting in Sendlinger´s works, light refraction and reflexion is visualized. Further a series of figurative but seemingly surreal ink drawings show the process of transformation of a car frame into the sculpture, associating the morphing from material and shape through to a new generated object. Finally a geometrical shape canon prevails, its lines and planes, triangles and circles multi-layered — put one on the top of the other to evoke an alternating play between surface and space. By using successive staggering of the image planes Sendlinger operates with techniques of taping, laying and moving templates and perforated metal plates. The moiré-effect with its iridescent patterns and colours originates an additional dynamic.

The artist generates a concept of construction into his paintings and sculpture, a minimized geometrical syntax, a compressed self-generating and multi-layered system, motivated by references and codes, which are expressed by its autonomy and necessity being a medial reminiscence of language and its reflection of thoughts and ideas on the track into a new consciousness.

Galerie Jette Rudolph, Zimmerstrasse 90- 91, D- 10117 Berlin
open: Tues- Sat 11.30 am- 6 pm
galerie@jette-rudolph.de / www.jette-rudolph.de

Opening Friday 6th March - MARCUS SENDLINGER / THE RECURRENCE OF TRUTH

Galerie Jette Rudolph
6th March 2009 - 18th April 2009

Opening: Friday 6th March, 19:00 - 22:00

Marcus Sendlinger (* 1967 in Königsstein/ Taunus, based in Berlin) presents his third solo show entitled „The Recurrence of Truth“ at the gallery Jette Rudolph Berlin. Works include his most recent small and large-sized images and a metal sculpture.

The linchpin of this exhibition will be the sculpture “T.B.O.T.” (The Base of Thoughts), awakening reminiscences of a folded object. Despite its materiality it is set on a thin triangular metal sheet, fixed by steel wires from the ground to the ceiling. The construction suggests a stage-like but virtual character, reminiscent of installations of the Modern and captures the metaphorical idea of “the stoppage of time”, similar to a movie-still.

Featuring the exhibition title „The Recurrence of Truth” Sendlinger hints at the approach of “the eternal recurrence of the same” by F. Nietzsche. Comparable to the philosopher Sendlinger discounts the thought of progress in the art and works consciously with references taken from art history, architecture and design. References to philosophy, especially phenomenology, can also be found in the image titles, e.g. “Auge und Geist”/ “Eye and Mind”- the object of the image is composed between the evidence and the truth, the extract and the event.

Corresponding to the image strategy of faceting in Sendlinger´s works, light refraction and reflexion is visualized. Further a series of figurative but seemingly surreal ink drawings show the process of transformation of a car frame into the sculpture, associating the morphing from material and shape through to a new generated object. Finally a geometrical shape canon prevails, its lines and planes, triangles and circles multi-layered — put one on the top of the other to evoke an alternating play between surface and space. By using successive staggering of the image planes Sendlinger operates with techniques of taping, laying and moving templates and perforated metal plates. The moiré-effect with its iridescent patterns and colours originates an additional dynamic.

The artist generates a concept of construction into his paintings and sculpture, a minimized geometrical syntax, a compressed self-generating and multi-layered system, motivated by references and codes, which are expressed by its autonomy and necessity being a medial reminiscence of language and its reflection of thoughts and ideas on the track into a new consciousness.

Galerie Jette Rudolph, Zimmerstrasse 90- 91, D- 10117 Berlin
open: Tues- Sat 11.30 am- 6 pm
galerie@jette-rudolph.de / www.jette-rudolph.de

Some upcomming openings

On Friday 20th February from 7pm
HUNCHENTOOT REVISITED

Anlässlich des zweijährigen Bestehens der Galerie zeigt Hunchentoot eine Gruppenausstellung von Künstlern der Galerie. Die Künstler geben Einblicke in aktuelle Prozesse ihrer Arbeit und stellen Projekte vor, die im Lauf des Jahres in Einzelausstellungen gezeigt werden. Dies verleiht der Ausstellung den Charakter einer Laborsituation. Die Ausstellung zeigt Arbeiten von:

Tobias Becker, Philipp Hennevogl, Thomas Kutschker, Enda O'Donoghue, Gregor Stephan,
Tom Schmelzer

The exhibition runs until 14.03.2009

Hunchentoot, Galerie für zeitgenössische Positionen, Choriner Straße 8, 10119 Berlin

http://www.galerie-hunchentoot.de

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Open Studio Day
Takt Kunstprojektraum
Artist Residency
The current artists of the February residency program
show their new Berlin works:
painting, objects, sculpture, performance.

Saturday, February 21, 2 -7pm
Grünberger Str. 1, 10243 Berlin, 1st floor left (ring "Takt")

Participating artists:

Francesca Amati, Italy
Ashleigh Burskey, USA
Lino di Vinci, Italy
Nike Forsander Lorentzen, Denmark
Yoko Ishiguro, Japan
Karena Keys, Australia
Kiera Brew Kurec, Australia
Josh Pearce, Australia
Anthony Reach, USA

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Gallery [DAM]Berlin is looking forward to presenting you the following exhibition:

LAb[au], LAboratory for Architecture and Urbanism
(M.Abendroth, J.Decock, A.Plennevaux, E.Vermang)

time ¦ emit

Installation, Skulpture

Exhibition: 21. February - 28. March 2009 /
Preview: Friday, 20. February, 7-9 pm

The artist group LAb[au] from Brussels is known for its large-scale light-
installations and kinetic objects in urban spaces

Their exhibition deals with the subject time. On the basis of cybernetics and
the theory of colours they transform time in light and colours. The local time
of different time zones on earth will be shown as a perpetually changing
colour installation on twelve consoles according to the principle of GMT.
The code of the installation - the concept of the work - is visualised as a text
on the walls of the gallery.


Gallery [DAM]Berlin Tucholskystr. 37 10117 Berlin Germany Fon: +49 30 280 98 135
www.dam-berlin.de

Simon Starling

Opening tomorrow is an exhibition by Turner Prize winner Simon Starling, in the big blue and white box near the demolished Palast der Republik... otherwise know as the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin.


Friday, February 6, 2009, 9 p.m., exhibition opening of Simon Starling – Under Lime

With his installations, Simon Starling tells stories about natural and cultural processes of transformation. For the exhibition Under Lime, the artist has transplanted an Andalusian cactus to Berlin’s winter, where a converted automotive engine ensures its survival (Kakteenhaus, 2002), and created a mud-brick chamber for sensitive historical photographs (Plant Room, 2008). A balancing act between nature and culture is also integral to Starling’s newest work, for which he cut a lime branch from the nearby “Unter den Linden” boulevard in order to graft it beneath the Kunsthalle’s rafters (Under Lime, 2009).

Duration of the exhibition: February 7 to March 18, 2009.

Official Welcome

Running until 22 February at the Hamburger Bahnhof is an exhibition which is part of the "Cult of the Artist" series entitled "I can't just slice off an ear every day". Deconstructing the Myth of the Artist. This show contains work by artists such as Francis Alÿs, Marcel Broodthaers, Marcel Duchamp, Andrea Fraser, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Richard Jackson, Christian Jankowski, Martin Kippenberger, Sarah Lucas, Paul McCarthy, Bruce Nauman, Pipilotti Rist, and Cindy Sherman to name but a few. It is truly a mixed bag of which most is forgettable and doesn't really deconstruct any myths. One piece worth a mention is Andrea Fraser's "Official Welcome" (2001) a video piece of a performance which shows Fraser delivering a speech at an art award ceremony and during which she begins to strip. It can be see here (in 4 parts):

SEBASTIAN GRÄVE at Galerie Kollaborativ

backgrund
Sebastian Gräve
Galerie Kollaborativ
Opening: Thursday, 29. Januar, 19–21 Uhr
Öffnungszeiten: 30. Januar – 21. Februar 2009, Mittwochs–Samstags 13–18 Uhr

Saarbrücker Strasse 25 (Ecke Straßburger Straße)
10405 Berlin
http://kollaborativ.com

Opening Saturday 24th Jan

Arndt & Partner openings on
Saturday, 24 January 2009, noon to 6 pm :

Gallery at Checkpoint Charlie
1st Floor
ERIK BULATOV
2nd Floor
SOPHIE CALLE - Where and When?

Gallery near Hamburger Bahnhof
SHI XINNING - Tale of the Two Cities

KW Exhibitions

Last week of the exhibitions

The following exhibitions at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin are on view until Sunday, January 25, 2009:

Political / Minimal (Admission 6 Euro, 4 Euro concessions)
Adel Abdessemed, Francis Alÿs, Monica Bonvicini, Tom Burr, Annabel Daou, Edith Dekyndt, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Hans Haacke, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Alfredo Jaar, Derek Jarman, Terence Koh, Kitty Kraus, Klara Liden, Teresa Margolles, Kris Martin, Corey McCorkle, Helen Mirra, Muchen & Shao Yinong, Sarah Ortmeyer, Seth Price, Gregor Schneider, Tino Sehgal, Santiago Sierra, Taryn Simon, Rosemarie Trockel, xurban_collective, Aaron Young
Curated by Klaus Biesenbach

Highlights from the Cologne KunstFilmBiennale in Berlin (Free admission)


Upcoming Events

Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 7 pm:
Talk with Jesper Just and Henriette Huldisch
With an introduction by Heinz Peter Schwerfel
Talk in English
Free admission

Jesper Just works primarily with video investigating textures and details to tell stories of specific situations, persons, and rooms and the relation between them. He centres his themes on representation of gender. Through his images and stories of men and women Just deconstructs stereotypical ideas of gender roles. His films reveal the complexity of the relation between the sexes, allowing for a more varied and sensitive self-understanding and understanding of human relationships in general.

Film screening
No Man Is An Island (2002, 4 min)
A Vicious Undertow (2007, 10 min)

Jesper Just studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and graduated in 2003. Recently he has exhibited extensively around the world, including the Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art Momentum in Norway; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; the SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent; Kunsthalle Vienna; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; and the MAM - Miami Art Museum.
He lives and works in New York.

Henriette Huldisch is a curator and writer based in Berlin and New York.
From 2001 to 2008 she worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she co-curated the 2008 Whitney Biennial Exhibition and the exhibition Full House: Views of the Whitney's Collection at 75 (2006). Previously she curated shows such as a retrospective of films by Robert Beavers and the exhibition Small: The Object in Film, Video, and Slide Installation (2004), including the work of Sol LeWitt, Jonathan Monk, and Michael Snow.
Among Huldisch's writings are essays and interviews in Artforum, North Drive Press, and the anthology Collecting the New: Museums and Contemporary Art, as well as numerous Whitney Museum publications.


Sunday, January 25, 2009, 7 pm
Wilhelm Hein
You Killed The Underground Film Or The Real Meaning Of Kunst Bleibt...Bleibt...
Expanded Cinema Version with guests
Free admission

With: Sissi Tax, Mad Angus, Annette Frick, Vaginal Davis, John and Tim Blue, Tima die Göttliche, Juwelia and Zsazsa Puppengesicht

"Assembled from over ten years of footage he shot and collected, Wilhelm Hein's new film is a fascinating and challenging example of what it means to make politically relevant underground film in an increasing rented world". (Marc Siegel)

"Wilhelm Hein has resisted becoming part of the establishment, he remains committed to the vitality of the underground and prefers punk clubs to professorship. A survivor with a restless energy, Hein is one of the last true radicals of his generation, continuing with a subversive practice dedicated to the freedom of expression". (Mark Webber)

"How do we as artists avoid the ritual of having to explain? It's easy: We do as Picasso who answered the question of 'What is art?' with 'If I knew I would keep it for myself.' So, ladies and gentlemen, we put ourselves completely on the line. Do the same and the evening will be awesome. Not boring at all, that's for sure!!!" (Wilhelm Hein)



KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststr. 69
D-10117 Berlin
www.kw-berlin.de
www.berlinbiennale.de

Review on Anish Kapoor’s Memory

06/01/2009

by Benjamin Jiva Dasa Norris

Memory (2008) is the latest commissioned sculpture to be housed within the German Guggenheim gallery in Berlin. Its creator, Anish Kapoor, uses the stark, white space to accentuate the scale and confrontational aspects of his latest work to generate a lasting, stunning impact.

Memory consists of a twenty-four ton Cor-Ten steel tank; its outer shell an almost fragile looking rust-covered collection of tiles (the earthy, almost bloody pigment is perhaps the most immediate reminder that this is a Kapoor piece) seamlessly held together, creating delicate curves and leering bulges which almost glance the sides of the gallery walls and ceiling, and causing something of a disconcerting sense of the defiance of gravity in the room – it feels as though the tank should not be able to sit as still and sentinel-like as it does, as if the entire colossus could roll in somnambulance to one side at any moment.

To say that Memory is confrontational is perhaps an understatement. The piece literally looms in the viewers face, reminding us of our own relatively tiny scale, and of our positions within the gallery itself. Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the installation is its purposeful inaccessibility; we are forbidden to duck beneath the curving hulk of iron and see behind it, instead we must exit the gallery and re-enter with fresh eyes through another door, into a brighter, whiter space to observe the other side of the tank, the back of which has a more flattened, less familiar plane, made all the more unmovable and alien by the brief moment just spent between entrances on the busy street outside. Kapoor almost teases us with disorientation; we cannot help but want to view the sculpture as a whole, the very way our minds (but not our memories) work creates a sense of longing for a little distance, a little space to better apprehend the piece as a whole.

The next dimension of Memory is accessed through the gift shop of the Guggenheim. Again, a minute of familiarity, distraction; up a small set of stairs and down another, before we realise we are to one side of the sculpture, staring into its belly through an aperture in the wall it rests against. Kapoor has managed to create a true void; beyond a couple of inches of the rusty metal shell, we see nothing. Blackness. Depth incalculable, and volume incomprehensible. The meaning of the installation’s title starts to make sense as one looks into the darkness: By segmenting our viewpoints and taking full control of the ways in which we can see the sculpture, Kapoor forces the viewer to use their own memories to try, and fail, to construct an image of the whole in their own minds. This idea of ‘mental sculpture’ has less to do with the steel tank, and far more to do with the individuals movements around the tank: memory as a fleeting, unreachable creation made up of singular, mental images from different viewpoints. The void itself, a triangle of black space, acts as an empty canvas (for the darkness is so complete from certain angles it looks as though it is a flat, two-dimensional plane, a black square mounted onto a white wall) for the mind to attempt to sketch the image onto.

By fracturing both physical and mental space, Kapoor creates a steel metaphor for the intimacy of the individual’s memories and the cognitive process. Like our own memories and dreams, Memory is viewed in a third person perspective – whether standing at the front, to the rear or looking within the sculpture, we cannot help but mentally place ourselves at the other points. From each perspective we must mentally take ourselves back through a set of doors, or up and down a small flight of stairs to attempt to comprehend the mass that fills the space we stand in. In this way, Memory is permanently situational, its true physical, tangible nature remaining nebulous. No matter how quickly we move through the doors and around the heaving curves of steel, no matter how firmly we hold images in our mind, each moment we place ourselves in and see as ‘present’ immediately disappears into the past with each and every movement of the self.

more from Benjamin Jiva Dasa Norris

Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin

Opening this Friday

Openings on Friday, 16. January

Galerie Barbara Thumm is pleased to announce the first solo show by Canadian artist Kevin Schmidt, presenting his video installation Wild Signals.
Galerie Barbara Thumm - Dircksenstrasse 41 - www.bthumm.de

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Galerie Jette Rudolph presents
POIK* II
*Politische Ikonografie

with
Alken, Greif & Hennig, Jana Gunstheimer, Jari Silomaki, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Nasan Tur

Opening: Freitag, 16. Januar 2009, 19.00- 22.00 Uhr
Ausstellungsdauer: 16. Januar - 14. Februar 2009
Galerie Jette Rudolph - Zimmerstrasse 90- 91, D- 10117 Berlin - www.jette-rudolph.de

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At KUTTNER SIEBERT Galerie - "VEXATIONS" by Gregor Schmoll.

Private View: Friday, 16 January, 2009, 7pm
17 January through 14 February, 2009
Tuesday through Saturday, 11am - 6pm
KUTTNER SIEBERT Galerie - Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 16 - www.kuttnersiebert.de

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Upstairs Berlin - solo exhibition by Ilias Papailiakis

In Völkerschauplatz the painter portrays anonymous as well as historical figures and puts a focus on the renewal of ancient myths and the sagas of gods and heroes.
Upstairs Berlin - Zimmerstrasse 90/91 - www.upstairs-berlin.com

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Galerie Michael Janssen

Tine Furler
Vererbungslinie Vampyropoda
&
Gerard Hemsworth
Now Then

Galerie Michael Janssen -Rudi-Dutschke-Str. 26 (formerly Kochstr. 60) - www.galeriemichaeljanssen.de

Viola at the Haunch of Venison

It is one of Bill Viola's most famous pieces "The Messenger" which fills the hanger like main space of the Haunch of Venison in Berlin. Monumental in scale and hypnotic to watch it is hard not to be impressed by this piece. Originally commissioned for Durham Cathedral in England in 1996 it sparked some controversy due it seems simply to placing a film of a naked figure in a cathedral. The piece shows a starkly lit figure slowly emerging from water to eventually gasp for breath as he breaks the surface. The short moments of breaking the surface and the heavy gasping breath work beautifully against the contrast of the silence and almost stillness of the rest of the film when the figure drifts underwater down away from or up towards the viewer. Like a slow moving painting. There are some sublime moments of beauty with the bubbles of the water looking like a circle of stars or where figure is almost completely obscured to abstraction under the surface of the water. The piece has some very obvious religious connotations such using a Christ-like pose, the idea of baptism in water and the ideas of the breath and meditation-like slowness. Overall it is a mesmerising experience to watch and in it is presented beautifully in the darkened and emptied space at the Haunch of Venison.
The other pieces being shown play with similar devices, water, stark lighting, figures emerging from the water, naked figures, religious poses and the extreme slow motion. The beauty of all the pieces is undeniable but there is a certain undeniable formulaic quality to everything which can feel a little flat. The most interesting of the other pieces are the ones with clothed figures, an androgynous gothic punk figure greets us at the entrance. Staring in a menacing Marilyn Manson like way which is quite humorous, maybe unintentionally, unless you happen to be 15. In fact the hammy acting and expressions of some of the characters in the pieces can feel a little off putting and the slow motion has the effect of highlighting these overly dramatic moments. Overall the newer work show here doesn't feel like much a step forward apart from maybe through the use of technology (pay particular attention to the small state of the art super thin monitors in the back room).


Nearby the Haunch of Venison there are a number of other exhibitions which also opened on the same evening. The closest gallery is Galerie Schuster which presents a group exhibition of young/emerging painters from the US. These do feel a little flat after wittnessing the slick and starkness of Viola's monitors and projections. But there are a couple of pieces which are worthy of attention, such as the paintings by Hans Ahnert in the back project room.



Also the space called TANAS presents an exhibition worth venturing to. A show by Nasan Tur fills the gallery with a collection of objects, videos and installations some of which are very compelling. You do need to get past the Joseph Beuy's pieces near the entrance but if you can avoid this the rest of the gallery is taken up with Tur's work. Look out for the simple but powerful forever spinning roulette wheel and also the video piece called "The puddle and the Blue Sky" which offers the perfect sacrilegious come-down from Bill Viola.

Lots of Koons

Let's start with Jeff...
There has been a little bit of an epidemic of Jeff Koons recently around Europe, (well around Paris and Berlin anyway). I hope all have recovered. First there was the Château de Versailles exhibition and then came Jeff the Celebration exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin and not forgetting a show of new paintings at Galerie Max Hetzler also in Berlin.
The thing about Koons is that, with his sculpture at least (let’s ignore the painting), the setting is everything. His work always seems to make amazing public sculpture, think of the flower puppy in Bilbao, monumental, eye-catching, playful and some of the pieces even spark controversy all the things public sculpture should do. But when you put these glossy pieces into a gallery setting, the often sterile nature of these spaces makes the pieces loose any interest. This is almost what happens at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. To mark the major series of exhibitions on the Cult of the Artitst, the Neue Nationalgalerie proudly presents the exhibition entitled Jeff Koons. Celebration. running from the 31 October 2008 to 8 February 2009.. The space is far from you average sterile white cube but it still doesn’t offer a setting strong enough for these pieces to live. In fact the best way to see the work is by not going into the gallery at all but instead wandering around the building an looking in the windows, there you can see the work in an almost “public” setting and also marvel at the visitors who meander through the space gazing and search for some meaning as they take in Koons. But best of all you don’t have to queue to get in or pay and also you can take photographs of the work.

As for Versailles, what an amazing setting for Koons. Kitsch meets kitsch or something like that. The catalogue for this show is quite amazing, it is like a “Where’s Wally?” (or Waldo) book because the work blends in so well with its surroundings. “Where’s the Koons?”. The catalogue makes a beautiful addition to even the most stylish of coffee tables and also highlights another setting that Koon’s work always succeeds in and that is in the book format. The show itself managed to Ruffle some Feathers in France apparently making a “Royal Heir” poke his head out of the woodwork, Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme has asked an administrative court at Versailles to halt the exhibition, he called the show “a desecration and an attack on the respect due to the dead,” (that is the dead that went to the guillotine, is it?) It seems quite fitting if you ask me. It brings Jeff Koons work to a very large audience and this may or may not be a good thing.
What can you say about Koons that hasn't already be said.... Nothing much.

Bill Viola opening on Friday

"Haunch of Venison Berlin will this winter present a series of works from the internationally renowned US artist Bill Viola, in his first solo exhibition in Berlin in six years."
This exhibition will link with the Berlinale Film Festival in February with two early video films screened in the main space of the gallery as part of the festival.

Installations
9 Jan - 3 Feb and 16 - 21 Feb 2009
Tue - Sat 11.00 - 18.00

Screenings
5 - 15 Feb 2009
Daily 11.00 - 20.00

Screening times:
11:30 Hatsu-Yume (57:33 minutes)
13:00 The Passing (54 minutes)
14:30 Hatsu-Yume
16:00 The Passing
17:30 Hatsu-Yume
19:00 The Passing

Visit the Haunch of Venison website
Visit the Berlinale website

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