2023

Die Sirenen heulen (It`s on us)

Group Show
8. September 2023 – 8. October 2023

With: Martin Assig, Aram Bartholl, Hannah Hallermann, Verena Issel, Anne Mundo, Nik Nowak, Raul Walch / Curated by: Anne Mundo & Dirk Teschner

Foto: Marcus Schneider, Courtesy SEXAUER Gallery

This is fine

Solo Show
8. – 17. September 2023

The fire emoji is one of the most commonly used pictograms worldwide in social media and electronic communication. Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl (born 1972) brings this universally familiar symbol from the digital world into physical space with a massively enlarged yellow-red flame, thereby stripping the symbol of the logic it naturally carries in network communication.

The title references a well-known cartoon meme in which a dog convinces itself that everything is fine despite being surrounded by blazing flames. The installation, erected as part of the urban cultural festival “Mauerblümchen” on Klarissenplatz in front of the Neues Museum, not only serves as a glowing photo backdrop but also alludes to the various crisis themes we currently face: The world is on fire.

A collaboration between the Neues Museum and the project office in the cultural department of the city of Nuremberg as part of the “Mauerblümchen” cultural festival from September 8 to 17, 2023. The festival is supported by financial resources from the Bavarian urban development program and the Special Fund: Revitalize Inner Cities.

Ihr Paket ist abholbereit

Solo Show
8. July 2023 – 25. February 2024

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, the Kunsthalle Osnabrück is showing Aram Bartholl’s most comprehensive solo exhibition to date. Aram Bartholl is one of the pioneers in Germany who deals with socially relevant conflicts of digitality and automation through art. Originally coming from the field of architecture, he uses his performative interventions, sculptures and workshops to question our current media behaviour as well as the public economies that are linked to social networks, online platforms or digital distribution strategies. He puts socially relevant topics such as surveillance, data security or dependency on technology up for discussion by transferring the gaps, contradictions or absurdities of our digital everyday life into spatial settings.

For the Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Aram Bartholl transformed the Kunsthalle´s church space into a walk-in recycling yard for electronic waste. The scenery is illuminated by three sculptures hanging from the ceiling, reminiscent of chandeliers that are made from recycled televisions. The result is a sensual as well as functional installation of complementary exhibition parts that invite us to reflect on the cycles, consequences and future perspectives of our daily consumption of media and goods. The walk-through parcours made of piled up electronic waste makes the amount of recycled material of our belongings visible and creates a unique environment for a diverse art mediation programme  including workshops, plena by local climate activists, repair cafés, excursions, lectures and film screenings. Oversized QR codes on the church walls frame the setting and raise critical questions about our handling of energy resources, raw materials and labour rights in the digital society. Opposing the electronic waste, the exhibition contains a 30-metre-long DHL Packstation, which is put into operation during the exhibition period. Osnabrück citizens and visitors are able to pick up their parcels at the Kunsthalle Osnabrück and drop them off in the respective lockers.

Curators: Anna Jehle and Juliane Schickedanz
Curators public programme: Louisa Behr, Joscha Heinrichs, Anna Holms and Christel Schulte.

Funded by the Stiftung Niedersachsen (Foundation of Lower Saxony) and the Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur (Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture). The VGH Stiftung (VGH Foundation) is funding the accompanying exhibition’s art mediation programme. With the kind support of Deutsche Post AG, Lerec Elektrorecycling GmbH and Osnabrücker ServiceBetrieb.

Credits:

Curated by: Anna Jehle, Juliane Schickedanz (duo team, directors of Kunsthalle)
Curatorial assistance: Anna Holms
Public Programming: Aram Bartholl, Louisa Behr, Joscha Heinrichs, Anna Holms, Christel Schulte
Installation team: Norbert Hillebrand, Timo Katz, Andreas Zelle
Exhibition office: Natali Märtin
Visitor service: Frank Berger, Ulla Brinkmann, Harcharan Gill, Sina Lichtenberg, Kaan Ege Önal, Josef Wegmann
Finances: Viktoria Puskar
Janitor: Wilfried Wienstroer
Janitorial assistance: Frank Berger
PR: Kristina Helena Pavićević
Art mediation and education: Christel Schulte

Tilt Shift – Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie

Group Show
28. April – 7. May 2023

Tilt/Shift – Experiment as Normality
Even in our society’s fields of activity we previously believed to be safe, the contemporary crises prevalent worldwide are revealing to us a long-inconceivable collapse. Although no claim can be laid on a normal state of the world, the feeling of security is dwindling for an ever-growing number of people: habitual viewpoints are breaking away, certainties are shifting. The promise that all will remain well, or that things will be all right again, is currently unravelling and is almost impossible to carry into tomorrow from today. Even people who, thus far, imagined themselves to be safe in their habitat are noticing that their everyday life is under ever-more frequent threat. Thought patterns are being queried and discussed – constructively by groups and individuals, but also in a polarising way by fact-twisters. Old discourses on euro-centrically and post-colonially influenced views of the world – in macro and in micro – are being sustained and propagated. Times of crisis not only signify uncertainty, but are also able – despite it all – to highlight opportunities. Partly out of necessity, potentials are examined at all levels for open spaces, new phenomena and further developments. Will the experiment of constantly having to refocus become the normal state now? How can photography capture the enormous changes? What images allow us to better understand an uncertain, diverse world subject to turbulent and complex transformation – and to keep an eye on the experiment’s open outcome?

with:
Andrea Abbatangelo, Axel Beyer, Aram Bartholl, Carsten Costard, Sharbendu De, Mia Dudek, Jonas Fischer, Johanna-Maria Fritz, Taissa Fromme / Celia Zehetgruber, Julia Gaes, Philip Gaißer, Maximilian Glas, Tanya Habjouqa, Juliane Herrmann, Jan Hoeft, Norbert Holick, Jan Hottmann, Bob Jones, Priya Kambli, Sandra Kantanen, Eeva Karhu, Martin Kollar, Jan Kricke, Ove Kvavik, Alwin Lay, Sara-Lena Maierhofer, Werner Mansholt, Luise Marchand, Ille Oelhaf, Patrick Pollmeier, Casper Sänger, Hanna Sass, Martina Sauter, Aleksandra Sawa, Ramona Schacht, Sari Schildt, Max Schwarzmann, Lucia Sotnikova / David Mackaay, Mika Sperling, Anna Stüdeli, Elena Subach, Leonard Suryajaya, Mouneb Taim, Jesus Tório, Christoph Westermeier, Cemre Yesil

Let’s Do It All!

Group Show
11. March – 21. May 2023

The artistic positions gathered in the group exhibition open up a multifaceted view of the phenomenon of tourism, its characteristics, conditions, and functions. In the sociological sense, tourism is understood here as an experience of organized extraordinariness, in which designs of places of longing and escape continually reflect back on everyday life and social structures.

with: Aram Bartholl, Alice Creischer, Fantastic Little Splash (Lera Malchenko / Oleksandr Hants), Frederik Foert, Sophie Gogl, Barbara Hammer, Miriam Jonas, Ralf Meyer, Michael Sailstorfer, Philip Scheffner, Constantin Schröder, Aleen Solari

2022

Safe Mode: Amplified Realities

Group Show
8. October 2022 – 8. November 2022

The current mutated “epidemiological” societies within which we exist reveal that any previous indication we had about the term “safety” is now in limbo. TILT Platform has started exploring and developing the concept “Safe Mode” likening it to the indication safe mode appearing on our computers and smart devices, when they stop functioning properly after a major technical crisis. The process of safe mode emerges as the only possible solution. Comparing this state of technological malfunction to the processes of contemporary life, psychology and human behaviour, the term safe mode acquires an anthropological character.

Participating Artists
Nikos Arvanitis (GR), Aram Bartholl (DE), Browser Based (Zsolt Mesterhazy & Alex Zakkas) (NLD / GR), Sofia Caesar (BR), Paolo Cirio (IT), Manja Ebert (DE), Adrianos Efthymiadis (GR) & Iria Vrettou (GR), For Cancel (Makis Faros, Zoi Pirini, Takis Zerdevas) (GR), Elisa Giardina Papa (IT), Basim Magdy (EGY), Theophanis Melas (GR), Simon Menner (DE), Yorgos Papafigos (GR), Michalis Zacharias (GR), Apostolos Zerdevas (GR)

Curated by
Foteini Vergidou in collaboration with TILT Platform (Makis Faros, Zoi Pirini, Apostolos Zerdevas, Takis Zerdevas)