Newsletter
Last newsletter kma71
Dear all,
it was a busy year, and kma71 at its current location on Karl-Marx-Allee 71-75 in 10243 Berlin is coming to its premeditated end in July 2018. kma71 will become a nomadic curatorial format.
kma71 started off with the question “What if art criticism was a room?”. The project aimed at a critical examination of the practice of contemporary art and exhibition making through a practice-based model of collaboration and participation. All artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs who were invited to present at kma71 had been chosen based on questions that arose from my own practice as an art historian, curator and educator, such as the relevance of Minimal Art’s numerous contemporary descendants, the relationship between historical consciousness and activist forms of art, art and its theory, photography and the documentation of our present, and artistic practice in times of turbo capitalism.
kma71 brought to life nine exhibition formats and three events (a reading by Lisa Schmerzog, a parade by Heather Klar and Sapphire Jones and a Hip Hop performance by Steve N. Clair). We are now entering our post-production phase, which will keep us busy for another year and which will result in brochures dedicated to the documentation and reflection on the experiences shared, insights gained, and knowledge distilled for future things to come. I would like to thank your very warmly for your interest in kma71, for visiting us on site, and supporting us from afar. If you want to follow the project’s further progression, please check out our website, Facebook and Instagram for updates. You will be taken off this newsletter without further ado.
My deep gratitude is owed to the artists, loved ones, friends and supporters who helped make this project such a huge success. In these times of turmoil and lack of empathy, kma71 offered some insight in the power of collaboration, and I am so very thankful for that.
As a last show at kma71’s current location, Dr. Barbara Dalhheimer, art historian and resident of Karl-Marx-Allee 75, will present DER RUHIGE BLICK, a selection of her landscape and architecture photography she made in Peru between 1978 and 1981. We will open her show tomorrow, Thursday, July 12th, between 6 and 9 pm. The press release for Barbara Dalheimer’s exhibition will be online tomorrow on kma71’s website.
Take care and kind regards,
Anne (Breimaier)
Installment #8: monochrome | curated by steve n. clair
Dear all,
kma71 is proud to present a film screening, photography exhibition and live performance by Hip Hop recording artist Steve N. Clair from St. Louis (Missouri, USA) on July 6th and 7th 2018 at kma71.
The exhibition monochrome | curated by steve n. clair opens on Friday, July 6th, from 6 - 9 pm and features a screening of the documentary short ‘Canfield: Before the Ferguson Unrest’ (2014) and photography by Steve N. Clair.
On Saturday, July 7th, at 8.30 pm Steve N. Clair will perform live in front of kma71 with Friend of a Friend (Berlin), drinks will be served at 7.30 pm.
We are also proud to announce a Cashmere Radio special broadcast with Friend of a Friend featuring Steve N. Clair performing and myself talking about kma71 on Saturday the 7th of July, 16.30-18.00 CET. Tune in on cashmereradio.com!
Kind regards,
Anne (Breimaier)
About Steve N. Clair:
After creating the documentary short ‘Canfield: Before the Ferguson Unrest’ in 2014, Steve N. Clair, who graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication/video production in 2011, started his independent film production company Flyy Awayy Films. He is also a national music recording artist and a part of the STL hip-hop duo The Domino Effect. Sharing stages with other national recording artists such as Talib Kweli, Freddie Gibbs, GLC of Kanye West’s GOOD Music Records, just to name a few, Steve N. Clair is one of the top artists from Saint Louis, MO, who is destined to gain worldwide recognition.
About the film:
’Canfield: Before the Ferguson Unrest’ displays what took place at the Ferguson police station as well as the Candlelight Tribute for Michael Brown on West Florissant and Canfield just hours before the riots of Ferguson, MO, occurred in 2014.
Installment #7: Capitalism By Heather Klar
Dear all,
Karl-Marx-Allee – pride of the former GDR, phenomenon of postmodernist architecture in the East of Berlin, and background for the experiment that kma71 has been for the past 10 months – the street has seen it all: parades in celebration of the socialist state and in opposition to its regime, tiles falling off the facades of the buildings after the fall of the wall, and a new wave of international real estate companies buying flats and changing the alley into a place for new luxury living while its former residents try to keep up with their habits and traditions against all odds. In the light of this new mix of life forms in that sociotope close to Alexanderplatz that never really achieved its wished-for status of a shopping mile after 1989, but risks to become a boulevard of vintage furniture shops, we are asking throughout June for a new definition of “Völkerverständigung”.
Where Marx meets Max Mara, where one last butcher serving Soljanka is outnumbered by Foodora bikers, and where Café Sibylle is no longer with us, but the Döner on Straße-der-Pariser-Kommune still shines strong as it is the only place to grab a bite after falling out of Berghain on a Sunday morning – we are celebrating it both: capitalist cravings and socialist phantom pain. Because who are we kidding: We are all in this together.
Heather Klar, a fashion designer, who lives and works in New York City, but flies all over the world to perform her second profession called “graphic recording” (meganotesandfriends.com) has been invited to do her magic at kma71 and present her own interpretation of US-brand capitalism in regard to the history of the neighborhood of Karl-Marx-Allee. She has invited other creative friends who live and work in the United States to contribute to Installment #7: Capitalism By Heather Klar. The show features fashion, design, photography, graphic recording and performance by Sapphire Jones, Jarrett Brandon, Ryan Brandolo, Kelly Kingman, Eli Klar, Bit Klar, Eric Kruszewski, Jason McKoy, Margaret Grace Mills, Fernando Orellana, Sara Jane Tantillo, and Minnie Tonka.
The show opens with a “Spaziergang” down Karl-Marx-Allee headed by Heather Klar and Sapphire Jones and invites the neighborhood to walk with us: We meet at 3.30 pm at kma71 and walk towards Frankfurter Tor – we then make a u-turn and walk back towards Alexanderplatz via Strausberger Platz – we then take a round on Alexanderplatz and return to kma71 where the show opens at 7 pm with refreshments and drinks.
You are cordially invited to join us for the “Spaziergang” down Karl-Marx-Allee and the opening of Capitalism by Heather Klar at kma71 on June 1st! We are very much looking forward to have you, discuss, laugh and enjoy summer in Berlin!
Heather & Anne
Summer at kma71 (May - July 2018) & News
Dear all,
I am pleased to announce kma71’s program for May, June and July 2018. I am very much looking forward to see you all at kma71 in the coming months!
Kind regards,
Anne (Breimaier)
Installments
Installment #6: Claudius Dorner (Essen, Germany) will open his show Schuirweg 107 on May 3rd at kma71. The show will feature a selection of photographs from the series with the same name documenting the transformation of the monastery and former home to the convent of the religious order Barmherzige Schwestern der Heiligen Elisabeth in Essen’s district Schuir into a home for refugees in 2016 and 2017. You are cordially invited to join us next Thursday at kma71 between 6 and 9 pm for the opening. You can find the Facebook event for the opening under this link.
Installment #7: On June 1st you are invited by fashion designer and graphic facilitator Heather Klar (New York City) to come down to kma71 for a parade along Karl-Marx-Allee celebrating the merits and downfalls of US-brand capitalism in the former socialist neighbourhood of Karl-Marx-Allee. More info on “Capitalism by Heather Klar” will follow soon. Throughout June kma71 will host an exhibition with creations by Heather Klar and her associates. The progress and preparations for the project can be followed on the corresponding Instagram account. The exact details of the event will be announced in a separate press release and on social media.
“Who’s done capitalism better than America in the last century? Come on down to kma71 to see Heather Klar’s meandering tour of the oddities, exploits, and triumphs of her wacky nation. Everything is for sale! *Some restrictions apply! **No C.O.D.s” (Heather Klar)
Installment #8: On July 12th, 6 to 9 pm kma71 will host the opening of the exhibition Der ruhige Blick - Architektur und Landschaft with photographs by Barbara Dalheimer (*1940), art historian and resident of Karl-Marx-Allee 73. Dr. Barbara Dalheimer received a PhD from Free University Berlin in 1977 with a study on the Palais „Hôtel de Pompadour (Paris, 1704 / 05) of Pierre-Alexis Delamair“. During her time as a student and shortly thereafter she visited many European cities and lived in Peru between 1978 - 81. Her exhibition at kma71 will present photographs of architecture and landscapes she made during this time. A press release will follow.
News
Original prints of Hollis Frampton’s photo conceptual series ADSVMVS ABSVMVS (1982) from the collection of Charles D. Sims are on view at UG im Museum Folkwang until May 13th. The exhibition has been curated by Matthias Gründig (Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen) and myself in the framework of a cooperative seminar. Video Folkwang will host a presentation of three of Frampton’s films on the last day of the exhibition (Lemon (1969), (nostalgia) (1971), and At the Gates of Death, Part 1: The Red Gate I (1976)) with introductions by Matthias Gründig and myself.
On the occasion of a show I curated with performative drawings by Morgan O’Hara ( New York City) titled Live Transmissions at Chimera-Project Gallery in Budapest, which opened last week, a conversation I had with the artist in December 2017 in New York will be published on kma71’s and Chimera-Project Gallery’s website in May. The dialog with Morgan critically addresses the question of artistic practice, and will initiate the kma71 dialog series. For further inquiries about Morgan O’Hara’s works exhibited in Budapest, please contact the gallery director Patrick Urwyler (patrick@chimera-project.com).
Events
An evening titled Lyrik aus dem Abfalleimer (Lyricism from the trash bin) will introduce young philosopher Lisa Schmidt-Herzog aka Lisa Schmerzog aka Femme Abfall (Berlin, Germany) who will present some of her recent experimental writings at kma71 on May 26th. The reading will take place between 7 and 8 pm, drinks are being served before and after. As seating is limited please RSVP (info@kma71berlin.de). The reading will be in German language.
“Kendrick Lamar gewinnt den Pulitzer-Preis und die Welt macht sich wieder Gedanken: nicht nur über Rap, sondern auch über Poesie. Denn was bleibt, wenn alle Beats & Bässe abgezogen werden, ist das bloße Wort und sein Klang. Es braucht aber weder Battles vor brennenden Mülltonnen noch Poetry Slams in unansehnlichen Studentenkneipen, um die Qualitäten dieser Verbindung auszuloten. Lisa Schmerzog aka Femme Abfall setzt sich im kma71 an den Sekretär, senkt die Lesestimme ab und schlägt ihr Notizbuch auf. In diesem sind Komisches, Tragisches, Bedeutsames und Quatsch aus dem letzten Jahr versammelt. Leise und laute Töne zu nachdenklichen und infantilen Gedanken. Vorhang auf für ironisches Understatement und für Lyrik aus dem Abfalleimer – womit wir doch wieder bei den Mülltonnen wären, aber wir zünden sie nicht an, sondern buddeln nach den Schätzen einer manchmal vergessen geglaubten Kunst: Long live poetry!” (Lisa Schmerzog)
On July 6th, 7th and 8th kma71 will host a film screening and performance by filmmaker, photographer and hip hop recording artist Steve N. Clair (Saint Louis, Missouri, USA). His documentary short “Canfield” (2014) will be shown at kma71 over the course of the three days. The film displays what took place at the Ferguson police station as well as the Candlelight Tribute for Michael Brown on West Florissant and Canfield just hours before the riots of Ferguson, MO occurred. On the occasion of the screenings the artist will perform live in front of kma71. The exact details of the event will be announced in a separate press release and on social media.
About Steve N. Clair: After creating the documentary short “Canfield” in 2014, Steve N. Clair, who graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication/video production in 2011, started his independent film production company Flyy Awayy Films. He is also a national music recording artist and a part of the STL hip-hop duo The Domino Effect. Sharing stages with other national recording artists such as Talib Kweli, Freddie Gibbs, GLC of Kanye West’s GOOD Music Records, just to name a few, Steve N. Clair is one of the top artists from Saint Louis, MO, who is destined to gain worldwide recognition.
Installment #5: Sophie Gaucher – From Scratch
Sophie Gaucher (1984, Poitiers) has created drawings and ceramics for the last six years. Her past films were animations, in which narrative was essential to bringing her humanoid creatures and organic structures to life. The film “Panoplie” (2017) marks new territory in her practice. With it she is addressing the problem of “the decorative” in her previous works. The black figure in her film doesn’t have eyes any more, and needs not to be seen as a creature or human, nor a male or female. It moves around things, which are not considered sculptures any longer, but objects. Each object is dedicated to one performance only - throw, drive, fall, run, press, juggle, mix. The movements performed remind of rituals and theatre, but are reduced to the simplicity of gestures.
Installment #5: Sophie Gaucher – From Scratch presents “Panoplie” and the objects depicted in the film at kma71. The show also stages an encounter. While spending time in Sophie’s show, I will write an essay about the installment, which will be published on kma71’s website after completion. The essay will take its start at Giorgio Agamben’s text “Notes on Gesture” from 1992 in which his thoughts on the relationship between the gesture and cinema are laid out. It is my intention to juxtapose this eclectic, yet influential text on contemporary aesthetics with Sophie’s works, and use this opportunity to inquire about the dynamics inherent to such a juxtaposition of aesthetic theory and artistic practice.
Sophie Gaucher was born in Poitiers (France) in 1984. She lives and works in Paris. She received a Fine Arts Diploma from École Européenne de l’Image de Poitiers and l’École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2011. Her work is represented in private collections, such as Les amis de l’École d’Art du Beauvaisis, France (2014), Conseil départemental de l’Eure, France (2011), and the Vidéothèque Nomade, Brussels, Belgium (2008). From Scratch at kma71 is her first solo exhibition in Germany.
The installment will be accompanied by an edition by Sophie Gaucher, which will be made available for purchase on Editions after the opening.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12 - 6 pm, and by appointment (info@kma71berlin.de)
Invitation Opening Installment #4: Self Play
Dear all,
feminism and the discourse of sex-positivity share a complicated history. Sex-positivity addresses the fact that as human beings our identities are also shaped by our sexuality. Whereas the portrayal of sexually motivated oppression of women in pornography has led many to reject the genre, a branch of Western feminist activism has promoted the medium as a tool for self-empowerment since the 1980s. Access to sexual education, on the other hand, still varies in different cultural contexts, including the possibility for open dialogue about auto-erotic practices, such as masturbation.
kma71’s 4th installment titled Self Play presents two projects combined by Joana Francener and Louise Yau, founder of Feel Free, who represent a younger generation of women tackling the challenge of sex-positivity in their own way. They use different formats to address issues such as gender-sensitive porn and initiate a culture of open talk about masturbation while aiming for self-empowerment - for themselves and their peers.
It is my hope that throughout the installment it will become possible to share notes with each other, and talk about the ‘here’ and ‘there’, and the ‘then’ and ‘now’ - as it is kma71’s concern to critically address contemporary issues in art, design and creative entrepreneurship in regard to their historical formation.
Join us for the opening of Self Play this coming Saturday, February 10th, between 3 and 6.30 pm at kma71!
The English press release for Self Play can be found here.
The German press release for Self Play can be found here.
At the opening we will host a little fundraiser for the project and sell warm Punsch with the famous Schnaps from Max, soup and cupcakes! We are also very excited that Amorelie will sponsor us with some of their great sex toys for our tombola at the closing event of Self Play on February 24th (1 pm - 9 pm). And to get even more excited, have a look at our teaser for Self Play, done by Eric Bitencourt and Joana Francener!
The show will also include two workshops on February 11th (with Joana and Louise), and February 17th (with Louise), from 6-9 pm. And you can still sign up for them (info@kma71berlin.de)!
I am very much looking forward to see you on Saturday,
Anne (Breimaier)
Spring at kma71 (January – April 2018) & News
Dear all,
I am very happy to announce kma71’s spring program. kma71 will be turned into a curatorial laboratory in late January as Matthias Gründig from Folkwang Universität der Künste and I will present our work on one of Hollis Frampton’s last photo series called ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, In memory of Hollis William Frampton, Sr., 1913 – 1980, abest (1982). In February kma71 will host Joana Francener and Louise Yau / Feel Free with a pop-up exhibition on masturbation, pornography and sex-positive feminism. In April and March Paris-based artist Sophie Gaucher will present her drawings, sculptures, performance and film in her first solo exhibition in Germany at kma71. And there are some exciting news about Ben Nurgenc’ current whereabouts, whose first solo exhibition was kma71’s first installment. Find out more below!
We are all very much looking forward to have you here at kma71 on Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin!
Kind regards ,
Anne (Breimaier)
Installment #3: Hollis Frampton Lab
January 22 – January 31, 2018
Opening hours
12 – 6 pm, except for Sunday
During the winter term of 2017/18 Anne Breimaier ((Kunsthistorisches Institut der Freien Universität Berlin) and Matthias Gründig (Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen) teach a cooperative project-based seminar with participants from both universities. The seminar deals with ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, a work by Hollis Frampton from 1982, which consists of 14 photographs and 15 texts.
On April 12th 2018 the exhibition Hollis Frampton: ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, In memory of Hollis William Frampton, Sr., 1913 – 1980, abest curated by Anne Breimaier and Matthias Gründig will open at Museum Folkwang in Essen. The exhibition will display an original edition of the photo series from 1982.
Installment #3: Hollis Frampton Lab is a curatorial laboratory accessible for the public, in which materials from the work process of Anne and Matthias and results from the cooperative seminar are presented. No prior appointment is needed.
Installment #4: Self Play
Opening
February 10, 3 – 6.30 pm
Last day with closing party and tombola, February 24, 1 – 9 pm
Opening hours of the exhibition (Ab Sonntag, den 11. Februar)
Thursday and Friday by appointment (info@kma71berlin.de)
Saturday, 3 pm – 6 pm
Sunday, 1 pm – 6 pm
Installment #4: Self Play is a pop-up show hosted by kma71, and co-organized by Joana Francener (1990, Brazil) and Louise Yau (1990, Hong Kong) / Feel Free (feel-free.org) advocating female masturbation through an explicit selection of gender sensitive pornography, erotic audio clips, literature and workshops. Self Play aims to initiate open discussions, and encourage fellow women to set aside taboos, ask questions and share their own stories.
Louise and Joana have been invited to present their project at kma71 to engage in a genuinely female perspective on self-empowerment and sexuality. Self Play is a welcomed opportunity to discuss and reflect on the history of sex-positive feminism, as well as its meaning for women today.
Installment #5: Sophie Gaucher – From Scratch
March 8 – April 26, 2018
Opening
March 3, 2018, 6 – 9 pm
Opening hours
Thursday – Saturday, 12 – 6 pm, and by appointment
Installment #5: Sophie Gaucher – From Scratch is a solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Sophie Gaucher (*1984 in Poitiers, France) projected for the space of kma71. Sophie Gaucher – From Scratch will run from March 3rd 2018 until April 26th 2018, and feature sculpture, drawing, performance and film.
Whereas performance is a favored medium of contemporary artistic practice these days, it is the considerate and almost gentle way of bringing different art forms together that fascinates me about Sophie’s work. What could be called a “theater of objects” animates accessories and prostheses through what appears to be a clumsy dance of the artist herself.
News
We are happy to announce that Ben Nurgenc, whose first solo exhibition in Germany was kma71’s first installment, was invited to an artist’s residency in January and February 2018 at the new Vinidi Tentarthotel in Menghai Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China. Ben is currently working on three site-specific art works for the hotel. Congrats, Ben!
Introducing kma71
Dear friends, colleagues, and students,
as some of you already know, for many years it has been a desire of mine to expand into new spaces in order to question this thing called ‘contemporary art’. In August 2017 a space in close proximity presented itself to me, and I couldn’t help but say yes. kma71 was born, a temporary showroom situated in a former porter’s lodge on Karl-Marx-Allee, Berlin.
Over the course of one year, from August until July 2018, I am presenting “installments” of different lengths, by artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs who have in the past crossed my path and left a mark. Each installment has been selected in response to specific questions raised by the authors, their work, or my understanding of it. If understood as my own performance, kma71 could be described as a manifestation of the question: “How could art criticism look if it were a room?”
Ben Nurgenc, who presented his sculptures in the inaugural installation at kma71, which ran up until October 31st, 2017, was invited because of his dealing with Minimal Art’s heritage - a subject I have felt drawn to in the past years, wondering about its relevance for the present. The megalith Ben placed in front of kma71 prompted many passers-by into interaction as they realised that what used to be a retail shop for lamps made out of ostrich eggs was now a space for something else. This interactive quality is one of the more defining features of kma71 for the neighbourhood and the gallery visitors, and hints at what the project could mean even after its completion - a temporary space for social and aesthetical experiment and practice.
The website is coming soon, where kma71’s concept will be fully laid out:
- kma71editions allows the authors at kma71 to further expand on and subsidise their work by creating sellable objects.
- kma71writings allows us to document and reflect upon the outcomes of each installment in a brochure. We have already started to work on Ben’s brochure, which will include contributions by a philosopher and an architect.
- kma71dialogues will be a section on the website which is dedicated to vocal exchange on topics relating to kma71’s endeavours.
kma71 wouldn’t be possible without the unconditional support of many people. In particular I want to thank: Petra Woschniak who helped during the summer of 2017 with construction, Kathrin Heimburger who designs kma71’s paper resources, Andreas Möller who is the genius behind kma71’s website, Dayoung Lee - kma71’s first intern and supporting every aspect of the process, the contributors to each installment and the loved ones giving support from near and far.
Kind regards ,
Anne (Breimaier)