Kunst-Werke (KW) Institute for Contemporary Art

On Day 3 we visit the Kunst-Werke (KW) Institute for Contemporary Art located in Scheunenviertel (‘Barn Quarter’) is one of Berlin's oldest neighbourhoods.  KW was founded shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall by Klaus Biesenbach and a group of young art enthusiasts in a practically derelict former margarine factory in Berlin-Mitte in the early 1990s.  Labelling  itself as a collaborative creation space rather than a gallery, the KW presents shows that are dynamic and inspirational, and prepared by emerging and established artists working with diverse media.

Image courtesy of see-berlin.de

In contrast to Day 2's gallery visit to Hamburger Bahnhoff, KW's philosophy is that without a permanent collection, it can be more readily responsive to artistic innovation and to creative programming.

A new artistic team was appointed at the KW last year, coming from different countries around the world the team will work on projects with artists that will be exhibited at the museum and around the city of Berlin.  The new director, Krist Gruijthuijsen, envisions the art space as a community hub, one that fosters a mutual exchange between artist and audience.

KW currently has a solo exhibition by South African conceptual artist, Ian Wilson, and is one of their key reference points for the new year. Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s and serves as a framework for exploring roles of language, communication, and the broader significance of interaction between human beings. The exhibition is in constant flux and changes gradually throughout the course of its duration. Wilson’s early paintings and sculptures are physical objects, however, they also signal an inclination to take reduction and abstraction a step further, to the point of ridding art of physical properties altogether.

Ian Wilson, Circle on the floor, 1968, Installation view Ian Wilson at the Galerie Mot & Van den Boogaard, Brussels, 1998, Courtesy the artist and Jan Mot, Brussels

Alongside Wilson's exhibition is the first institutional solo exhibition from Hanne Lippard. Lippard's artistic medium is her voice,  speaking uncomfortable truths with a voice dripping with comfort: composed, considered, articulate and calming. In response to Wilson, Lippard conceived a new production titled Flesh, an immersive installation, which takes up the entire ground floor hall of the KW building and confronts the visitor with one singular element—a spiral staircase. When ascending the stairs, one enters an awkwardly shaped space that incorporates the upper windows of the ceiling as a point of view outside of the exhibition hall. The newly created space is emerged by the artist’s voice, which slowly directs the audience towards a world where the meaning of language is being shaped, structured and categorised. Like Wilson, Lippard uses her body and words to counterfeit perimeters given by established standards in art production and creates a universe where the audience is physically as well as mentally brought outside of their confinements.

Image courtesy of KW Institute for Contemporary Art