Catalogue restructuring/ Katalog Umbau: Erdglas
Berlinische Galerie: 02.11.2012–08.04.2013
Download Extra Catalogue Pages
“The catalogue plays an important role in the exhibition itself. Its structural idea can be understood as a constructive commentary on the very norms which determine most exhibition-making today.
Its DIY approach derives from the fact that most catalogues accompanying an exhibition have to be made in advance. This logic follows the economic argument that catalogues do not sell if they are not published for the beginning of the exhibition. The actual catalogue in contrast forms an active part of the exhibition and has been conceived with several possibilities to change its content and graphic representation.
On the reverse of the catalogue there is a manual, which in simple graphic language illustrates how to make changes to the catalogue. Within the exhibition, a series of catalogue pages is shown on the wall, that can be added to the book. Furthermore, by purchasing a copy, you get the opportunity to lend a camera from the bookshop to take your own pictures. The photos made with the camera will be automatically printed out in the exhibition, providing the chance to add a self-made documentation to the catalogue.
The additional pictures are a conceptual part of this catalogue. They are posted to www.tuegreenfort.net automatically, where they are publicly available to download and print, as well as the supplementary pages.”
- Tue Greenfort
„Der Katalog spielt für diese Ausstellung eine wichtige Rolle. Seine Struktur versteht sich als konstruktiver Kommentar zu den Bedingungen, welche die Realisierung von Ausstellungen heute überwiegend bestimmen.
Sein Do-it-yourself-Ansatz verweist darauf, dass die meisten Kataloge schon vor Beginn einer Ausstellung erstellt werden müssen. Grund dafür ist das wirtschaftliche Argument, dass sich Kataloge nur gut verkaufen, wenn sie bereits zur Ausstellungseröffnung erscheinen. Der vorliegende Katalog dagegen ist ein aktiver Bestandteil dieser Ausstellung und bietet mehrere Möglichkeiten, seinen Inhalt und seine grafische Gestaltung zu verändern.
Die Anleitung auf der Rückseite des Umschlags zeigt in einfachen Bildern, wie man den Katalog verändern kann. An den Wänden der Ausstellung sind eine Reihe von Seiten angebracht, die dem Katalog hinzugefügt werden können. Beim Kauf eines Exemplars ist es dem Besucher zudem möglich, eine Kamera an der Kasse der Buchhandlung auszuleihen und damit zu fotografieren. Die entstandenen Fotos werden automatisch in der Ausstellung ausgedruckt und bieten so die Möglichkeit, den Katalog um eine selbstgemachte Dokumentation zu ergänzen.
Die zusätzlichen Aufnahmen gehören als konzeptuelle Erweiterung zum Katalog. Sie werden zugleich auf archiv.tuegreenfort.net/bg hochgeladen, wo sie ebenso wie die Zusatzseiten des Kataloges öffentlich zugänglich sind und zum Download bereitstehen.“
- Tue Greenfort
Installation views: ERDGLAS, Berlinische Galerie, November 2, 2012 - April 8, 2012
Photos: Roman März
Artikel in der Zeit über die Ausstellung Erdglas in der Berlinischen Galerie.
Article in die Zeit on the exhibition Erdglas in the Berlinische Galerie.
Photo by Amin Akhtar
Contribution for Frieze d/e, Autumn 2012
Geodesic Tent Structure, 2012
Construction: galvanized steel tubes in 9 different lengths, membrane: recycled commercial vinyl mega-posters (also known as: building wraps)
Dimensions: d: 12.5 m, h: 6.50 m
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Johann König, Berlin
Shown in Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria 13.09.2012 – 04.11.2012
Photos: Sarah Egartner
The work is an answer to the invitation from Kunstraum Dornbirn and their contract, which implies that the artist is not paid a fee for his contribution but will be able to produce a work specifically for Kunstraum Dornbirn – a work that will become the property of the artists when the exhibition period has ended. The work is a reaction to said invitation and the implied contract as well as the spatial qualities of Kunstraum Dornbirn and the historical parameters such as industrialisation – the exhibition space as a former montage hall – and representation of nature as seen in the adjacent museum inatura. Kunstraum Dornbirn has “art and nature” as its conceptual indicator and provides a platform for artists working within this context.
The geodesic dome is constructed by a system of triangles covered by a lightweight material. This method of construction provides a weatherproof design. The most famous example of a geodesic dome is the US pavilion at EXPO 67 designed by the American architect, inventor and theorist Buckminster Fuller.
Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic architecture was a source of inspiration for many hippies who created their own D.I.Y. geodesic tents using recycled materials.The Sundance Camp (more info: www.sundancecamp.com) has been a reference point for producing Geodesic Tent Structure. Through these connections Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome is being linked with rational strands of ecology and D.I.Y. hippie culture. Other examples of the geodesic dome being used as a temporary building for alternative way of living can be found at http://simplydifferently.org/ (which also features a calculator to be used for designing domes. The calculator has also been used to design Geodesic Tent Structure) and http://www.desertdomes.com/, which ditrectly takes its inspiration from Buckminster Fuller and also has valuable information in regard to constructing geodesic domes for many different uses. At Sundance Camp the dome is, for instance, being used to house a yoga centre.
Installation of Geodesic Tent Structure at Kunstraum Dornbirn in Austria.
The Worldly House, 2012
Walking through the Baroque Karlsaue park, alert visitors might find themselves gazing at a discreetly situated black wooden shack surrounded by water. Connected to the park by a small walkway straddling the lake, it might bring to mind Henry David Thoreau’s wooden hut as he meticulously described it in his seminal book Walden of 1854. It certainly has a dream-like, fairy-tale atmosphere, giving the impression of a self-built house in which to retreat for solitude and reflection. However, it was in fact constructed in the 1950s with the purpose of housing the park’s black swans (Cygnus atratus). The birds are now gone, and their shack has been standing empty since the late 1970s, though it is not without use, since traces inside reveal the activity of another species introduced into Kassel’s urban wild life, the notorious raccoons. For dOCUMENTA (13), the former birdhouse hosts an archival project dedicated to “multispecies co-evolution” that will examine and perhaps help reshape links among living creatures, both human and non-human. Human beings and other organisms share the overwhelming majority of their genetic information, and that is just the beginning of their thick relationships. In other words, as dOCUMENTA (13) Honorary Advisory Committee member and renowned feminist theorist Donna Haraway has written in the introduction to her book When Species Meet (2008): “To be one is always to become with many.” Haraway’s book examines philosophical, historical, cultural, personal, technoscientific, and biological aspects of animal/human inter- and intra-action, and in recognition of her work and ideas, The Worldly House: An Archive Inspired by Donna Haraway’s Writings on Multispecies Co-Evolution, Compiled and Presented by Tue Greenfort offers visitors the opportunity to think through the philosopher’s writings and teachings. Taking the form of artists’ materials, texts, books, videos, and documentation of artworks and projects dealing with the relationship between human and non-human species, the archive is of great diversity, with an overall focus on the perception of life, worldli-ness, and the co-existence of human and other beings.
Tue Greenfort: The Worldly House. Ein Archiv inspiriert von Donna Haraways Schriften über Multispezies-Koevolution, zusammengestellt und präsentiert von Tue Greenfort.
In Auftrag gegeben und produziert von der dOCUMENTA (13).
Zur Verfügung gestellt von Tue Greenfort und Donna Haraway.
Fotos: Nils Klinger
//
Tue Greenfort: The Worldly House. An Archive Inspired by Donna Haraway`s Writings on Multi-Species Co-Evolution Compiled and Presented by Tue Greenfort.
Commissioned and produced by dOCUMENTA (13).
Courtesy Tue Greenfort and Donna Haraway
Photos: Nils Klinger
Participating artists:
- Abramovic, Marina
- Al Mahli, Jawad
- Allora, Jennifer and Calzadilla, Guillermo
- Alys, Francis
- Aranda, Julieta
- Ballengee, Brandon
- Bayrle, Thomas
- Benglis, Lynda
- Bertelé, Francesco
- Berwick, Rachel
- Beuys, Joseph
- Bock, John
- Broodthaers, Marcel
- Buch, Kristina
- Büttner, Andrea
- Calzolari PierPaolo
- Cardiff, Jennifer and Miller, George Bures
- Castellano, Cheto
- Da Costa, Beatriz
- Coates, Marcus
- De Serio, Massimillano and Gianluca
- Delvoye, Wim
- Demenesez, Marta
- Derrida, Jacques
- Dion, Mark
- Donner, Christa and Yang, Andrew
- Durham, Jimmie
- Easterson, Sam
- Edzgeveradze, Gia
- Fabre, Jan
- Feuerstein, Thomas
- Fogarolli, Chrisnan
- Fontes, Clauda
- Friedmann, Gloria
- Garcia Dory, Fernando
- Geller, Matthew
- Greenfort, Tue
- Hakansson, Henrik
- High, Kathy
- Hopf, Judith
- Hourani, Khaled
- Huang, Ping Yong
- Huyghe, Pierre
- Irmer, Nikola
- Isaacs, John
- Kac, Eduardo
- Keller, Christoph
- Komar, Vitaly
- Kounellis, Jannis
- Koons, Jeff
- Kramer, Aron
- Lawler, Louise
- Lee, Daniel
- Longhurst, Jo
- Lucas, Kristin
- Lutyens, Marcos
- Maak, Flo
- Mäkipää, Tea
- Marisaldi, Eva
- Matysik, Reiner Maria
- May, Lin
- Mayeri, Rachel
- McGinley, Ryan
- Melamid, Alexander
- Mihai, Aurelia
- Miralda, Antoni
- Muresan, Ciprian
- Neuenschwander, Rivane
- Nowak, Maike Maja
- O’Dell, Shaunh
- Olesen, Henrik
- Olivares, Lissette
- Özgen, Erkan and Özmen, Sener
- Paington Zoo Environmental Park
- Palestine, Charlemagne
- Panayiotou Christodoulos
- Piccinini, Patricia
- Porsager, Lea
- Powell, Lucy
- Ractliffe, Jo
- Rasdjarmrearnsook, Araya
- Rickards, Hannah
- Rico, Coco
- Kahlo, Luk
- Rios, Miguel Angel
- Ryan, Paul
- Anri, Sala
- Silver, Shelley
- Sonjasdotter, Åsa
- Tamas, St. Auby
- Trouen - Trend, Jonathan
- Ullrich, Jens
- Vanmechelen, Koen
- Vega, Sergio
- Watson, Chris
- Wegman, William
- Wendel, Pablo
- Yan, Lei
- Sun Yuan and Peng, Yu
- Zaretsky, Adarn
- Ziegler, Ella
TJ Demos on the post-natural condition
Artforum, April 2012
NEOBIOTA, 2011
Live video feed, 3 digital projections, sound installation, found objects, text, CCTV equipment with digital up and download, nesting boxes
Description:
The installation NEOBIOTA consists of real-time video and audio transmissions of parrots, which have been inhabitants of Cologne for around 40 years. Using the latest surveillance technology, rose-ringed and alexandrine parakeets are monitored in their breeding grounds and sleeping trees. In this way, artistic practice draws our attention to ecological phenomena: as global trade and travel increase, not only humans and goods are transported around the world, but animals also increasingly find their way into new environments – a heavily debated phenomenon that biologists refer to as “neobiota” (from the ancient Greek néos, new, and bíos, life). To be sure, the introduction of biologically new inhabitants to an ecosystem can be problematic. Some species come into conflict with their new environment shortly after their arrival. They change or impair it as a so-called “invasive species.”
With time, however, some of the exotic new comers become a familiar sight and find their place in the local ecosystem. In this way, globalisation, which is primarily motivated by economic gain, alters the habitat of humans, animals and plants. An adjoining phenomenon is the surveillance of people in public spaces. In the installation, the round-the-clock surveillance of the parakeets reflects on this problematic phenomenon.
Alexandrine Parakeets (Psittacula eupatria), Rose-ringed Parakeets (Psittacula krameri)
Alexandrine parakeets (Psittacula eupatria) are originally native to the tropical regions of South Asia. Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) are native to the same regions, but are more widespread and can be found as far as tropical West Africa. In 1969, the Cologne Zoo first verified that rose-ringed parakeets were breeding in the wild. The first alexandrine parakeets were observed in Cologne in 1993, when eight pairs were found nesting in Schlosspark Stammheim. The first parakeets living in the wild probably escaped from the zoo or from private owners. By now the populations in the Cologne area have grown to around 150 to 200 alexandrine parakeets and up to 2000 rose-ringed parakeets and are stable at these numbers. Both species nest in parks and gardens as well as in urban housing developments. Until now, the breeding and nesting behaviour, especially of the alexandrine parakeets, has rarely been documented. At the same time, the parrots have been recognized under definition § 7 of Germany’s Federal Environmental Protection Laws as an indigenous species since they have survived in this urban habitat now for many generations. They are classified, like all indigenous species of birds, as an “especially protected species.”
Display cases on the terminal level
The display cases are an archive, information centre and visualisation of the project’s context. They document the conflicting priorities that the project describes between humans and animals as well as between nature and technology. A collection of objects revolving around the Cologne parakeets and the technology used to observe them are placed in relation to each other within the showcases.
Projection on the central platform / Schlosspark Stammheim
The projected images originate from the breeding colony of the alexandrine parakeets in Schlosspark Stammheim, Cologne. The hollowed-out trunks the birds use for nesting can be found in the crowns of a group of seven plane trees which stand in close proximity to each other. Mating followed by breeding season is from February to April. The young birds hatch in April and May and learn to fly by June or July. The parakeets use the hollowed-out tree trunks beyond the regular breeding periods to rest and to sleep. Three cameras were installed in the pre-existing nesting trunks, a final camera oversees the entire scene of nesting trees and cables. Three projection screens in the underground station show the various scenes via an internet-based live-stream.
The related sound is played over a speaker suspended on the central platform.
Sound installation in the rotunda
The sound recordings document the behavioural patterns of the rose-ringed parakeets, which are unique among species found in Germany. Practically the entire local population of rose-ringed parakeets gathers every evening at their communal sleeping grounds in order to communally spend the night. In the early morning the parakeets disperse again throughout the area. The birds gather at the sleeping grounds in large groups around 30 minutes before sunset and leave again around 30 minutes after sunrise. Through this relation to the course of the sun, their sleeping patterns change with the seasons. The birds can be heard at times when they are on the sleeping tree and are still awake or have recently woken up.
Installation View:Underground station Breslauer Platz, Cologne, 2011
Photos by Alwin Lay
Photos by Tue Greenfort
Photos by Annette Greenfort
Photos by Benjamin Tillig
Courtesy: Johann König, Berlin and Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG, Cologne
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