Der ideale Ort, um mit der Freiheit unter vier Augen zu sprechen

Jesse Ash, Nina Beier, Hanne Darboven, Harald Falkenhagen, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Sven Johne, Jiŕí Kovanda, Nina Beier & Marie Lund, Roman Ondák, Aslı Sungu

4 December 2010 – 20 February 2011
Opening: 3 December 2010, 7 p.m.

Welcoming speech: Waltraut Steimke, executive director
Introduction: Stefanie Böttcher, artistic director
7.30 p.m. performance by Nina Beier: Performer Performing Performance performed by Sebastian Kautz

Installationviews: Der ideale Ort, um mit der Freiheit unter vier Augen zu sprechen, Künstlerhaus Bremen 2010, Courtesy the artist
Asl± Sungu, filmstills from Faulty (2008), Courtesy the artist
Photos: Tobias Hübel

Artistic freedom is the stuff of legend. But what kind of freedom is it? What is its essence? Is it a purely spiritual freedom, or does it mean autonomous action? Perhaps this freedom entails conceiving one's own set of rules and living according to them. Artworks are often based on complex systems of rules. Strategies, tasks or test set-ups are conceived and then subjected to explicit conditions which often give rise to totally new laws. So does the potential of artists' actions not perhaps mean that they themselves, apparently renouncing the idea of freedom of action, compile the guidelines which they follow and thus set their own limits to their activities? The exhibition Der ideale Ort, um mit der Freiheit unter vier Augen zu sprechen highlights cases of self-chosen integration into a system with tailor-made constraints. It links different works in which the artists temporarily transform the appearance of their surroundings by either ruthlessly exposing them or by imposing alien templates on them. Be it by creating and following the rules of the game, by overworking existing guidelines or by implementing new directives for the recipient: the charm of this practise consists of shaping tactics that undermine the familiar.

PROGRAM

18 January 2011, 7 p.m.  Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel. Die künstlerische Freiheit in der deutschen Rechtsprechung Lecture by Dr. jur. Nicolai Kemle, Vorsitzender Institut für Kunst und Recht
3 February 2011, 7 p.m. Die Kunst macht Musik – von John Vage bis Jorinde Viogt Lecture by Ingrid Buschmann, Kuratorin Freunde Guter Musik Berlin e.V.

Guided tours: 16 December 2010, 7 p.m.; 06 January 2011, 7 p.m.

We would like to thank Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln and bremer shakespeare company.