Private view Sunday, 21 October 2018 from 11.30 am
2018 marks the centenary of the 1918 Kiel mutiny, a revolt by German sailors that was initiated in Wilhelmshaven by the end of the First World War, triggering the November Revolution.As a consequence Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated and the Weimarer Republic was proclaimed. As the first German democratic republic it was characterised by conflict, power struggle and instability, eventually resulting in Hitler’s seizure of control and the Third Reich. It was also a time of radical change beyond political structures. Artists, architects and writers actively incorporated socialist ideas within the aesthetic discourse of expressionist movement.
For a duration of three months Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven will house Agata Madejska’s solo show Modified Limited Hangout, a display of site-specific works, sound installations, photographs, light sensitive objects, sculptures and works on paper reflecting upon historical utopian movements, contemporary search for alternatives, political tactics of concealment, audience control and surveillance. The lower ground floor of the Kunsthalle will be covered with the carpet installation Voyage, Voyage, 2018, based on the grid of the land purchased in Texas in 1848 by Icarians, an early egalitarian communist settlers, while lines of curtains meander through the grey painted main galleries diluting its architecture. Quiet monologs fill the space underneath floating fabric gable roofs – Mistakes Were Made, 2018 is an intimate reflexion on private and public relationship management complemented by light sensitive drawings changing their appearance throughout the course of the exhibition. Referring to the 2013 Walkie Scorchie incident Technocomplex, 2017 is another group of active objects, which develop an uncontrolled darkening process while monitoring the surrounding space. On the ground floor level site-specific aluminium installations appear and disappear incorporated in the architecture of the Kunsthalle, while some large abstract photographs of photochemical smog occupy the gallery walls. By exploring dependencies and appearances the artist is investigating relationships between the individual and the collective as well as between the private and the public.
Where should we turn to in order to arrive where exactly? is a chain letter between Nina Franz, Rebekka Ladewig and Eva Wilson, which will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. Inspired by Bruno Taut’s chain letter Crystal Chain (1919/20) their dialogue circles around the questions of current political and technological hifts, hyperobjects, disorientation and alternative futures. Publication design by Studio Mathias Clottu.
Agata Madejska (*1979 in Warsaw, Poland) lives and works in London. Previous selected solo and group shows include Technocomplex, Parrotta Contemporary Art, Stuttgart; Place. Tlomackie 3/5, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw; Entoptic Screening, Galeria ASP, Warsaw; Johanna Jaeger & Agata Madejska, Kunstraum griffelkunst, Hamburg; Kingly Things, Chandelier Projects, London; Form Norm Folly, Kunstverein Krefeld; Conflict, Time, Photography, Tate Modern, London, Museum Folkwang, Essen and Albertinum Dresden; Twisted Entities, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen; Man and his Objects, Museum Folkwang, Essen; Made in Germany Zwei, kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; Menos tiempo que lugar, Palacio National de las Artes, Buenos Aires; reGeneration 2, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne and Aperture, New York; Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London.