Andreas Slominski: Über die Freundschaft (About Friendship) / Neuer Berliner Kunstverein

The German artist Andreas Slominski has been awarded the Hannah Höch Prize 2013 by the State of Berlin, honoring the artist’s extensive work. The respective exhibition takes place at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and at the Brecht Weigel memorial rooms, as well as on the sidewalk along the walls of the Französischer and Dorotheenstädtischer cemetery. The exhibition project forms a complex reference system between art, the institution, the topographical context and the historical figure Brecht. Andreas Slominski developed several groups of works, connecting both the exhibition venues and the cemeteries. As an homage to the automobile lover Brecht, the artist installed a towing sign on the garage in the courtyard of the Brecht House. Where there were signs missing at the gates of the cemeteries, they were added. Brecht’s former bedroom is located directly above his garage, in which once his EMW convertible was parked. At Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Slominski exhibits a. o. an ensemble made of a galvanized flat roof garage. Furthermore, a wall made of stones delivered from China was built at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein “” another allusion to Brecht’s affinity for Chinese culture. Elementary part of the work Chinesische Mauer (Chinese Wall) is to take out insurance against breaking through the window glass and against impacts of automobiles towards the wall.

In this video we attend the opening reception of the exhibition, and Silke Wittig, (Head of Communication and Public Program of the n.b.k.) provides us with an introduction to the exhibition. The show runs until January 26, 2014.

Andreas Slominski (b. 1959 in Meppen, living in Werder an der Havel), from 1983 to 1986, studied at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. From 1997 to 2004, he was professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, since 2004 he is professor of sculpture at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. Slominski received numerous awards, including the Karl Ströher Prize (1991), the Sprengel Prize (1995), the Aachen Art Prize (2004) and the Lichtwark Prize (2013). Recently his works were shown, among others, at MOCA Los Angeles (2013), at Hamburger Kunsthalle (2012), Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2012), Kunsthalle Zurich (2012), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011), Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main (2011), Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (2010), Suntory Museum, Osaka (2010) and at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2010).

Andreas Slominski: Über die Freundschaft (About Friendship) at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (Germany), November 29, 2013. Video by Frantisek Zachoval.

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