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preziceau eøecul acestei schimbæri, væzute doar ca un nou formalism instituflional,
færæ sæ reuøeascæ sæ schimbe nimic în esenflæ. Oricum, primele acfliuni din noul n.b.k.
erau unele care puteau liniøti apele. Dar sæ remarcæm în prealabil cæ schimbul de
generaflii øi de orientare de la n.b.k. avea loc în contextul dezbaterii actuale din Germania
asupra angajamentului societæflii civile, precum øi asupra funcfliei culturii øi a institufliilor
care o reprezintæ. Date fiind aceste condiflii, o Kunstverein poate juca un rol
important numai dacæ spafliile sale devin posibilitæfli efective de exprimare ale comunitæflii
øi ale angajamentului voluntar al acesteia, îmbræfliøînd o ideologie a participærii
comune care are ca finalitate interesul public øi respinge, ca atare, imaginea
burghez-pasivæ a consumului de culturæ. n.b.k îøi propunea sæ ræspundæ acestei situaflii
noi prin dezvoltarea unor modele care sæ prezinte alternative la colonizarea vizualæ
a lumii de cætre imagine øi producætorii de lifestyle, oferind spaflii estetice pe care
publicul sæ le experimenteze, printr-o exegezæ updatatæ asupra transculturalitæflii,
operatæ prin participarea activæ la descoperirea øi dezvoltarea noilor spaflii europene
într-un context politic mondial în schimbare, prin atragerea unor noi øi tinere publicuri
øi, în sfîrøit, prin concentrarea asupra Berlinului, pe a cærui scenæ artisticæ n.b.k.
îøi propunea sæ devinæ un atelier de lucru al ideilor øi pozifliilor novatoare.
În sfîrøit, sæ spunem, lucrurile aratæ destul de bine. Aøa cum am citit prima expoziflie
pe care noul n.b.k. a propus-o, provocarea cu care avem de-a face nu reprezintæ
panaceul unei simple rebranduiri. Fireøte, era de aøteptat o nouæ arhitecturæ a
spafliului expoziflional (directorul øi curatorul Babias a cerut evacuarea balastului estetic
adunat de-a lungul timpului, pentru a reduce spafliul galeriei la designul industrial
original al clædirii), un website nou øi o nouæ logicæ a accesului la arhivæ øi forum.
Dar, mai mult decît atît, alegerea curatorialæ a pus în luminæ faptul cæ schimbarea
de imagine reprezintæ o opfliune serioasæ cætre restructurarea instituflionalæ, repoziflionarea
ideologicæ øi recucerirea pozifliilor autonome pierdute.
Noua orientare conceptualæ a n.b.k. a fost inauguratæ prin alegerea lui Silke Wagner
drept prim artist care expune. Alegere programaticæ, de vreme ce Babias øi
Wagner lucraseræ în cadrul mai multor proiecte în ultimii zece ani 3 , iar viziunea curatorialæ
øi, respectiv, artisticæ se intersectau în modalitæflile creærii de interacfliune øi comunicare.
Silke Wagner este, în plus, o artistæ care încorporeazæ mereu în lucrærile sale
subiecte cu rezonanflæ socialæ, reprezentînd tot atîtea demersuri de chestionare a
construcfliile lor istorice. Øi iatæ cæ, de data aceasta, Wagner a fost invitatæ sæ punæ
sub semnul întrebærii chiar istoria spafliului în care trebuia sæ expunæ. Intervenflia sa
a presupus, dacæ dorim sæ explicæm estetica expresiei artistice, un demers formal
de ocupare pe termen lung a zonelor n.b.k., prin remodelarea structuralæ a display-ului
pentru artæ. Wagner a propus øi realizat o sculpturæ flexibilæ bazatæ pe un
sistem de mobilier modular øi mobil, intitulatæ Roland, care permite conectarea elementelor
sale în combinaflii multiple, pliindu-se pe spafliul-container, øi ale cærei principii
funcflionale garanteazæ eliminarea ierarhizærii publicului øi facilitarea accesului
democratic la conflinutul artistic. Miza este, aøadar, conflinutul lucrærii – øi iatæ cæ tot
de aici reuøeøte optimismul sæ-øi extragæ toate sursele de legitimare, pentru cæ Silke
Wagner nu face altceva decît sæ extragæ øi sæ mobilizeze noi conflinuturi politice. Dacæ
istoria n.b.k. nu poate fi disociatæ de istoria socialæ recentæ, acest fapt este reflectat
prin transformarea galeriei într-un cub negru, pe pereflii cæreia se gæsesc lucræri
în neon care reproduc sloganuri sau simboluri ale grupærilor øi evenimentelor ce
au marcat anii ’60 øi ’70, ca Internaflionala Situaflionistæ, Festivalul de Muzicæ de la
Woodstock, revoltele din mai ’68, protestele inifliate de gruparea Weatherman împotriva
intervenfliei din Vietnam etc. Dacæ, de-a lungul timpului, asupra n.b.k. øi-au pus
amprenta dezvoltærile mediilor de expresie ale artei, discursul artistic al lui Wagner
øi-a ales ca referinfle lucræri semnificative ale pionieratului video-artei, care, de
data aceasta, au ocupat rafturile sculpturii modulare din galerie, aici aflîndu-se exculture.
n.b.k. intended to face this new situation by developing new
models meant to present alternatives to the visual colonization of the
world by the image and by the lifestyle producers, by offering aesthetic
spaces for the public to experiment in, by an updated exegesis
of the trans-cultural, operated through an active participation to
the discovery and the development of the new European spaces within
a changing world context, by attracting some new and young
publics and, finally, by focusing on Berlin, on the scene of which n.b.k.
intended to become a workshop of ideas and innovating positions.
Finally, let’s say it, things look pretty good. The way I have read the
first exposition proposed by the new n.b.k., the challenge we are
facing is not to come up with the cure-all of a mere re-branding.
Of course, one should have expected a new architecture for the exhibition
space (the manager and curator Babias asked that the aesthetic
ballast accumulated in time should be removed in order to
reduce the gallery space to the original industrial design of the
building), a new website and a new logic of accessing the archive
and the forum. But, moreover, the curatorial choice pointed out that
the change of image represents a serious option for the institutional
restructuring, the ideological repositioning and regaining of the lost
autonomous positions.
The new conceptual orientation of n.b.k. was inaugurated by choosing
Silke Wagner as the first exhibiting artist. A programmatic choice,
since Babias and Wagner had worked together in several projects
during the last 10 years 3 and their curatorial respectively artistic
vision intersect in the ways they create interaction and communication.
Moreover, Silke Wagner is always integrating in her works topics
of social resonance which represent as many efforts to question
their historical constructions. And look, this time Wagner was invited
to question the very history of the space she was supposed to exhibit
in. Her intervention implied, if we are to explain the aesthetic of the
artistic expression, a formal effort to occupy the n.b.k. areas, by
structurally remodeling the display for art. Wagner proposed and
created a flexible sculpture based on a modular and mobile furniture
system called Roland, which allowed its elements to connect in multiple
combinations, plying on the container-like space, and whose
functional principles guarantee to eliminate the ranking of the public
and to ease its democratic access to the artistic content. The stake
thus consists in the content of the work – and it is also wherefrom
the optimism manages to draw all its sources of legitimating,
because all Silke Wagner does is to extract and mobilize new political
contents. If the history of n.b.k. cannot be dissociated from recent
social history this reflects in the gallery turning into a black cube, on
the walls of which one finds neon works reproducing slogans or symbols
of the groups or events which had marked the ’60s and the ’70s,
such as the Situationist International, the Woodstock Music Festival,
the events in May ’68, the protests initiated by the Weatherman
group against the war in Vietnam etc.
If, in the course of time, n.b.k. was marked by the developments of
the art expression media, Wagner’s artistic discourse chose to refer
to significant works in the video-art pioneering period, which, this
time, filled the shelves of the modular sculpture in the gallery, where
we find exhibited Martha Rosler, John Baldessari, Vito Acconci, Gerry
Schum, Eduardo Paolozzi, Valie Export, Antonio Muntadas, Bruce
Nauman, Lynda Benglis, Wolf Vostell, Peter Weibel, Hermine Freed,
Joan Joanas, Dara Birnbaum. Re-questioning recent art history by
revitalizing forgotten events and works, along with including them in
a new display, represents a synthesis of historical fluxes and refluxes
of the institution, but also the activation of a new politics of art and,
why not, the reactivation of an art of doing politics. At the same level,
I can’t overlook Wagner’s video work included in the new display,
7 Vorträge, ein Bild, ein Auditorium, where seven students dressed
and with their hair done in the ’90s style look to the camera with
totally inexpressive faces while listening on the radio about the students’
protests in 1968. The attitude of those seven represents a commentary
– self-evident, with the artist being silent – on perceptual
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