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until 19.10. | #4409ARTatBerlin | Crone Berlin presents from 12. September 2024 (Vernissage: 13.09.) the exhibition Deutschlandsuche by the artist Christoph Schlingensief.
The exhibition comprises a wide range of film and video works, photographs, objects, manuscripts, and materials from Schlingensief’s work complexes Hamlet, Chance 2000 and Deutschlandsuche, some of them are previously unpublished and on view for the very first time.
Christoph Schlingensief (*1960 in Oberhausen, † 2010 in Berlin) did not conceive of his work in terms of traditional genres, but rather merged film, theater, literature, performance, television, time-based media, visual arts, and political activism. For him, there were neither formal nor conceptual boundaries. Originally coming from film, he made use of all disciplines without the slightest fear of contact.
Christoph Schlingensief, Deutschlandsuche, Namibia, 2004, Foto: Aino Laberenz,
Courtesy Galerie Crone, Berlin, Wien und Nachlass Christoph Schlingensief, Berlin
Consistent characteristics of Schlingensief’s works were a clear, striking language, the fascination with trash and the mainstream, whose mechanisms he exploited with relish, and an ethical and moral concern that he expressed through radical campaigns. The seriousness with which he questioned everyday life in Germany in the face of an insufficiently processed history went hand in hand with a humorous view of himself and others. His artistic practice was pervaded by a loud, challenging outcry that was not intended to scare, but to arouse and unite.
Schlingensief put his finger in the wound in order to heal. He was not interested in inner circles or “bubbles”, but claimed the big picture for himself. He did not seek confrontation with the “enemies” in order to marginalize or even eliminate them, but to win them over. His work and his art aimed at a “coexistence of the good.” He replaced ideology with a radical way of thinking that demanded contradictions and a mutual debate.
Christoph Schlingensief, Animatograph, Island Edition, Reykjavik, 2005, Foto Aino Laberenz, Berlin,
Courtesy Galerie Crone, Berlin, Wien und Nachlass Christoph Schlingensief, Berlin
The exhibition Christoph Schlingensief | Deutschlandsuche (Searching for Germany) presents three of his major works, which enable a comparison with today’s ideologically motivated activist art. Particular attention was paid to performances that intervened directly in social and political processes: In Hamlet, Schlingensief brought avowed Neo-Nazis onto the stage, with Chance 2000 he founded something like a performance party and for Deutschlandsuche he embarked on an intercontinental expedition to find the new German hero in the global world.
approach, his aspirations, and his concerns differ from the diverse current intermedia, cross-genre art practices, which are undeniably in Schlingensief’s tradition, but—according to criticism and perception—often only seek self-assurance, self-affirmation, and self-referentiality?
Christoph Schlingensief, AREA 7 – Eine Matthäusexpedition, Burgtheater Wien, 2006,
Foto Georg Soulek, Wien, Courtesy Galerie Crone, Berlin, Wien
missing today. But how would his art perform in the current bombardment of constant provocations, permanent truth-stretching exercises, and ongoing social divisions? One of his mottos was: “Shout into the silence.” Would he say today: “Shout into the noise”? How would he make his fundamental concern for cohesion and togetherness be heard? Is it possible to come up with an answer? Unpredictability was also part of Schlingensief’s work, who was often so far ahead of his time.
the backdrop of current events. It is curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers, who, together with Klaus Biesenbach and Susanne Pfeffer, was jointly responsible for the major Schlingensief retrospectives at KW in Berlin in 2013 and at MoMA PS1 in New York in 2014, and is being realized in close collaboration with Aino Laberenz, who manages and preserves Schlingensief’s estate.
Vernissage: Friday, 13 September 2024, 7 to 10 pm
Exhibition Period: Thursday, 12 September to Saturday, 19 October 2024
BERLIN ART WEEK Opening hours:
Friday, September 13, 2024, 11 am to 10 pm
Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14, 2024, 11 am to 6 pm
Image caption: Christoph Schlingensief, Deutschlandsuche, 1999, Courtesy Galerie Crone, Berlin Wien und Nachlass Christoph Schlingensief, Berlin
Exhibition Christoph Schlingensief – Crone Berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
