RothStauffenberg
'It's not about YOU, It's about THEM'
In their installations the Berlin based artists RothStauffenberg are constructing architectural settings. Like abandoned stages or film sets, these recreated places have been removed from their original context and geographical location and by that become spaces consisting of at least two places. In these "locations" RothStauffenberg use different layers of light, sound and reverberations that trigger collective memories prompted by the encounter with the physical. RothStauffenberg make the viewer a witness of a possible event that might have never occured or they make us remember what we did not necessarily experience.
And yet the logic of these constructed sets gives way to a narration, that slowly starts taking shape: we see a chandelier that lay on the floor and that seems to have crashed from the ceiling, we see masks lying around and an obscene glass object that forced itself into our story.
However, these objects are nothing more than props and ‘MacGuffins’, as Hitchcock called them. They drive the narrative forward to lead us to this singular occurrence that ultimately escapes us.
‘What happened on New Years Eve 1980/81?’
Since 2007, RothStauffenberg have been working on their feature film, “The Kingdom of Mozartbique.” It was shot in Beira at the Grande Hotel, which was built by the Portuguese during their colonial rule of Mozambique. With 370 rooms, an olympic size pool and a heliport, it was the biggest hotel on the continent and referred to as the ‘Pride of Africa’. After closing in the early sixties, its existence became closely linked to the history of Mozambique as many hidden, yet politically decisive events took place in its vast halls and corridors. Since the early 1980s, the hotel has been taken over by squatters and has now swelled up to 3,000. The last official event that took place in the Grande Hotel was a New Years Eve party in 1980/81. RothStauffenberg brought various masks and Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” to the Grande Hotel, with the aim of exchanging masks with residents living there. But this is just the beginning of a story— like any other story.
In this exhibition, the main installation in the former library constructs a "location" that possibly refers to the last event officially celebrated at the Grande Hotel in 1980/81. ‘What happened on New Years Eve 1980/81?’ represents an attempt to recreate the notion of an event that escapes us. It is this always-already-missing part in the puzzle of the constant re-writing of history—a missing piece, that might never be found that gives evidence of an event that could link the telling of our history in other possible ways.
RothStauffenberg live and work in Berlin. Their last show in the US was a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2007. Their most recent presentation in Europe was a faux-indoor swimming pool at Basel Art Unlimited 2008. RothStauffenberg is represented by Esther Schipper, Berlin. Their book 'Based on a True Story' was published last month by edition Patrick Frey.
THE HOUSE | On Frozen Time and Differing Spaces
Nov. RothStauffenberg | Feb. Jonas Dahlberg | May Micol Assaël | Sept. Tris Vonna-Michell
Mark Z. Danielewski’s book House of Leaves begins with the measuring of a house that ends up being larger in the inside than on the outside. As often as its inhabitants re-measure it, it always remains the same. From Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools to Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel; from Douglas Cooper’s Amnesia to Piranesi’s endless corridors and hallways – the fantasy of the secluded, total inner-space gives birth to a world, very similar to the one we know but yet significantly different: As if seen upside down through a camera obscura.
Four of the most interesting artists in Europe have been commissioned to create productions in situ throughout the following twelve months. Adina Popescu has invited the artists RothStauffenberg, Jonas Dahlberg, Micol Assaël and Tris Vonna-Michell to work on productions in situ at Nyehaus’ gallery and former Library at The National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. This project leads toward the total transformation of the space into THE HOUSE.
The consecutive four productions constitute the notion of an endlessly reformulated place, herein known as THE HOUSE. The artists are all involved in the mission of re-interpreting our understanding of material: including the architecture of the given space and its components. By doing this, the mere process of production is brought to the center of attention again.
“A Ship is the ultimate Heterotopia”, comments Foucault on the notion of "les-contre-espaces" (counter-spaces). He considered these as being specific types of spaces that relate to any other space within a given culture by inversing, suspending or neutralizing their predominant conditions. In contrast to Utopias, which are non-existent hypothetical spaces, Heterotopias exist as real spaces within society. We like to think of Art as this counter space, a Heterotopia in which the notion of what could be possible can be extended and realized within the actual material–ad infinitum.
—Adina Popescu
THE HOUSE [Part I]
RothStauffenberg
It’s not about YOU
It’s about THEM
November 6th – December 20th, 2008
Opening reception November 6th from 7-9 pm
Ground Floor, 6C, 8D & 9D
15 Gramercy Park South
New York. NY 10003
T. (212) 995-1785
nyehaus.com
thehouse@nyehaus.com
______________
Adina Popescu is a writer born in Romania and living between New York and Berlin. She is a contributor to Artforum, and has been included in several books with her plays and theoretical essays. She has lectured at the Sculpture Center NY and the Wissenschafts Akademie Berlin, among other institutions. She has curated an "Intervention" at the 2007 Moscow Biennale, has ‘curated’ a radio show on sound pieces with W PS1 Radio at 2007 Venice Biennale amongst several shows at galleries, world wide. At the moment she is working on her PHD on 'dysfunktional architecture' and postcommunist urban structures.
'It's not about YOU, It's about THEM'
In their installations the Berlin based artists RothStauffenberg are constructing architectural settings. Like abandoned stages or film sets, these recreated places have been removed from their original context and geographical location and by that become spaces consisting of at least two places. In these "locations" RothStauffenberg use different layers of light, sound and reverberations that trigger collective memories prompted by the encounter with the physical. RothStauffenberg make the viewer a witness of a possible event that might have never occured or they make us remember what we did not necessarily experience.
And yet the logic of these constructed sets gives way to a narration, that slowly starts taking shape: we see a chandelier that lay on the floor and that seems to have crashed from the ceiling, we see masks lying around and an obscene glass object that forced itself into our story.
However, these objects are nothing more than props and ‘MacGuffins’, as Hitchcock called them. They drive the narrative forward to lead us to this singular occurrence that ultimately escapes us.
‘What happened on New Years Eve 1980/81?’
Since 2007, RothStauffenberg have been working on their feature film, “The Kingdom of Mozartbique.” It was shot in Beira at the Grande Hotel, which was built by the Portuguese during their colonial rule of Mozambique. With 370 rooms, an olympic size pool and a heliport, it was the biggest hotel on the continent and referred to as the ‘Pride of Africa’. After closing in the early sixties, its existence became closely linked to the history of Mozambique as many hidden, yet politically decisive events took place in its vast halls and corridors. Since the early 1980s, the hotel has been taken over by squatters and has now swelled up to 3,000. The last official event that took place in the Grande Hotel was a New Years Eve party in 1980/81. RothStauffenberg brought various masks and Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” to the Grande Hotel, with the aim of exchanging masks with residents living there. But this is just the beginning of a story— like any other story.
In this exhibition, the main installation in the former library constructs a "location" that possibly refers to the last event officially celebrated at the Grande Hotel in 1980/81. ‘What happened on New Years Eve 1980/81?’ represents an attempt to recreate the notion of an event that escapes us. It is this always-already-missing part in the puzzle of the constant re-writing of history—a missing piece, that might never be found that gives evidence of an event that could link the telling of our history in other possible ways.
RothStauffenberg live and work in Berlin. Their last show in the US was a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2007. Their most recent presentation in Europe was a faux-indoor swimming pool at Basel Art Unlimited 2008. RothStauffenberg is represented by Esther Schipper, Berlin. Their book 'Based on a True Story' was published last month by edition Patrick Frey.
THE HOUSE | On Frozen Time and Differing Spaces
Nov. RothStauffenberg | Feb. Jonas Dahlberg | May Micol Assaël | Sept. Tris Vonna-Michell
Mark Z. Danielewski’s book House of Leaves begins with the measuring of a house that ends up being larger in the inside than on the outside. As often as its inhabitants re-measure it, it always remains the same. From Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools to Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel; from Douglas Cooper’s Amnesia to Piranesi’s endless corridors and hallways – the fantasy of the secluded, total inner-space gives birth to a world, very similar to the one we know but yet significantly different: As if seen upside down through a camera obscura.
Four of the most interesting artists in Europe have been commissioned to create productions in situ throughout the following twelve months. Adina Popescu has invited the artists RothStauffenberg, Jonas Dahlberg, Micol Assaël and Tris Vonna-Michell to work on productions in situ at Nyehaus’ gallery and former Library at The National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. This project leads toward the total transformation of the space into THE HOUSE.
The consecutive four productions constitute the notion of an endlessly reformulated place, herein known as THE HOUSE. The artists are all involved in the mission of re-interpreting our understanding of material: including the architecture of the given space and its components. By doing this, the mere process of production is brought to the center of attention again.
“A Ship is the ultimate Heterotopia”, comments Foucault on the notion of "les-contre-espaces" (counter-spaces). He considered these as being specific types of spaces that relate to any other space within a given culture by inversing, suspending or neutralizing their predominant conditions. In contrast to Utopias, which are non-existent hypothetical spaces, Heterotopias exist as real spaces within society. We like to think of Art as this counter space, a Heterotopia in which the notion of what could be possible can be extended and realized within the actual material–ad infinitum.
—Adina Popescu
THE HOUSE [Part I]
RothStauffenberg
It’s not about YOU
It’s about THEM
November 6th – December 20th, 2008
Opening reception November 6th from 7-9 pm
Ground Floor, 6C, 8D & 9D
15 Gramercy Park South
New York. NY 10003
T. (212) 995-1785
nyehaus.com
thehouse@nyehaus.com
______________
Adina Popescu is a writer born in Romania and living between New York and Berlin. She is a contributor to Artforum, and has been included in several books with her plays and theoretical essays. She has lectured at the Sculpture Center NY and the Wissenschafts Akademie Berlin, among other institutions. She has curated an "Intervention" at the 2007 Moscow Biennale, has ‘curated’ a radio show on sound pieces with W PS1 Radio at 2007 Venice Biennale amongst several shows at galleries, world wide. At the moment she is working on her PHD on 'dysfunktional architecture' and postcommunist urban structures.
