Art browsing, Robert Wilson and other excitement in Berlin
Since Jay died I have been having this irresistible urge to look at art (mostly free) and learn about art (mostly free, sometimes comes with wine at openings) and buy art (oops! -- not free) In the spirit of jay/day, I've been concentrating on young artists (30ish).
I've become very interested in a group of young artists in Berlin, all of whom studied together in Leipzig. You can check them out at http://www.liga-galerie.de/index.html-- LIGA gallery is a coop set up in Berlin by the artists, who hired a director to promote them outside Germany. (They are already represented by a gallery in Leipzig.) A few of them have begun to be shown in the US, most recently Tom Fabritius at Sandroni.Rey in LA. Some of the others will be shown there in the next year.
I visited the gallery in Berlin a couple weeks ago, and went to a museum where some of them are showing in Leipzig. Leipzig, as you may know (but I did not) was the seat of the begininng of the resistance to the GDR, and where the riots began which led to the downfall of the GDR and the reunification of Germany. It has a rich art history and a top art school. Before reunification, selling art commercially was forbidden in the GDR, so people taught art and made art, but couldn't sell it. Today a lot of the people who were painting in those years are teachers at the school there, but were never able to build their own careers. Instead they are helping to nurture these younger artists.
One person from the GDR who earned his living as an artist's model was a man named Gerd Lybke. Once the wall came down, he opened a gallery in Berlin showing his friends, one of whom was Neo Rauch. His gallery's website is http://www.eigen-art.com/
So why was I in Berlin?
Robert Wilson (Einstein at the Beach) and his foundation (http://www.robertwilson.com) sponsored a small group (15 people) trip to Berlin for a long weekend to look at art and architecture there, and to see a number of Robert Wilson's projects. We attended a performance of his new opera Leonce and Lena (it was fantastic, got great reviews and I didn't understand a word, or even know the story in advance) and his exhibition opening at Galerie Nordenhake (an installation, some chair sculpture and some drawings.) In addition, we visited the Armani Guggenheim Berlin exhibit which he directed, which was still being installed. Beyond all the Robert Wilson activities, we also had a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the Reichstags, a private tour of the Jewish Museum (which was designed by Daniel Leibeskind and is not a Holocaust museum, but a museum about the whole history of Germany's Jews) and a guided architectural tour by boat of Berlin along the canals (did you know that Berlin has more canals than Venice?) We also attended a luncheon at the Brazilian embassy in Robert Wilson's honor, which while hosted by lovely people, was not an experience I would need to repeat.
I did meet a really wonderful couple from Sweden who run the Wanas foundation there - it's worth looking into: http://www.wanas.se . Here's an excerpt from their website:
"The Wanås foundation is a nonprofit foundation, located in the south of Sweden, founded in 1994. The site is located on a medieval estate, includes a castle, a barn, a stable and a sculpture park. The purpose of the foundation is to encourage contemporary art by organizing exhibitions at Wanås. The foundation receives grants from the Swedish state, the region, other foundations as well from private sponsers.
Since 1987 The Park has housed a growing permanent collection by international artists. The Barn and the Stable is used for rotating exhibitions.
The first exhibition, under auspices of the foundation, took place in 1996 when eight American artists participated. The following years exhibition, 1998-2000, have 9-10 international artists made site specific projects. The focus is on sculpture and site specific installations. All the projects are new work made by the artists for Wanås."
Next summer they will have an installation by Maya Lin.
There is another trip with Robert Wilson to London in November around the opening of his production of Aida - think Cirque de Soleil and Verdi without the elephants ;)
Although I have been to Germany quite a few times in recent years on business, having lost relatives in the Warsaw ghetto among other places, I am always a little uncomfortable when I go there. I think that's ok. I feel good being alive and able to go there and walk freely and thumb my nose at Hitler!
If you haven't been, I recommend Berlin heartily - it's a city buzzing with new life - art, architecture and other forms of culture.
I'll miss the visit to Dia:Beacon because on my continuing contemporary art educational tour, I'm going to Art:Basel for the first time.
Comments
You got to actually attend a Robert Wilson opera WITH Robert Wilson? Wow!
Posted by: Steve Alburty | May 18, 2003 06:47 PM