The exhibition of Andreas Slominski takes place at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein and at the Brecht Weigel memorial rooms, as well as on the sidewalk along the walls of the Französischer and Dorotheenstädtischer cemetery.

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).

By being awarded the Hannah Höch Prize 2013 by the State of Berlin, Andreas Slominski is honored for his extensive work. Slominski became internationally known with his traps, which — effectively being placed in the exhibition space — are expanding the concept of sculpture. His conceptual works reflect social, historical and economic coherences and explore social conditions and conventions.

Comprising sculptures, objects and interventions, 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, located in between, in an overall ensemble. 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.

Publication

A catalog accompanying the exhibition is published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König Cologne, with a foreword by Marius Babias and texts by Durs Grünbein, Dietmar Rübel and Harald Welzer.

Public Program

Thursday, 12 December 2013, 6pm

Eine Anleitung zum Widerstand (A Guide to Resistance)

Lecture by Harald Welzer (Professor of Transformation Design, University of Flensburg; Director Stiftung Futurzwei, Berlin), followed by a visit of the Brecht-Weigel memorial rooms at the Brecht House.

Thursday, 23 January 2014, 6pm

Das Gesicht der Dinge (The Face of Things) - a movie night

Lecture by Dietmar Rübel (Professor of History and Theory of Arts at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts), followed by a visit of the Brecht-Weigel memorial rooms at the Brecht House.

Sunday, 26 January 2014, 8pm

Routines

Performance by Barbara Steppe (artist, Berlin)

With Ingrid Buschmann, Kerstin Drechsel, Birgit Effinger, Thomas Fischer, Heiner Franzen, Peter Funken, Asta Gröting, Leiko Ikemura, Veronika Kellndorfer, Nina Koidl, Käthe Kruse, Nicola Kuhn, Hanne Loreck, Christiane Meixner, Matt Mullican, Britta Schmitz, Daniel Schreiber, Sassa Trülzsch, Marco Poloni, Ivo Wessel a. o.