The American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner (1942–2021 in New York) emerged as a leading figure in the international art scene from the mid-1960s onward, focusing primarily on language-based art. Weiner preferred to present his works as large-format wall texts, showcased in exhibition spaces or realized as interventions in public areas. He also created graphics, artist books, videos, films, and performances.

In 1975, Weiner was invited by the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program for a year-long residency in West Berlin, during which he produced the feature-length film, A Second Quarter. Shot on location in the divided city, the nearly 90-minute color film, features people presenting Weiner’s statements against a backdrop of politically charged images. As art historian Eva Scharrer describes, “The recited texts deal with barriers and borders, physical and geophysical phenomena. The individuals (Beatrice Conrad Eybesfeld, Hans Düttmann, Coosje Kapteyn, Tony Long, and Kirsten Vibeke Thueson) translate, count, and recite. The scenes are set in a traditional Berlin bourgeois apartment, in an office near the West Berlin train station, and at the ruins of the Anhalter Bahnhof train station and its surroundings, with the Berlin Wall in the background.”

A Second Quarter (1975, 88 min) by Lawrence Weiner will be screened at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) as part of the collaborative project If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. This exhibition delves into the artistic scenes in West Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall, based on the history of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and examines its role in nurturing artistic practices and networks during the Cold War.

Free admission