Presse

• Reproductive Matters

  Lucy Beech, Zuzanna Czebatul, Julia Lübbecke, Ana Navas, Daniel Poller

  Gallery

  15.06.–18.08.2024
  Opening: Friday, 14 June, 19 Uhr

  Press Release

  The group show Reproductive Matters takes the concept of reproduction as a starting point to reflect on its multiple meanings and their intersections through five artistic positions.
  In her sculptures, Ana Navas explores the history of the creation and development of design and art objects. Her works Una fuente iluminada por luces de colores [A fountain illuminated with colored lights] (2022) and Mozo con smoking (2022) play with the transformation and imitation of works of art: Their original forms and visual language(s) flow through numerous translations into design and everyday objects. Navas sees her work as a ‘manual imitation of this industrial labor’ and as a return to the (original) materiality. Her practice negotiates ideas of accessibility, commodification, imitation and appropriation of images.
  In Zuzanna Czebatul’s tapestries from the series A Trillion Threads Still Weaving (2023), the artist has reproduced excerpts from historical tapestries from the 15th to 17th centuries from images found in books or on the internet. The excerpts chosen by the artist highlight rather incidental details, such as the folds of robes, hands or feet, and refer to the hidden power-political meanings of cultural symbols. The translation from the original to the two-dimensional image and back to the three-dimensional emphasizes the historicity and the illusion of the aura of the original.
  In his photographic practice, Daniel Poller reflects on moments of historiography in public space with a particular focus on the reconstruction of historical buildings. His works from the series Frankfurter Kopien (2022) show photographs of historical building elements, so-called spolia, of the historic old town in Frankfurt am Main, which was reconstructed between 2012 and 2018 as the New Old Town. Poller overprinted the photographs using manual interventions with colors from the color guide that was created for the façade design and which is based on questionable sources such as postcards of hand-colored photographs or descriptions from sketchbooks. On what basis do we refer to historical moments and attempt to reproduce the ephemeral?
  In her series Kleber und Falten (2023), Julia Lübbecke focuses on the material and tactile qualities of political archives. The sculptural installation features reproductions of archival documents from feminist or labor archives. The precarious status of the archives is highlighted by the blown-up reproduction of the back of a document, which has been eaten away by glue. The surface of the paper becomes the skin on which the folds are visible. Do the archives reproduce the conditions they represent? In the triptych Délire du toucher, Lübbecke places photographs from the Archive for Social Movements in Bochum in relation to the body of the artist or researcher by bringing the hand and the act of touching the photograph into the picture.
  Lucy Beech’s film Reproductive Exile (2018) explores the experience of a cross-border patient receiving biomedical pharmaceutical treatment in the commercial surrogacy industry. Occupying an uncomfortable space between reality and fiction, the film slips between a road movie and film essay, linking research on the cultural, social and economic agendas of the assisted reproduction industry with the experience of the film’s protagonist. The work opens up themes of intimacy, multi-species pharmaceuticals and the redistribution of reproductive labor.
  The selected works shed light on various aspects of reproduction – be it the relationship between original and copy with its implicit attributions of value, or the means of human and social reproduction.

  Curated by Nadja Quante
  The exhibition was developed in dialogue with Anna Voswinckel.

  Kindly supported by Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung

  Biographies

  Lucy Beech, b. 1985 in UK, lives in Berlin. www.lucybeech.com ↗
  Zuzanna Czebatul, b. 1986 in PL, lives in Berlin. zzzzcccczzzz.com ↗
  Julia Lübbecke, b. 1989 in Gießen, lives in Berlin. julialuebbecke.com ↗
  Ana Navas, b. 1984 in Quito, Ecuador, grew up in Venezuela, lives in NL. ana-navas.net ↗
  Daniel Poller, b. 1984 in Rodewisch DDR, lives in Berlin. www.danielpoller.de ↗

  Accompanying Program



  Thursday, 20. June, 6 pm D.O.C.H.: Glass Ceilings (poster happening)
  in the context of THREE’S A PARTY (in cooperation with Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst and GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst)
  Friday, 21 June, 3 pm
 Guided tour with Clara Kramer
  Thursday, 15 August, 6 pm 
 Curator’s tour with Nadja Quante

  Further events will be announced on the website www.kh-bremen.de

  Further information or press images here ↗ or please contact
  Clara Kramer/KH Künstler:innenhaus Bremen at presse@kh-bremen.de or T +49 421 508 598.

• In the name of gender equality: Künstlerhaus Bremen is now Künstler:innenhaus Bremen

  New Name, New Logo and New Website

  About us

  Künstlerhaus Bremen has a new name: from May 8th, the institution for the production, promotion and presentation of art will be called Künstler:innenhaus Bremen. The colon in the extension “:innen” is a typographic style used in German language to generate a gender-neutral version of a noun. In German language the standard plural is formed with the masculine noun even when it denominates male and female persons.

  In March 2023, the members of the association formerly known as Künstlerhaus Bremen e. V. voted on a gender-appropriate name for the institution. The new name, “KH Künstler:innenhaus Bremen e. V.” (KH Bremen for short), was chosen by a clear majority of the 33 artists and other creatives working in the building. After more than 30 years of using the plural with the generic masculine, it is important to the members to use the “:innen” to create visibility for women and all non-binary people. Women are underrepresented in the visual arts in particular and the gender pay gap is still particularly high in Germany: according to a survey by the German Cultural Council, in 2023, female artists earned 28% less than their male colleagues.(1)

  We are one of the first Künstlerhäuser (artist’s houses) in Germany to take the step towards a gender-equitable name in 2024. As an association for the promotion of art and culture, we are not only reacting to current social developments but also actively shaping these processes so that all current and future members can feel equally represented in our association. We are looking forward to our new, contemporary name.
  The Board of KH Bremen

  It makes a difference whether non-binary or female people are meant to be addressed indirectly or explicitly. We use gendered terms visibly and consistently – while others, such as the federal state of Bavaria, forbid it. A contemporary and solidary step, because all people should be treated equally.
  Janine Behrens, Executive and Managing Director, KH Bremen

  In recent years, there have been significant efforts on enhancing the visibility and representation of female and non-binary artists in exhibitions and collections, and yet the figures indicate that the economic conditions of the average female artist in Germany have not improved. The new name adopted by Künstler:innenhaus Bremen aims to strengthen the standing of female and non-binary artists and expresses the commitment to actively participate in this transformative process.
  Nadja Quante, Artistic Director and Curator, KH Bremen

  After a multi-year, participatory process of considering a new name through discussions and workshops, also accompanied by an exhibition and program of events in the gallery program, the association will go public with a new name, a new logo and a new website on May 8th. The gender colon is particularly reader-friendly, barrier-free, and intends to include everyone inside and outside the categories of female and male!

  The new logo and responsive website were designed by Studio Pandan, a Berlin-based design studio. The design focuses on the colon in various ways: “The different characters and colors in the new look of Künstler:innenhaus Bremen represent the diversity of the people who work here, but also those who visit. The design is an invitation – to everyone,” said Pia Christmann and Ann Richter of Studio Pandan.

  Sources:
  (1) Gabriele Schulz und Olaf Zimmermann: Baustelle Geschlechtergerechtigkeit: Datenreport zur wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Lage im Arbeitsmarkt Kultur, Deutscher Kulturrat, Berlin 2023

  Further information for the press for free use

• New in the studios

  four artists awarded

  Studios

  Congratulations to the four new artists at Künstler:innenhaus Bremen: Between October 2023 and January 2024, Monika B. Beyer, Rebekka Kronsteiner, Paula Hurtado Otero and Bojana Petkovic will move into their new studios in Bremen’s Neustadt.

  An independent external jury of experts decides on the awarding of the studios. The members of the jury this year were Nicole Giese-Kroner (Artistic Director, Syker Vorwerk), Bhima Griem (Artistic Director, Künstlerhäuser Worpswede) and Doris Weinberger (Artist and Board Member BBK Bremen).

  Monika B. Beyer has been a freelance artist since 1993 and works conceptually with a focus on writing, object and video installation/portrait film. Since 2001 she has also worked as a video artist and filmmaker in interdisciplinary art projects. Beyer moves between art, philosophy, literature, physics, brain research and depth psychology. All her works are based on the two thematic fields of “information impulses and resonance spaces”.

  Rebekka Kronsteiner is a freelance artist and co-founder of the feminist art and culture kiosk KOSKI* in Bremen. In 2023 she completed her studies at the University of the Arts Bremen with Prof. Baumkötter and in the same year was a Bremen Studio Grant holder at the Künstlerhaus Bremen, offered and funded by the Senator for Culture. Kronsteiner works in the field of painting between object and image. In terms of content, her works criticize constructed patriarchal structures as well as the capitalist idea of the market.

  Paula Hurtado Otero has lived and worked in Bremen since 2011. Here she studied fine arts at the University of the Arts in Bremen with Prof. Ingo Vetter and with Prof. Natascha Sadr Haghighian, with whom she completed her master’s degree in 2019. In 2022 she was the Bremen Studio Grant holder at Künstlerhaus Bremen, awarded and funded by the Senator for Culture. As an interdisciplinary artist, she works with image, text, video, sound, performance and installation. Her practice primarily involves long-term research, projects and collective work. From decolonial socio-political perspectives, she unfolds forms and ways to re-explore, shape and represent narratives shaped by oppression.

  Bojana Petković is a media artist and designer based in Bremen. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade with the MA degree from the department of Graphic art and printmaking in 2010 and in 2021 with the MA degree in Digital Media program of the University of the Arts Bremen. She is a founder and organizer of an artist in residency program “MAiR – Media Artist in Residency” in Prolom Banja, Serbia. In her work, she uses electronic and digital media to explore, simulate and mimic natural bio and eco systems.

  Since 1992, Künstler:innenhaus Bremen has been a lively place for the production, presentation and promotion of art and culture. The non-profit association comprises seventeen studios for visual artists, a gallery, two guest studios, a printing and a wood workshop, studios and offices of the creative scene, the artists’ associations BBK and GEDOK as well as a restaurant under one roof. In the gallery, which is open to the public free of charge, Künstler:innenhaus Bremen presents four to five changing exhibitions of contemporary art each year, which are accompanied by a mediating support program and regular guided tours. The goal is the mediation, promotion and discussion of current, emerging artists as well as the networking of Bremen artists with an international scene.

  The studios are awarded for a period of five years (with an option to extend for a further two years). The studios are not wheelchair accessible.

  A condition for the awarding of a studio is the willingness for active membership, i.e. cooperation and commitment in supporting the association of the KH Künstler:innenhaus Bremen e. V.. Interested visual artists from Bremen can subscribe to the newsletter at any time to receive information about upcoming open calls.

• Fünf Forderungen für bessere Arbeitsbedingungen von bildenden ünstler:innen in Bremen

  Ein Positionspapier des Berufsverbandes Bildender Künstler*innen Bremen, des Künstlerinnenverbandes Bremen GEDOK, der Hochschule für Künste, des Künstlerhauses Bremen, der Galerie Mitte, des Güterbahnhofs Bremen – Areal für Kunst und Kultur

  Förderung

  Janine Behrens, Monika B. Beyer, Petra Fiebig, Anja Fußbach, Norah Limberg, Julika Rudelius, Jula Schürmann, Marina Schulze, Antje Schneider, Nadja Quante, Doris Weinberger

  Die Corona-Pandemie hat den Kultursektor und insbesondere den Bereich der Freien Künste mit besonderer Härte getroffen. Diese langanhaltende Krise verdeutlichte zum einen die Sonderposition von Kulturschaffenden im wirtschaftspolitischen Kontext und zum anderen die enorme gesellschaftliche Relevanz und Fähigkeit der Kulturszene, schnell auf aktuelle Situationen und Problemstellungen zu reagieren und diese zu diskutieren. Um die Produktions- und Wirtschaftskraft der Freien Bildenden Szene Bremens auch nach dieser einschneidenden Krise langfristig zu sichern, braucht es unter anderem eine intakte Infrastruktur aus Produktions- und Ausstellungsräumen, aus Stipendienprogrammen und Projektförderungen. Deshalb gilt es auch in Hinblick auf aktuelle und zukünftige Herausforderungen wie beispielsweise die Klima- und Energiekrise, weitere nachhaltige Maßnahmen zu etablieren, um das kreative Potenzial der Stadt zu halten und auszubauen und Bremen als innovativen Ort für Künstler:innen und künstlerische Produktion zu stärken.

  Unsere Ziele:

  • individuelle künstlerische Arbeit fördern
  • experimentelle, kollaborative und interdisziplinäre Herangehensweisen unterstützen
  • Infrastruktur der Freien Szene stärken
  • Attraktivität von Bremen als Ort künstlerischer Produktion steigern

  Lesen Sie das ganze Positionspapier hier in der UpArt. ↗