vindu
performance series for the window front of the Neue Musik Zentrale, Essen
2023
curated & organised
In vindu (Norwegian for "window"), the window front of the Neue Musik Zentrale is transformed into an exhibition space, a stage and a platform. Six exciting projects by young artists from the Ruhr area can be viewed for a month at a time. Whether on the way to the shops, to the bar or home: the window invites you to pause for a short or long time, to turn your attention to what is on display, to interact with it or simply to ignore it.
A project as part of the "Kreativ.Quartiere Ruhr" programme. Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and implemented by ecce - european centre for creative economy GmbH.
February
Lukas Becker - in shop-purchase
"in-shop purchase" is a multimedia installation that takes place in the setting of a shop for digital objects. Here, questions on topics such as ownership in digital space, virtual and digital shops, working conditions in the digital age, etc. are posed and explored. Passers-by can commission the production of digital objects - free of charge - which are realised by the artist within a few days and exhibited in the shop window. This creates a dialogue between the installation, the people who pass by and the little raccoon robot, which provides impulses and insights into its task as a virtual worker from time to time. The shop opened daily from 6 pm to 10 pm in February 2023.
March
Maja Bjeljac - Something I know but have never seen
In her work "Something I know but have never seen", Maja Bjeljac explores the concept of déjà vu through photography. The large-format photographs invite viewers to adopt their own positions on what they see and leave room for individual associations and interpretations. Everyday objects and materials are placed in a new, abstract context and evoke a familiar feeling without revealing their identity. Maja Bjeljac's artistic interest lies in surrealistic and distorted representations of reality and the abstraction of everyday views. She focuses primarily on architecture, people, colours and shapes and, in addition to photography, also uses video art, painting and graphic design.
April
Levin Eric Zimmermann - 10.1
Levin: “I like the idea of music that is there whether we are there or not. A music that is like a mountain or a landscape: "The viewer approaches art as he approaches a landscape. A landscape does not demand 'understanding' from the viewer, does not want his attributions of meaning, his fears and sympathies; rather, it demands his absence, demands that he add nothing to it," writes Susan Sontag. And so 10.1 is a composition about the duration of a lunar cycle. A day is a beat, hours of light heavy, light times, every dusk a song with me: the days are getting longer (whether we are there or not).”
May
Anna-Lea Weiand - Die Linie
Anna-Lea Weiand’s work to date has focussed on the interplay between the perception of the environment and essential human needs and emotions. She develops sound-based installations or performances that can usually be experienced by visitors on several sensory levels and are characterised by sensitivity. This is the case, for example, with “Die Linie”, an eight-channel installation on the subject of death that lasts several hours and transforms the window front of the Neue Musik Zentrale into a sound body of the in-between world. There, either from the distance of the pavement or with one's ear nestled against the window, one could listen to numerous people talk about their feelings, wishes and experiences on the subject of death.
September
Rabia Caliskan - Wenn es nicht wehtut, ist man wach (Edition Viehofer Platz)”
Rabia Caliskan has been writing texts, scripts and poems since her studies at the Kunstakademie Münster. In her work "Wenn es wehtut, man ist wach (Edition Viehofer Platz)", she presents a book installation accompanied by sound. Indoor and outdoor spaces become blurred during the public reading experience and are supplemented over the course of September by readings and new text elements inspired by the Viehofer Platz.
October
Meret König and the Martha Kollektiv - Gloomy Sunday
"Gloomy Sunday" is a multi-part, multimedia dance installation series in the shop window, in which we follow a solitary figure through their gloomy universe - a universe of displacement, distraction, immersion and drifting. In the solitude of the room, everyday actions escalate into absurd sequences of movements, while the character struggles with the past, memories, waking dreams and the slow passage of waking time, stretched out between piles of clothes, screens, notes and glasses of soya milk.
The "MARTHA" collective are Meret König (performer and artistic director), Katrin Meier (composition), Gaia Pellegrini (choreography) and Andrina Imboden (dramaturgy).
all photos by me