Opening on Sunday, 04 June 2023, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Under the title "Status Report", Kunstraum Potsdam is showing works from the Berlin Herrmann Collection and the Contemporary Art Foundation Berlin. Beginning in the mid-1980s, tax consultant Manfred P. Herrmann and his wife, art historian Burglind-Christin Schulze-Herrmann, amassed a remarkable collection of contemporary art, which today includes over 600 works. The collection focuses primarily on Berlin artists* as well as those who have lived in Berlin for a time, such as Nan Goldin or Michel Majerus.
A special position in the collection is occupied by the artistic circle of friends around Herbert Volkmann, which included Daniel Richter, Tal R, and Alexander Iskin in addition to Jonathan Meese. In a 2011 interview, Volkmann described a self-portrait painted in a drugged stupor as an "existential state report." The artist and collector, who died in 2014, was thus addressing personal excess, his struggle with addictions, escapism, and despair, but this condition can also be quickly read as a symptom of a time in which a kind of state of emergency prevailed in Berlin: starting in the mid-1990s, the well-known social and political changes made the city a magnet for the German and international art scene. Suddenly, within half a year, galleries moved into the city and with them many international positions, on a scale that had not existed before. In the maelstrom of new freedoms, Berlin became a stage for artists and creatives to experiment and cross borders, for innovation and the realization of unconventional ideas.
The exhibition takes its starting point in these vibrant art years and casts a glance beyond them to our present day. The seemingly bureaucratic title "Status Report" not only refers to Volkmann's quote, it also takes a humorously sober look at the nature of a collection that was hitherto little known to the public and that formed during this period. Last but not least, he brings into focus a selection of works, many of which helped to define the turn of the century aesthetically and whose creative spirit continues to have an impact today.
Artists: Theo Altenberg, Tom Anholt, Martin Assig, Edouard Baribeaud, Laura Bielau, Blue Noses Group, John Bock, Monica Bonvicini, Marc Brandenburg, Olga Chernysheva, Peter Chevalier, Billy Childish, Birgit Dieker, Hannah Dougherty, Angela Dwyer, Marcel Dzama, Simon English, Paul Fägerskiöld, Rainer Fetting, Zohar Fraiman, Nan Goldin, Philip Groezinger, Oska Gutheil, Thomas Hornemann, Thomas Houseago, Leiko Ikemura, Elmgreen & Dragset, Alexander Iskin, Michelle Jezierski, Josh Kline, Alexei Kostroma, Michel Majerus, Marepe, Megan Marrin, Marwan, Jonathan Meese, Isa Melsheimer, Sarah Morris, Oscar Murillo, Christoph Niemann, Adam Pendleton, Jaume Plensa, Magnus von Plessen, Daniel Richter, Achim Riethmann, Julian Röder, Thomas Saraceno, Steve Schepens, Michael Schmidt, Maria Serebriakova, Eva Seufert, John Noel Smith, Dash Snow, Christoph Steinmeyer, Thaddeus Strode, Young-jun Tak, TAL R, Wawrzyniec Tokarski, Jorinde Voigt, Herbert Volkmann, Ai Weiwei, Pae White, Mark van Yetter, Maximilian Zentz Zlomovitz
Curated by Linda Peitz
Motif: Hannah Dougherty
Opening hours:
Wednesday – Sunday 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Source: Kunstraum Potsdam
Kunstraum Potsdam
c/o Waschhaus Potsdam gGmbH
Schiffbauergasse 4d
14467 Potsdam
tel. +49 (0) 331 730 989 93