Frankfurter Kunstverein - Schulstudio

CURRENT PROJECT SCHULSTUDIO #9 - "Time Passage" MAKING HISTORY / RAY Fotografieprojekte Frankfurt/RheinMain April 20 - July 8, 2012 The Rhein-Main region possesses outstanding potential in the realm of contemporary photography, a fact reflected in the large number of important (private) collections based here, as well as other renowned institutions that are committed to the medium. Multiple institutions have joined together to communicate this special quality of the region by organizing "Photography Projects Frankfurt/ RheinMain," a large-scale event that is scheduled to take place once every three years. The main theme of all exhibitions and events related to "RAY - Photography Projects Frankfurt/ RheinMain" centers on the role of time in the medium of photography. Unlike any other medium, photography makes capturing visual impressions possible. Historical events can be documented just as easily as the trajectory of one's own life. Based on the theme of the exhibition, SCHULSTUDIO #8 challenges participating students to come up with their own concepts and to look into how "time" is made visible through the medium of photography. Here a possible avenue of investigation might be to depict the transitory nature of living matter such as plants. Larger themes such as one's own lifespan or societal changes are also open for exploration and documentation as well as the private perceptions of random, daily experiences. These works, which might range from single photos to series or even complete installations, will be exhibited in a final presentation. This project will run for approximately four weeks; specific dates will be individually agreed upon. SCHULSTUDIO is made possible by a grant from the Aventis Foundation and participation is therefore free of charge. More information - Contact: Susanne Hesse - Badibanga and Katja Schöwel, schulstudio@fkv.de

PREVIEW SCHULSTUDIO #10 - "Painting" PAINTINGS FROM UNCERTAIN PLACES July 27 - September 16, 2012 Painting not only dominates the art market but also easily accounts for the greatest share of contemporary art production. It is therefore remarkable that exhibitions devoted exclusively to painting, or ones that include it in curated group exhibitions, are rarely organized. Nine years after the highly successful exhibition "deutschemalereizweitausenddrei" (2003), the Frankfurter Kunstverein is once again presenting a painting exhibition for summer 2012. Entitled Painting from Uncertain Places, it will present four painters, Tilo Baumgärtel (Leipzig), Susanne Kühn (Freiburg), Antje Majewski (Berlin), and Hannes Michanek (Frankfurt), who are conscious of the often subordinated fetish character of figurative painting. Their works make tangible the hidden potential such art possesses for depicting the world. Centered around painting's capacity to create illusion, the panels and painterly designs of these artists avoid referencing contemporary social concerns in a superficial way, thus enabling them to focus more exclusively on examining the role of the individual in the world through the use of metaphorical or allegorical compositions. Presented are make-believe worlds of a quasi-natural, cultural, or social variety, seemingly unknown and therefore open to interpretation. They are visions of imaginary worlds that interrupt the continuum of history to express a sense of the present rather than analyzing this critically. They are loose (counter) representations of time. In abstaining from posing concrete questions, "Painting from Uncertain Places" expresses precisely those ideas that cannot be clarified through abstraction, offering instead figuration as a space for rumination. Common among the pictures presented in the exhibition are human figures in unknown realms-landscapes, interiors or dreamlike spaces - whose unspecified status allows them to serve as testing grounds for drawing associations to everyday contexts: they can be read as bearers of broader ideas. The exhibition will be presented over all exhibition areas (800 square meters) of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. Each artist's body of work will be presented in its own area of the space and feature numerous individuals works and series of works corresponding to the theme of the exhibition. This project will run for approximately four weeks; specific dates will be individually agreed upon. SCHULSTUDIO is made possible by a grant from the Aventis Foundation and participation is therefore free of charge. More information - Contact: Susanne Hesse - Badibanga and Katja Schöwel, schulstudio@fkv.de

PAST PROJECTS SCHULSTUDIO #8 - "Who Creates Order?" "Demonstrations. On the Creation of Normative Orders" January 20 - March 25, 2012 The exhibition "Demonstrations. On the Creation of Normative Orders" was created in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders" at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main. The theme of the exhibition traces questions concerning society's normative structures and the power relationships they reflect. Based on the multi-faceted meaning of the term "demonstration," the exhibition at Frankfurter Kunstverein is dedicated to the variety of forms that expression in public space can adopt. For the exhibition, SCHULSTUDIO offers a range of formats for participants: the exhibition "Demonstrations. On the Creation of Normative Orders" is situated between the realms of history, philosophy, and social studies and is therefore suited to an interdisciplinary project format. Teachers are invited to examine the theme of "demonstration" with their classes from various humanities faculties, also without having to commit to the multi-week SCHULSTUDIO project. For interested teachers we also offer a preliminary workshop to determine the best ways to approach this theme. Following a group tour of the exhibition, the theme can be addressed further under the guidance of specialist instructor. For participants in the multi-week SCHULSTUDIO project groups, the main focus will be on developing the ideas that have been discussed into an artistic form. This can be a demonstration or a very simple and direct form of public space announcement, such as a sticker or poster. Particular emphasis will also be placed on the form of artistic research into the exhibition theme "demonstration," the results of which will be incorporated into the hands-on work. The results of all participating workshop groups will be exhibited together in a final presentation. This project will run for approximately four weeks; specific dates will be individually agreed upon. SCHULSTUDIO is made possible by a grant from the Aventis Foundation and participation is therefore free of charge. More information - Contact: Susanne Hesse - Badibanga and Katja Schöwel, schulstudio@fkv.de SCHULSTUDIO #7 - "Lipstick and Alabaster" "Arte Essenziale" November 4, 2011 - January 1, 2012 The exhibition "Arte Essenziale" from the Maramotti Collection at Frankfurter Kunstverein brings together a selection of artworks of contemporary artists linking the use of very specific materials not normally used in producing artworks with their intrinsic qualities. Typifying this is the artist Karla Black, who uses Vaseline and dust, or cosmetic products such as hair gel or makeup powder, in her sculptural works. On the other hand, there is the Italian artist Gianni Caravaggio, who combines materials in unusual ways in his work, such as bronze with chocolate or marble with sugar. The project workshop SCHULSTUDIO# 7 "Lipstick and Alabaster" focuses on questions concerning material as artistic medium. Following an introduction to the themes of the exhibition, students will learn about the process of creating artworks in a series of practical exercises. In working through a specific theme and implementing their ideas, they will discover apt solutions for form and material. Following this, an introduction to installation art will serve as the art-historical portion of the workshop. In terms of theory, the basic ways in which works can be analyzed and interpreted will be addressed and tested out in the exhibition. At the end of the project, students will have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to present their work in the exhibition at Frankfurter Kunstverein and therefore to see it along side the works of the exhibition. This project will run for approximately four weeks; specific dates will be individually agreed upon. SCHULSTUDIO is made possible by a grant from the Aventis Foundation and participation is therefore free of charge. More information - Contact: Susanne Hesse - Badibanga and Katja Schöwel, schulstudio@fkv.de SCHULSTUDIO#6 - "Endless Longing, Eternal Return" August 19 - October 16, 2011 The exhibition "Endless Longing, Eternal Return" at the Frankfurter Kunstverein brings together more than fifteen video works, photo series, and installations by Ragnar Kjartansson (1976). Searching for the core essence of existential expression the Icelandic artist focuses on the medium of the time loop, obsessively repeating literary, musical, or gestural moments of emotionality, performing them to the point of exhaustion. Themes of endurance and perseverance play a central role. Kjartansson utilizes a framework to create spaces in which the grand performance, the historical moment, or the fateful instant is made possible. For the exhibition's art educational component an introductory theoretical discussion of the Romantic Era will be offered. Themes such as longing, passion, spirituality, and the search for the "harmonic whole" provide the main focus and will be presented using examples from the fine arts and literature of the era. In conjunction with this, drama instructors will lead a series of exercises to examine how emotions are articulated in gestures, mimic, and movement. During the workshop students will develop their own performances, drawing on the rehearsed themes and developing them further. At the end the results of the seminar will be presented to a public audience as a performance or video installation. This project will run for approximately four weeks; specific dates will be individually agreed upon. SCHULSTUDIO is made possible by a grant from the Aventis Foundation and participation is therefore free of charge. For further information, please contact: schulstudio@fkv.de SCHULSTUDIO #5 "Growth under Observation" in conjunction with the exhibition "On the Metaphor of Growth" May 27 - July 31, 2011 The exhibition project "On the Metaphor of Growth" presents the various accents placed by artists on explorations of the concept of growth while articulating ambivalence towards the concept in economic, biological, and social contexts. Originally conceived as positive, "growth" also entails the danger of human-induced, unlimited, and even unstoppable expansion. The wide range of themes explored in the exhibition form an ideal point of departure for an interdisciplinary look at the topic. The educational program not only offers art courses, but also courses in politics, biology, religion, and social studies, inviting participants to investigate and research "growth" in various contexts. The project begins with school-aged students bringing together their own ideas on the notion of growth. In a second step, students then explore the exhibition with its wide range of artistic positions on the topic. Hereby the group gains inspiration for its own practice, which is further developed in an artist workshop. In the final practice phase the group is given the common task of coming up with possibilities for creating an expanded social community. At the end of the project the group presents a jointly developed utopia, illustrated through the use of different artistic media. For further information, please contact: schulstudio@fkv.de *SCHULSTUDIO #4 "Painting History"** in conjunction with the exhibition Dierk Schmidt: "IMAGE LEAKS – On the Image Politics of Resources" March 11 - June 16, 2011 In his paintings and text-based work, Dierk Schmidt raises the question as to how artistic images can address current political events and their historical origins. SCHULSTUDIO #4 “Painting History” deals with a critical reflection of the function of historical painting as a historical document, propaganda, state representation, the illustration of an event, or an eyewitness account. After visiting the exhibition and taking part in a workshop with the artist, students are then asked to individually select a current event or topic, which they research in depth. Through the development of their own images, the participants thoroughly analyze and reflect on how images convey content. Over the course of this process, they gain a clear awareness as to how individual images always entail a personal interpretation, i.e. a transformation, of the content in question. The project concluded with a presentation of the resulting images. SCHULSTUDIO #4, silkscreen workshop The final presentation of SCHULSTUDIO #4 "Painting History" has taken place on June 16. In conjunction with the exhibition "IMAGE LEAKS - On the Image Politics of Resources" by Dierk Schmidt, the 12th grade of the Liebigschule explored the topic of political posters. In a workshop on atomic energy the students developed poster designs together with the artist Dierk Schmidt, which were then realized through a professional printing process. The posters has been presented in the Cafébar im Kunstverein. More information - Contact: Susanne Hesse - Badibanga and Katja Schöwel, schulstudio@fkv.de SCHULSTUDIO #3 – Artists as Research project Final presentation of SCHULSTUDIO #3 for the exhibition New Frankfurt Internationals March 28, 2011 On March 28 a group of pupils from the Bettinaschule Frankfurt presented their artworks which were created in the frame of the mediation project SCHULSTUDIO for the exhibition New Frankfurt Internationals: Stories and Stages. The works of the pupils which all take part in the art advanced course circle around the theme: artist portrait. SCHULSTUDIO #3, final presentation After an intensive period of discussing about the exhibition at Frankfurter Kunstverein and MMK Zollamt the participants worked out their artist portraits under the supervision of Susanne Hesse-Badibanga and Katrin Schöwel. For producing their works they have taken the opportunity to make the artists living in Frankfurt becoming their “research project“. They contacted the artists independently and got to know their work during personal meetings. Besides the content work also questions about the choice of the suitable method for realizing the portraits played an important role. Finally the pupils presented their results: films, photgraphies and also installations at Atelierfrankfurt, where they had a working space for the whole project duration. SCHULSTUDIO #2: ''The Architecture of Resistance and Change'' - SCHULSTUDIO visits Frankfurter Kaiserpassage October 8, 2010 "The Architecture of Resistance and Change" was the title of the second education project SCHULSTUDIO taking place at Frankfurter Kunstverein on the occasion of the current exhibition "Tales of Resistance and Change. Artists from Argentina". Since middle of August pupils of the Anna-Schmidt-Schule met regularly at Kaiserpassage to work on the subject and get to know a multicultural urban environment with its diversities and differences. Besides photographic documentations of inhabitants of the Kaiserpassage, an installation on the topic identity, other works dealed with the subject of urban environment, immigration societies or the history of the place. SCHULSTUDIO #2, presentation of the results The works were presented at the space on October 8, 2010. SCHULSTUDIO #2 was kindly supported by Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst SCHULSTUDIO #1: "Randnotizen – Von der Zeitungsnotiz zum eigenen Bild'' ("Side notes – From the newspaper note to the own image") June 9 - June 24, 2010 On June 9 the new mediation program SCHULSTUDIO of Frankfurter Kunstverein started with its first project in the frame of the exhibiton "Sven Johne: Reports from the Crack of Dawn". Two classes of students of Helmholtzschule Frankfurt and Bertold Brecht Schule Darmstadt created their own artistic work on the topic "Randnotizen – Von der Zeitungsnotiz zum eigenen Bild" ("Side notes – From the newspaper note to the own image") - starting point was an impulse workshop with the artist Sven Johne accompanied by the mediator Susanne Hesse-Badibanga. On June 24, 2010 the result of the first SCHULSTUDIO was presented by the students at Café im Kunstverein. SCHULSTUDIO #1, impulse workshop with Sven Johne and students of Bertold-Brecht-Schule SCHULSTUDIO #1 - "Randnotizen – Von der Zeitungsnotiz zum eigenen Bild" was supported by Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main.