FONDATION BEYELER TURNS INTO A LIVING ORGANISM

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Philippe Parreno, Membrane (Membran), 2023, Kybernetische Struktur mit sensomotorischen Fähigkeiten und generativer Sprachverarbeitung, Courtesy der Künstler, © Philippe Parreno; Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy die Künstlerin, Foto: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Thomas Schütte, Hase, 2013, Bronze, patiniert; Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy die Künstlerin © 2024, ProLitteris, Zürich. Foto: Mark Niedermann

A ghostly creature roams the fields around the Fondation Beyeler. Outlined against the horizon, a cybernetic tower rises from a dense, hovering fog. They announce the first exhibition to ever transform the museum into an experimental site for contemporary art. Unfolding inside: a sound installation by Cildo Meireles, Adrian Villar Rojas’ fridges and washing machines inhabited by parasites, Rirkrit Tiravanija’s slow-cooking kitchen, Carsten Höller’s Dream Bed. Throughout the summer, the show will evolve into a multifaceted organism nurtured by almost thirty artists, poets, architects, designers, musicians, composers, philosophers and scientists. 

FROM STAR TREK TO BLADE RUNNER

Still image from the film set of Star Trek, 1968
© CBS Photo Archive

Verner Panton, Fantasy Landscape at the exhibition Visiona 2, Cologne, Germany, 1970 © Verner Panton Design AG, Basel

Georges Méliès, still image from the film Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902
© Public Domain

Joe Colombo, Living Center, 1970/71 © Ignazia Favata/Studio Joe Colombo Photo: Rosenthal Einrichtung

Numerous science fiction films – from Star Trek to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner – are populated by classic designs that have shaped our image of the future. In reverse, many designers of objects destined for some type of imagined future seek inspiration in the genre of science fiction. The fascinating dialogue between science fiction and design is the subject of the new exhibition “Science Fiction Design: From Space Age to Metaverse“ at the Vitra Schaudepot. Staged in a futuristic design by artist Andrés Reisinger, over 100 objects from the museum’s collection ranging from examples of early twentieth century design, literature and film to the so-called Space Age of the 1960s and ’70s, as well as contemporary design and digital objects will be on display. 

Kader Attia – J’Accuse

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Kader Attia has spent several years exploring the concept of ‘repair’, which he believes is a constant in nature and the history of humanity. At the Berlinische Galerie, he presents a conversation between two large installations called “J’Accuse” (2016) and “The Object‘s Interlacing” (2020). “J’Accuse” includes seventeen wooden busts, eight sculptures, and an eleven-minute excerpt from a French film of the same name by Abel Gance. The wooden busts depict soldiers who suffered severe facial disfigurement during World War I. In the video “The Object’s Interlacing,” Kader Attia discusses the topic of restitution of cultural assets that were violently looted during the era of colonialism.

20th edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin

ALEX CARVER, exhibition view, Expanded Skin, Kraupa—Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin, 2024 Photo: Marjorie Brunet Plaza, Courtesy the artist; Kraupa—Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin

Jonas Roßmeißl Faust, 2024, AlMg3, deep sea fiber optic cable, [NSW MINISUB DA 288], Courtesy of the artist and Klemm’s, Berlin

Santiago de Paoli, Lieber Nebelkopf, die Blaue Brücke is open, 2024, Installation views, Meyer Riegger, Berlin. Photos: Oliver Roura

territory, Installation view, Tan Jing, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, April 27–June 29, 2024, Photo: Ingo Kniest

Installation view, Renata Lucas, Berlin © Renata Lucas. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin

Julius von Bismarck, Organic Story Board, 2024, Compressed wood strands, taxidermied animals, plants, textiles, plastic bottle and brass frame, Photo: Marcus Schneider, Courtesy of the artist and alexander levy, Berlin

Cosima von Bonin, The Faker, Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin, Photo: Stefan Korte

In April 2024, Gallery Weekend Berlin will celebrate its 20th edition. Every year, an estimate of 50 participating galleries showcase an extensive programme of international artists. The wide array and high concentration of openings and events taking place during Gallery Weekend mark it out as one of the art calendar’s yearly highlights. For the first time, this upcoming anniversary edition will run under the direction of Antonia Ruder. Alongside high-calibre exhibitions, the public can once again look forward to exciting discoveries by young, emerging and established artists.

DESIGN AS A COLLECTIVE TOOL

WDC2026 Signing Ceremony © Photo Ben Kuhlmann

Frankfurt Rhine-Main will take the stage as the World Design Capital 2026. Under the theme “Design for Democracy. Atmospheres for a better life.,” the initiative is an invitation to actively shape the spaces and places we inhabit. The programme will bring together various projects that employ design to boost economic, social, cultural, and environmental progress. Aimed at empowering diverse communities, it will seek to forge sustainable and inclusive urban futures. This regional movement will span multiple cities and districts in the Rhine-Main area, with an anticipated audience of up to 4.5 million visitors in 2026.

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 60th Venice Biennale presents a sculptural installation by Doruntina Kastrati titled The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin, which addresses feminized labor and workplace inequality. Investigating the joint deindustrialization of the economy and deregulation of the market, Kastrati encounters the (im)material forms of precarious employment in light industries in the aftermath of the 1999 Kosovo War. The installation draws on the oral histories conducted with female employees of a Turkish delight factory in Prizren (Kosovo) and consists of four freestanding metal sculptures alluding to the surgical implants, many need to undergo as a result of working in a standing position. Charged with symbolic meaning, the pavilion honor first-person narratives and create incisive associations between exploitative labor practices and the embodiment of foreign metal on the worker’s knees.

AN ARCHIVE FOR MODERN GLASS

© Laurian Ghinițoiu

© Laurian Ghinițoiu

Introducing An Archive for Modern Glass, a softly illuminated 5-meter-tall glass column – a collaboration between Bricklab’s ongoing research of Jeddah’s modern development and 6:AM Glasswork’s artistic examination of the Venetian glass realm. Recreating the patterns, textures, and colors of Jeddah’s 1960s-1990s modernist architecture, Italian master artisans in Venice breathe new life into these familiar motifs, transforming them into contemporary designs. From photographic surveys to digital reimagining, each pattern is meticulously cast onto the glass.

And Yet, It Works! – The Werksviertel München

WERK 3, 4, 12 © URKERN 2021 IvanaBilz

WERK12 © URKERN 2021 IvanaBilz

The former Pfanni grounds in Munich are among the most valuable greyfield sites undergoing transformation in Germany. Instead of focusing on short-term speculation, the owners, together with Steidle Architekten, prioritised the gradual preservation and redensification of the existing built and cultural stock. Today, the award-winning Werksviertel embodies a vital mix of small-scale studios, large offices, hotels, subculture, high and low tech – and even includes sheep. The exhibition “And Yet, It Works!” illuminates the past and future of the former potato packing district, showcasing plans, photos, and models, as well as curious relics like a 1955 potato sorter or neon signs and disco balls from the area’s iconic 1990s clubs.

Transform! Designing the Future of Energy at the Vitra Design Museum

XTU Architects, X_Land, Rendering, 2020 © XTU Architects

Ed Kashi, Petroleum Pipeline, Okrika Town, Nigeria, 2006 © Ed Kashi/VII/Redux

Energy is the main driving force of our society; energy is political, energy is invisible, energy is omnipresent. All of the buildings, infrastructure and products related to the generation, distribution and utilization of energy are created by human beings. Consequently, design plays a key role in the current transition to renewable energy. The exhibition »Transform! Designing the Future of Energy« shines a light on the transformation of the energy sector from the perspective of design: from everyday products that use renewable energy to the design of solar houses and wind power stations; from smart mobility systems to futuristic visions of self-sufficient cities.

New in town: Spreepark Art Space

Eierhäuschen. Photo: Frank Sperling © Spreepark Art Space

Art and About on April 30, 2023 at Spreepark. Photo: Frank Sperling © Spreepark Art Space

raumlaborberlin, Flamingos, 2023. Photo: Frank Sperling © Spreepark Art Space

Twenty years ago, the amusement park in Berlin’s Plänterwald forest closed, leaving nature to reclaim its abandoned grounds and rides. In anticipation of a new public park, the platform “Spreepark Art Space” integrates the crossover of art and nature as fundamental to the Spreepark’s development concept. It is set to launch in March 2024 together with the inauguration of Eierhäuschen, a recently renovated 19th century building, which will host exhibitions on landscape, nature, architecture, and public space.

Welcoming a new treasure trove at the Vitra Design Museum

Hella Jongerius in her studio, Preparations for the relocation of the archive, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024 / Vitra Design Museum, photo: Roel van Tour

Hella Jongerius in her studio, Preparations for the relocation of the archive, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024 / Vitra Design Museum, photo: Roel van Tour

The Vitra Design Museum received the Hella Jongerius Archive. Hella Jongerius is one of the leading designers of the last few decades. Her work encompasses textiles, furniture, ceramics and interior design, as well as an internationally acclaimed artistic practice. Now, her extensive archive is being placed into the hands of the Vitra Design Museum, where it will be preserved for future generations and made accessible for research, alongside other archives and collections of iconic designers such as Charles & Ray Eames, Alexander Girard and Verner Panton.

Documenting Documenta

Kostas Tsioukas performing “Collective exhibition for a Single Body” by Pierre Bal Blanc © Faliro House Productions

Marta Minujín, The Parthenon of Books, 2017. Kassel, Germany © Faliro House Productions

Edvine Larssen, Adam Szymczyk with “Verging”, 2016 © Faliro House Productions

“exergue – on documenta 14” follows artistic director Adam Szymczyk and his team over the span of two years as they develop “Learning from Athens,” the first documenta to be held in two cities: its hometown of Kassel and Athens. documenta 14 divided the opinions of art critics worldwide. The film, narrated in fourteen chapters, an unprecedented document in itself, invites audiences to a 14-hours behind-the-scenes observation of the institutional art world and the people who participate in a shifting cultural, political and economic landscape. The film is directed by Dimitris Athiridis and produced by Faliro House.
 
“exergue – on documenta 14” will be part of this year’s Berlinale International Film Festival and screen in the Berlinale Specials program over the course of two days.

A house so nice they gabled it twice

© Clemens Poloczek

© Clemens Poloczek

With DUPLEX, Atelier ST architects have reimagined the epitome of German residential architecture: the gabled house. Following the motto ‘two is better than one,’ they merged two narrow gabled houses into one. A clever move that allowed them to adhere to the building lines of the suburban neighborhood while efficiently addressing the spatial program. Beyond the apparent simplicity of the outer shell of dual elongated volumes, the interior unfolds into a complex sequence of interconnected spaces and levels – breaking away from the conventional (double) standards of a detached house estate.

Hans Uhlmann: modern art in post-war Berlin

Ewald Gnilka, Hans Uhlmann in his atelier, around 1954 © Rechtsnachfolger*innen Ewald Gnilka; for the works by Hans Uhlmann: © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Hans Uhlmann’s (1900–1975) metal sculptures, like his drawings, were a distinctive feature of post-war modern art in Germany. And yet, his works are still largely unknown to the broader public. After 1945 the graduate engineer decided to devote his career entirely to art and took on large-scale projects, including the sculptures outside the Deutsche Oper and in the Hansa Quarter. The exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie, opening in February 2024, traces the periods of his oeuvre from the 1930s up until the 1970s, bringing together about 80 exhibits.

JEFF WALL at Fondation Beyeler

Jeff Wall, Milk, 1984. Sammlung FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims © Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall, After ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue, 1999–2000. Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung, Depositum in der Öffentlichen Kunstsammlung Basel © Jeff Wall

Featuring more than 50 works spanning five decades, Fondation Beyeler’s solo show on Canadian Artist Jeff Wall (b. 1946) presents a comprehensive overview of his ground-breaking oeuvre. The exhibition includes his iconic large-scale transparencies displayed in lightboxes, alongside his large-format black-and-white photographs and inkjet colour prints. Conceived in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition places particular emphasis on works produced in the last two decades, among them photographs on public view for the first time.