Hans Haacke Art Nature
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EN Museum Abteiberg is showing the research exhibi- As Haacke himself put it: HANS tion HANS HAACKE: ART NATURE POLITICS from “A ‘sculpture’ that physically reacts to its environment June 21 to October 25. Curated by Ursula Ströbele is no longer to be regarded as an object. The range HAACKE of the Study Center for Modern and Contemporary of outside factors affecting it, as well as its own ra- Art at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte Mu- dius of action, reach beyond the space it materially nich (December 12, 2019 until February 7, 2020), it occupies. It thus merges with the environment in a ART is now being installed in Mönchengladbach in col- relationship that is better understood as a ‘system’ laboration with Felicia Rappe within the museum’s of interdependent processes. These processes evolve NATURE art of the 1960s and 1970s collection. without the viewer’s empathy. He becomes a witness. A system is not imagined, it is real.” POLITICS Hans Haacke (b. 1936 in Cologne) is known for insti- tutional critique that exposes sociopolitical interde- In 1972, Hans Haacke opened his exhibition Demons- pendencies in the art (market) system. He advocates trationen der physikalischen Welt: biologische und an “art of enlightenment” that brings alarming and il- gesellschaftliche Systeme (Demonstrations of the Phy- legal realities to the fore. The artist was awarded the sical World: Biological and Social Systems) at Museum City of Kassel’s Arnold Bode Prize in 2019; that same Haus Lange in Krefeld. Held at the invitation of the in- year saw the opening of the retrospective Hans Haacke: stitution’s director Paul Wember, the exhibition focu- All Connected at the New Museum in New York City, sed on ecology and environmental pollution. It shows where the artist has lived since the mid-1960s. He is the close interweaving of nature, society and politics the recipient of the 2020 Goslarer Kaiserring Prize. in the artist’s oeuvre. A number of Haacke’s lesser-known early works (made Haacke’s expanded understanding of sculpture also between about 1965 and 1972) explore animals and reveals itself in his time-based, physical objects whe- plants as agents in biological “real time systems” (Jack rein air, water and other liquids become both material Burnham)—a group Haacke humorously refers to as his and part of the work. Museum Abteiberg’s collection “Franciscan” works. The eponymous saint is known as includes one such early participatory object by Haa- an animal lover, ecologist and pacifist who communica- cke: a piece from 1965 that invites visitors to turn an ted with animals and took care of them. These works acrylic glass cylinder filled with two immiscible liquids, in particular question the separation between culture thereby setting its contents in motion. After many ye- and nature—now a potent issue in contemporary art. ars out of the public eye, this permanent loan from the Etzold Collection is on view once more in the con- The exhibition combines an early film by the artist text of the exhibition. (1969) with photographs featuring these rarely shown biological, sculptural systems and key publications in Museum Abteiberg is also showing the site-specifically this context: Haacke’s understanding of sculpture in adapted work Wir (alle) sind das Volk (We (all) are the the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by systems theory people). Haacke conceived it in 2017 for documenta and cybernetics, including the writings of Norbert Wie- 14 in Kassel. The banner with the inscription in twelve ner and Ludwig von Bertalanffy and his own dialogue languages is surrounded by rainbow colors. The con- with Jack Burnham. With the latter he contemplated ceptual work was recently shown at the Zentralinsti- “sculpture as a real-temporal system”—a counter-mo- tut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich. Commemorating del to formalism and classical sculpture. Burnham and the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Haacke were interested in artistic works that unfold as artwork recalls the slogan “We are the people” from a process in “real time,” with components that com- Monday demonstrations in Leipzig in 1989/90, which municate with one other and with their environment. also became a rallying cry for German reunification. A precondition, they argued, was to think in systems, to produce systems, to intervene in existing systems Haacke’s interest in biological, physical and social sys- and make them visible—as the artist’s film demonstra- tems remains characteristic of his artistic approach tes. Haacke explores organizational structure and the to this day; he addresses their mutual connections in exchange of information, energy and/or matter. Sys- a unique iconography of the political and ecological. tems can be of a physical, biological or social nature. Museum Abteiberg Abteistr. 27 / Johannes-Cladders-Platz 41061 Mönchengladbach Concept / Text: Ursula Ströbele EN Der Bevölkerung / To the Population HANS 2000, German Bundestag, Berlin HAACKE In 2000 Hans Haacke realized the site-specific, participatory work Der Bevölkerung (To the Population) in the northern atrium of the Reichstag building in Berlin. Mem- bers of the Bundestag have since been invited to bring soil from their respective ART electoral districts to Berlin and to place it around the dedication lettering, which is installed directly on the floor. The neon inscription in the inner courtyard is a re- NATURE ference to the 1916 inscription Dem Deutschen Volke (“To the German People”) on the tympanum of the building’s Western portico, and is based on the original type- POLITICS face designed by Peter Behrens. Haacke’s inscription draws on a quote from Ber- tolt Brecht (1935): “Anyone who says Bevölkerung (population) [...] instead of Volk these days has already denied support to many lies.” The parliament’s art advisory council decided to realize Haacke’s project idea in 1999. Acceptance of the proposal for Der Bevölkerung sparked heated discussions and an eventual debate on the floor of the Bundestag on April 5, 2000, after which a majority voted in favor of the artwork. Haacke’s work posed questions of a highly political nature, says Wolfgang Thierse, then President of the Bundestag and one of the project’s supporters: “They point to the ethos of the parliamentarian, ask what norms she or he is commit- ted to and what responsibility she or he feels towards people living in our country. [...] What is important is that the viewer takes a position and has actively thought about Haacke’s projects.” The biotope, which has been growing for almost 20 years, is left entirely to its own devices. The project echoes another, earlier project from 1970, namely a mound of fertile soil Haacke brought to the roof of his studio and allowed to become wildly overgrown. Bowery Seeds (see entrance to this room) highlights the significance of Haacke’s early work, the focus of this exhibition. On view are correspondence, photographs and plans from the development process along with a jute sack for transporting soil. Recent webcam images of the atrium can be viewed online; the names of parlia- mentarians who brought soil from their electoral districts to Berlin are listed on the project’s website: www.derbevoelkerung.de Museum Abteiberg Abteistr. 27 / Johannes-Cladders-Platz 41061 Mönchengladbach Concept / Text: Ursula Ströbele EN Live Airborne System / Lebendes Flugsystem HANS planned 1965, realized 30.11.1968, Coney Island, New York HAACKE “Bread crumbs are tossed into the ocean and attract seagulls.” (Edward Fry 1972) In 1965 Hans Haacke, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker designed a sculp- ART tural outdoor ensemble for “Zero on Sea,” an art presentation at the Scheveningen Pier (Netherlands). Elements included oil fire-lit barrels on rafts, buoys as mobile NATURE sculptures, Zero-messages in bottles, silver skin on the water, smoke objects and a floating feeding station for seagulls, the flight formations and mass of which Haa- POLITICS cke considered “seagull sculpture.” The latter project—realized only in 1968 at New York City’s Coney Island—marked the shift in Haacke’s focus away from his earlier abstract paintings, reliefs and physi- cal processes to biological systems. Footage of the intervention appears in the film Hans Haacke. Selbstporträt eines deutschen Künstlers in New York (Hans Haacke: Self-Portrait of a German Artist in New York, 1969). Goat Feeding in Woods / Ziege in einem Wald weidend 1970, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence “A goat tied to a rope feeds on forest vegetation. It is tethered at various, changing points.” (Edward Fry 1972) Haacke’s project for the exhibition L’Art vivant aux Etats-Unis at Fondation Maeght confronted a goat with a new environment and food. Factors in this biological sys- tem include the choice of wooded area, temperature, weather conditions, biodiversity and the animal’s food preferences—organism and metabolism as intricate systems whose complex, mutual interactions with the environment are often unconscious. At the same time, the intervention also reflects a point of institutional critique: The ar- tist allows this “living sculpture” to both feed on and shape its environment, a spot close to the stately museum park with works by established Modernist sculptors in- cluding Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti. Haacke’s use of the domesticated, isola- ted goat amounts to a defense of art’s freedom against the only ostensibly non-profit foundation founded by the gallery owner Aimé Maeght—and of artists as “farm an- imals” within institutional structures and the art (market) system? The piece shows parallel interests in the biological as well as in institutional critique. Ten Turtles Set Free / Zehn Schildkröten freigelassen 20.7.1970, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence The artist purchased ten turtles from a local pet shop, then released them from human captivity back into the cycle of nature.