Kunsthalle Wien

Museumsquartier #Odenbach 5/2 – 30/4 2017 Marcel Odenbach In this context, Ingeborg Bachmann’s poem represents “corrections”, which Beweis zu nichts might seem insignificant but ultimately lead to a change of perspective. Beweis zu nichts (Proof of Nothing) is the title of a poem by Ingeborg An earlier film by Odenbach, Bachmann, which addresses the Im Kreise drehen/Turning in Circles, ongoing victim-persecutor structure is also dedicated to a memorial in post-war society. Bertolt Brecht site, the former concentration underscored his own view on the topic camp Majdanek in the Polish city of by slightly paraphrasing not only this, Lublin. Here too the focus is on the but also other poems by Ingeborg materialisation of collective memory Bachman, whom he greatly admired. and the commemoration of victims His intervention is less subtle than it across generations. These are some may appear. In Bachmann’s version, of the central motifs in the oeuvre of the last line reads: “Wein! Aber winke one of Germany’s most celebrated uns nicht (Cry! But do not wave to us.)”. video artists. Odenbach’s works Brecht changed it as follows: “Weine, are profound explorations of the nur winke uns nicht (Cry, just do not dilemma of dealing with the past. wave to us)”. They not only reflect the lasting effects of National Socialism, but In 1952, Bertolt Brecht and Fritz approach the issue from a universal Cremer won the competition perspective. Likewise, the artist to design a memorial for the examines the apparent “otherness” former concentration camp at of foreign cultures, the legacy Buchenwald. The Nationale Mahn- of colonialism, and political and und Gedenkstätte Buchenwald economic systems of representation. (National Buchenwald Memorial) Reflections on the familiar and the was inaugurated in September foreign, his own biography and 1958. The lengthy debate over an its place in historical contexts are appropriate design for both the site further important motifs in his work, and the memorial was not so much which is defined by both an aesthetic historically or aesthetically driven, and political approach. but rather politically motivated: the aim was to show how a better, more In stillen Teichen lauern Krokodile/ socialist Germany had arisen from In Still Waters Crocodiles Lurk, conflict and sacrificial death. Cremer’s a video installation about the design shows the hallmarks of genocide that occurred in Rwanda Socialist Realism. Inspired by Auguste in 1994, incorporates historical Rodin’s group of figures The Burghers documentary material and excerpts of Calais, a group of men portrayed as from the UNO’s film archive, but equals fight an invisible enemy. no imagery of the massacre itself. In an attempt to understand this In his film about this memorial, country, faced not only with the Marcel Odenbach approaches not task of convicting murderers only the visualisation, but also to the but also reconciling its people, reinterpretation and ideologization Odenbach presents everyday of remembrance and history. scenes that reflect Rwanda’s beauty.

3 The video installation refrains from Video Works without beginning or end. During passing judgement or offering an its initial description of the material, explanation. Instead the highly the camera explores the figures evocative images compel viewers to and specifies each detail with form their own opinions. archaeological precision. As it moves on to unearth the deeper levels, the In recent years, Odenbach has not only tracking shot becomes a journey Marcel Odenbach, Im Kreise drehen/Turning in Circles, video still, 2009, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, Courtesy of Galerie produced video, film, and installations, through time. Layers of documents Gisela Capitain, Cologne but also numerous collages. Based on are exposed which cover the group the montage principle used in film, they of figures like a coat of paint while Im Kreise drehen/Turning in Circles, combine micro and macro views. infusing it with meaning at the same 2009 time. The circling camera bores Blu-Ray DVD, colour, sound, 15:50 min. Clippings from newspapers and Marcel Odenbach, Beweis zu nichts (Proof of Nothing), photography deeper and deeper into the memorial, Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, of film set, 2016, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, magazines are glued together, photo: Marcel Odenbach, Courtesy of the artist thus exposing its interior. Finally, Cologne and Anton Kern Gallery, repeatedly photocopied, and coloured the circle reaches completion: New York until they merge in a big picture, like Beweis zu nichts (Proof of Nothing), 2016 the site has been filled with meaning pieces of a puzzle. While the surface Two-channel video installation, colour, and the architecture has become part Im Kreise drehen/Turning in Circles is presents a clearly discernible motif, the sound, approx. 15 min the landscape. a filmic exploration of the mausoleum detailed view shows countless images Courtesy of the artist and Galerie in the Polish concentration camp that make up the whole. At first, the Gisela Capitain, Cologne. Produced Majdanek near Lublin and its evocative overall impression becomes for the eponymous exhibition at function for collective memory. apparent. On closer inspection, Kunsthalle Wien. At the beginning, we see two young it breaks up into successive fragments men in white shirts rolling in the that seem to be subordinate to the big Proceeding from Im Kreise drehen/ grass. This scene is followed by a picture. These elements are also deeply Turning in Circles, a video work slow and gradual examination of saturated with pictorial and textual Odenbach dedicated to the Majdanek the monumental memorial designed information. In their fragmentary struc- memorial, Beweis zu nichts (Proof of by Wiktor Tołkin in 1969. Inspired by ture, Odenbach’s collages resemble Nothing) focuses on the Buchenwald Marcel Odenbach, Deutschstunde (German Lesson), video still, 2006, Socialist and Futurist design, it holds © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, Courtesy of reversible figures which only show one memorial. How did the former GDR, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne the ashes of murdered people like a aspect while concealing others. Instead as a declared antifascist Germany, giant offering bowl. The camera stays of representing things as they are, deal with the legacy of the Holocaust? Deutschstunde (German Lesson), 2006 close to the concrete surface as it they display reality in overlapping layers In 1951, the sculptor Fritz Cremer and Video, colour, sound, 7 min. surveys the structural and material and reveal the historical dimension of Bertolt Brecht won a competition. Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, composition of the mausoleum. the present at close range. Their design was completed in 1958. Cologne and Anton Kern Gallery, A sequence of texts provides the The bronze sculpture represents New York viewers with information on what At first sight, the almost 15-metre a group of male figures inspired they are seeing. Subsequently, the collage Durchblicke (Clear Views), one by Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Schoolchildren read out sentences images of the mausoleum’s walls of Odenbach’s largest paper works, Calais (1884–1886), which reflects from autobiographies about Jewish become superimposed with historical shows a dense tropical jungle. Seen up the ideology of this former state. life during the time of National photographs of Jews from the Warsaw close, this panorama is composed of The memorial itself is embedded in a Socialism. These scenes are Ghetto. As the camera probes its way numerous photographs which reflect site which almost seamlessly connects interspersed with shots of a spinning from the exterior into the interior, the Africa’s colonial history. As it eludes with the architectural language and top on a table. Not only the readers’ edifice’s dimensions gradually become immediate perception, this level re- symbolism of the Third Reich. varied intonation, but also the gravity apparent. At the end of the film, the quires close, intensive scrutiny, and thus with which they carry out their two young men visit the mausoleum a systematic examination of the sphere Beweis zu nichts (Proof of Nothing) assignment show that the younger as tourists and try to prevail against between the directly visible and the still approaches the group of sculptures generation is also committed to the cold atmosphere of the concrete. effective, but often supressed shadows in circular movements; the film remembering and is very much aware The structure in its entirety is only of the past underneath the surface. resembles an endless tracking shot, of the importance of this task. shown during the closing credits.

4 5 places. But what happens when the curtains obscuring the vista, these dreams from afar come home? we are also deprived of the view of The sea seems endless and peaceful, the Obersalzberg due to the angle but also full of perils. “Hope and chosen by the artist. This partially home - for me as a German this also blocked vision is like a metaphor always means salvation and flight.” for the dictator’s perception, whose (Odenbach) presence is palpable despite his Marcel Odenbach, In stillen Teichen lauern Krokodile/In Still Waters Marcel Odenbach, Im Schiffbruch nicht schwimmen können (Foundering, absence. The bourgeois sitting Crocodiles Lurk, video still, 2002/2004, © Marcel Odenbach and and You Can‘t Swim), video still, 2011, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne room, which seems completely at odds with the horrors of the Nazi era, In stillen Teichen lauern Krokodile/In Still Im Schiffbruch nicht schwimmen Collages enhances the menacing atmosphere Waters Crocodiles Lurk, 2002/2004 können (Foundering, and You Can‘t in this picture. Two-channel video installation, b/w Swim), 2011 and colour, sound, 31:30 min. HD video, colour, sound, 8:15 min. Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne and Anton Kern Gallery, Cologne, Anton Kern Gallery, New York New York and Galerie Stampa, Basel

In stillen Teichen lauern Krokodile/ Three men of different ages from In Still Waters Crocodiles Lurk deals Sub-Saharan Africa, immigrants with the Rwandan genocide, which living in France, are looking at a occurred between April and June painting in the Louvre: The Raft 1994 and produced almost only of Medusa painted by Théodore Tutsi victims. In this half-hour video Géricault in 1819. As one of the projection in two parts, Odenbach uses best-known history paintings, this Marcel Odenbach, Durchblicke (Clear Views), detail, 2007, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, photo: David Ertl, Cologne, documentary material and films from monumental work represents a Courtesy of Anton Kern Gallery, New York the UNO’s archive to fathom the effects piece of French colonial history and of this genocide in a country which, its failure. In 1816, the Medusa was Durchblicke (Clear Views), 2007 years after the crime, is still faced with dispatched to take over the Senegal Marcel Odenbach, Die gute Stube (The Parlour), 2011, © Marcel Collage, ink on paper, 142.5 x 1463 cm Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, photo: Vesko Gösel, the task of convicting the murderers colony from the British as it had been Cologne, Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern while conciliating its people at the adjudged to France. The frigate’s Gallery, New York same time. Refraining from showing shipwreck transformed the crew Die gute Stube (The Parlour), 2011 the atrocities, the seven chapters sailing under the banner of equality, Collage, ink on paper, 170 x 140 cm At first sight, the almost instead present seemingly everyday liberty, and fraternity into cannibals Sammlung Philara, Dusseldorf 15-metre long panoramic collage scenes defined by eminent quiet and fighting for their survival. Durchblicke (Clear Views) shows languidness: farmers in the banana Die gute Stube (The Parlour) an impenetrable jungle landscape fields, prisoners in a brickyard, cows, For his video work, Odenbach shows the interior of the Berghof, made up of proliferous vegetation. or rain falling on an idyllic landscape conducted long interviews with the Adolf Hitler’s residence on To “see through” this thicket, as the of rolling hills. Only the soundtrack three Africans about their flight, their the Obersalzberg. Although title suggests, is simply impossible. repeats the rousing propaganda motivation, and their lives. They the room is designed to provide Inspected at close range, however, from the radio which incited the Hutu talked about homesickness, their a panoramic view of the mountains, the metaphorical meaning of the to lynch their former neighbours. fears, and feeling foreign in their the drawn curtains on the left title becomes apparent in the The video installation itself neither own country. Odenbach used only direct the viewers’ attention to shape of unexpected insights passes judgement, nor does it offer a few passages from these long the interior and its furnishings. into Africa’s complex colonial a historical explanation. The strongly conversations, solely in the shape In combination with the partly history. The story of exploitation evocative images encourage viewers of written statements. The men sit in visible window on the right, this and suppression, which are only to act as observers who are called front of the picture in silence. Sitting leads to an overlapping of outside gradually being processed and upon to form their own opinions. at the coast, one dreams of faraway and inside. While our eyes rest on recognised as an equal part of

6 7 European history, is presented in The bunker was first used during a who enjoy shooting impalas, zebras, numerous photographs. From a NATO command post exercise in or gnus. The word safari derives from distance, we see a deserted, exotic 1966. It was last used in March 1989, the Swahili language and refers to any landscape. Only once we approach also for an exercise. kind of journey. Once the word found its it, the picture reveals the other side, way into the former colonial masters’ where the fascination of the exotic Marcel Odenbach, Heimat 3 (AdVB) (Home 3 (AdVB)), 2016, In 1997, the Federal Government languages, its meaning changed to © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, photo: Simon gives way to colonial crimes. Vogel, Cologne, Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne decided to give up the government journeying with the intention of killing. bunker as they could not find a civilian Heimat 3 (AdVB) (Home 3 (AdVB)), 2016 use for the facility. As a symbol of Collage, ink on paper, 150 x 350 cm the Cold War, the surviving part of Courtesy of the Galerie Gisela the bunker of just under 200 metres Capitain, Cologne was extended and turned into a museum, the Dokumentationsstätte Heimat 3 (AdVB) (Home 3 AdVB) Regierungsbunker (Government shows the furnishings of the German Bunker Documentary Centre). chancellor’s bedroom in the former government bunker to the south of Bonn, the erstwhile German Marcel Odenbach, Meldung (Notification), 2016, © Marcel Odenbach capital. Amidst great secrecy, the and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, photo: Vesko Gösel, Cologne, Courtesy of the artist bunker was constructed inside the tunnel of a never completed railway Meldung (Notification), 2016 line between 1960 and 1972. It was Collage, ink on paper, approx. supposed to serve the German 150 x 190 cm Federal Government as a shelter and Courtesy of Galerie Crone, Berlin and as underground headquarters in case Vienna of war. During the final phase of the Marcel Odenbach, kurz und bündig (short and precise), 2016, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, photo: Vesko Second World War, various arms Gösel, Cologne, Courtesy of Gisela Capitain, Cologne The collage Meldung (Notification) manufacturers moved into the tunnel. Marcel Odenbach, Jeder Schuss ein Treffer (Every Shot a Hit), 2009/2010, © Marcel Odenbach and BILDRECHT GmbH, 2017, was inspired by a file note on On the outside, they had established photo: Vesko Gösel, Cologne, Courtesy of Gisela Capitain, Cologne kurz und bündig (short and precise), Polish workers who were forced a satellite camp to accommodate 2016 to work in Wolfen, and apparently forced labourers working at the Jeder Schuss ein Treffer (Every Shot Collage, ink on paper, 190 x 150 cm failed to wear the badge that Buchenwald Concentration Camp. a Hit), 2009/2010 Courtesy of Galerie Gisela Capitain, identified them as Polish forced The train tunnels themselves were Collage, ink on Paper, two parts, Cologne labourers. The company in question mainly used to build ground equipment 150 x 195.3 cm each was the Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen and vehicles for V-2 rockets. Private collection, courtesy of Galerie Bertolt Brecht greatly admired the (Agfa Film Factory Wolfen). Since Gisela Capitain, Cologne poems by Ingeborg Bachmann. Yet – the early 20th century, Agfa had Designed during the Cold War era, or perhaps: because of this – he has been the leading producer of the government bunker encompassed Over the last two decades, Africa has remarked on a few, in order to make photochemical products. During 897 offices, 936 bedrooms, and become a central topic in Odenbach’s them even clearer in his sense. In his the Nazi era, the enterprise acquired other facilities. A supply of drinking work. Jeder Schuss ein Treffer (Every copy of the volume Die gestundete a predominant position in the Third water, a power generator, an air Shot a Hit), a collage in two parts, Zeit (Time Deferred) from 1953, nine Reich and supplied the needs of filter, provisions, and an expansive features a zebra that was obviously of the 24 poems have handwritten the military, state and NS party infrastructure were supposed to killed during a safari. The other panel comments: some lines are underlined organisations at the outbreak enable a thirty-day stay without shows the inside of a canoe with a in red, numbers in the margins suggest of the war. A growing number of contact to the outside world, so that fishing rod and plastic bags from the switching of lines, and in one case, forced labourers, many of them the Federal Republic of Germany a duty-free shop. Africa’s reputed a line was added. Even if the changes from Poland, were put to work in could continue to be governed, even exoticism is reflected in game-hunting are subtle, the tiny shifts say a lot the Wolfen Film Factory. in case of an escalating nuclear war. expeditions undertaken by Europeans about the difference between these

8 9 two poets: Bachmann’s poetry with its Sun 26/2, 3 pm Sun 2/4, 30/4 For information and registration antithetical evolvement and frequently Good Parlour. Still Ponds 11 am–1 pm please contact: coded metaphors for personal and with Martin Pfitscher [email protected] human fate is juxtaposed with Brecht’s Kunsthalle Wien and Jewish poetry with its decidedly causative Sun 5/3, 3 pm Museum Vienna, Dorotheergasse Film Evening approach and intentionally reduced Ideologies of Remembrance Meeting point: Wed 5/4, 7 pm possibility of interpretation for the sake with Michael Simku box-office Kunsthalle Wien Film evening at the mumok cinema of a more unambiguous message. Marcel Odenbach, Ein Bild vom Bild One of the “revised” poems forms the Sun 12/3, 3 pm On the basis of works selected machen (Making a Picture of the starting point of this collage. The Banality of Evil from the exhibition Beweis zu Picture), 2016, HD video, 15 min. with Wolfgang Brunner nichts at Kunsthalle Wien and the permanent collection at the Jewish Marcel Odenbach / Lukas Marxt, Sun 19/3, 3 pm Museum Vienna, this tour reflects Fishing is not done on Tuesdays, 2017, Programme Consequences of Seeing on the function and materialisation HD video, 15 min with Wolfgang Brunner of collective memory and the All tours are free with admission! possibilities and importance of Followed by a conversation with Sun 26/3, 3 pm remembrance and history. Marcel Odenbach Curator’s Tour Good Parlour. Still Ponds Thu 23/2, 6 pm with Michael Simku In cooperation with the Jewish Ein Bild vom Bild machen (Making Museum Vienna a Picture of the Picture) was made Curator Vanessa Joan Müller, Sun 2/4, 3 pm in celebration of the 40th anniversary leads a tour through the exhibition Ideologies of Remembrance of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. and will discuss topics approached with Daniela Fasching The film’s protagonist is the in the video and paper works by chocolate manufacturer and art Marcel Odenbach. Sun 9/4, 3 pm collector Peter Ludwig: Odenbach The Banality of Evil superimposes shots of the Ludwigs’ Sunday Tours with Daniela Fasching Seminars villa with documentary film material Every Sunday at 3 pm, our art Dialogical Seminar in which Peter Ludwig talks about educators take visitors on a tour Sun 16/4, 3 pm his preferences and ambitions in through the exhibition and provide Consequences of Seeing Two public seminar sessions provide the field of cultural politics. Also insight into Marcel Odenbach’s with Wolfgang Brunner a work in progress insight into artistic, candidly discussed are comments on extensive work. The topics range from performative, and interventional his vanity, his tendency to be easily the reflection of the familiar and the Sun 23/4, 3 pm methods of engaging with the offended, and his need for recognition unknown to coming to terms with the Good Parlour. Still Ponds appropriation of history that will as a collector. The couple’s garage past and the principle of montage in with Michael Simku be developed in the context of the contains a portrait the sculptor Arno the artists’ collages and film works. exhibition. Breker made of the Ludwigs in the Sun 30/4, 3 pm 1980s. A few scenes later, the camera Sun 5/2, 3 pm Ideologies of Remembrance Mon 20/3, 3–7 pm briefly lingers over a bronze sculpture Ideologies of Remembrance with Daniela Fasching Composite (H)Storytelling depicting a spear carrier in front of with Martin Pfitscher an eagle in the garden of their estate Combined Tours Mon 27/3, 3–7 pm in Aachen: yet another work by the Sun 12/2, 3 pm Sun 19/2, 19/3 Performing the Body of History National Socialists’ favourite sculptor. The Banality of Evil 11 am–1 pm with Martin Pfitscher A Collaboration with the annual project The film Fishing is not done on Kunsthalle Wien and Jewish Dialogical Interventions of the University Tuesdays, which Odenbach made Sun 19/2, 3 pm Museum Vienna, Judenplatz of Applied Arts Vienna, direction: together with Lukas Marxt, focuses Consequences of Seeing Meeting point: Martin Krenn, department KKP (Art and on a modern concrete house on the with Wolfgang Brunner box-office Kunsthalle Wien Communication Practices) coast of Ghana. The circling bird’s

10 11 eye view of treetops becomes the first Technicians: Martin Pfitscher element of a visual grid which defines Beni Ardolic Michael Simku the whole film. Visual axes generated Frank Herberg by architectonic lines dissect the Baari Jasarov Finances: surroundings and imbue them with Mathias Kada Mira Gasparevic a certain rhythm. Everyday scenes are Natalie Nachbargauer zoomed into this abstract ornament: External Technicians: Visitor Service: fishermen can be seen on their boats Harald Adrian Kevin Manders or during their morning prayers Hermann Amon Christina Zowack before work. Fishing is not done Dietmar Hochhauser on Tuesdays, and on Sundays the Alfred Lenz loudspeaker system is used to spread Exhibition Booklet the Christian message. The rhythms Art Handling: of the village become superimposed Scott Hayes Publisher: with the noise from rotors, the sound Johann Schoiswohl Kunsthalle Wien GmbH of music and the sea. The fort-like Andreas Schweger house on stilts, however, is at the Text: centre of this setting. From within Marketing: Vanessa Joan Müller its gridded interior the outside world Dalia Ahmed presents itself as a landscape. David Avazzadeh Editing: Katharina Baumgartner Isabella Drozda Both the screening and the Adina Hasler Vanessa Joan Müller subsequent conversation with the Martin Walkner artist came about in cooperation with Press and Communication: the cinema. Katharina Murschetz Translation: Stefanie Obermeir Katherine Lewald Lena Stefflitsch (Intern) Design: Colophon Fundraising and Sponsoring: Boy Vereecken Silvia Keller Antoine Begon Exhibition Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Event Production: Print: Gerhard Prügger REMA LITTERA PRINT Ges.m.b.H. Director: Nicolaus Schafhausen Dramaturgy: © Kunsthalle Wien, 2017 Andrea Hubin Kunsthalle Wien GmbH is Vienna’s CFO: Vanessa Joan Müller exhibition space for international Sigrid Mittersteiner Eleanor Taylor contemporary art and discourse. Aneta Zahradnik Curator: For more information Vanessa Joan Müller Education: please visit: Isabella Drozda Exhibition Management: Martin Walkner kunsthallewien.at Hektor Peljak blog.kunsthallewien.at Educators: facebook.com/Kunsthalle Wien Construction Management: Wolfgang Brunner instagram.com/Kunsthalle Wien Johannes Diboky Daniela Fasching twitter.com/Kunsthalle Wien Michael Niemetz Ursula Leitgeb #Odenbach

12 13 Festival des österreichischen Films’17 Festival des österreichischen Films’16 Graz, 28. März Festival des österreichischen Films’15— 2. April 2017

The Projection of Art Festival des österreichischen Films’14diagonale.at Festival des österreichischen Films’13 Festival des österreichischen Films’12 Festival des österreichischen Films’11 Festival des österreichischen Films’10 Festival des österreichischen Films’09 Festival des österreichischen Films’08 Festival des österreichischen Films’07 Festival des österreichischen Films’06 Festival des österreichischen Films’05 Festival des österreichischen Films’04 Diagonale FestivalFestival des des österreichischen Films’03 österreichischen FestivalFilms’17 des österreichischen Films’02 Festival des österreichischen Films’01 Festival des österreichischen Films’00

Für: Kunsthalle Wien, Tate Modern, Festival des österreichischen Films’99 Ars Electronica Linz, Brucknerhaus www.tonbild.at #Diagonale17 Linz, MuseumsQuartier Wien, Kunsthaus [email protected] Festival#FestivalofAustrianFilm des österreichischen Films’98 Bregenz, Swarovski, Zumtobel … 14 +43 (0) 664 15 34 917 15 kunsthallewien.at

Photo: Stadtarchiv Nürnberg

Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, Austria +43 (0)1 521 89-0