Sidewalk Deli

For summer 2010, the Kunstverein in Hamburg has been invited by the International Building Exhibition (IBA) to realize various projects in Wilhelmsburg. Over a period of four weeks, the IBA Laboratory “Sidewalk Deli” will be examining the public space in art and discourse and addressing the issue of how the public sphere comes into being and works. The IBA Laboratory for Art and Urban Development is not a classical laboratory in the sense of a symposium but, by its form alone, a contemporary research and experimental venture.

There are three components to the project: art and climate change, art and football, and urbanity. The project as a whole consists not only of an exhibition of concepts and proposals on each topic but is also a point of departure and meeting place for discussing the public sphere and how it comes about and operates. The central theme of the artistic interventions and projects is the question of novel forms for a critical public under the prevailing conditions of neo-liberalism, which assigns art and culture the role of lifestyle-producer in the service of distinction.

The overall “Sidewalk Deli” project deliberately sets no centre and proposes no doctrinal definition of public. Each contribution is provided with a formally distinctive but thematically interrelated framework within which it can unfold in independence; in the intersecting perspectives of these contributions, statements, works of art, arguments, and projects, a frame of reference is to emerge that generates novel forms of public sphere. For the realization of the project a venue has been found in Wilhelmsburg, the ship Maknete (behind the Honigfabrik), which is heavily frequented and thus guarantees a broad public.

Apocalypse Now
Art on the Climate Catastrophe

Matthew Antezzo, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Heide Deigert, Douglas Gordon, Tue Greenfort, Almut Linde, Björn Melhus, Anna Meyer, Olaf Nicolai, Manfred Pernice, Bernhard Prinz, Marcel Prüfert, Markus Shimizu, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Silke Wagner, Christine Würmell
Venue: Die Schute, Maknete e.V., (Veringkanal behind Honigfabrik, Industriestraße 125, 21107 Hamburg)

In the context of the “Sidewalk Deli” exhibition, the subproject “Apocalypse Now” addresses aesthetic narratives on global warming. Explicitly critical strategies examining causes and functional parameters are presented by Anna Meyer, whose drawing focuses ideology-critical attention on the responsibility of art itself, and by Olaf Nicolai with a pot-plant “buried” in a plastic bag and by Christine Würmell with her aggressive political collages, which call, among other things, for “All cars to Antarctica.” The narrative of appeal is to be found in the work of Rirkrit Tiravanija, who has formulated the slogan “Less oil, more courage” on a T-Shirt. Douglas Gordon fosters poetic awareness by renaming the ship on which the exhibition is taking place, as does Almut Linde, who draws attention to river pollution through unaccustomed beauty. The possibility of alternative practices is demonstrated by Heide Degert’s model of a tornado power station, and Bernhard Prinz with his documentation of a bio-powerstation located close by the ship. Tue Greenfort’s photographic work shows an Italian “energy-saving taxi.” Finally, Björn Melhus brings the narrative of forecast into play by showing the 2099 water level in Venice in artistic form in a computer animation.
Curated by Raimar Stange

Wilhelmsburg Art & Sports Club
Roger Behrens, Alain Bieber, Alisson Courtot, DJ Plastikstuhl, Thomas Dransch, Erobique, Max Frisin-ger, Oliver Görnandt, Lukas Grellmann, Tobias Gronau, Daniel Hauptmann, Julia Hurducas, Anton C. Kunze, Mateusz Lendzinski, LOMU (Local Organized Multitude), Ulrich Lölke, Tabea Michaelis, Ja-ques Palminger und die Kings of Dub Rock, Stefan Rychlak, Marco Schwensfeger, Jakobus Siebels, Trike, UMSCHICHTEN, Till van Daalen, Hannes Waldschütz u. a.
Venue: Different places in Wilhelmsburg
www.kunstundsportverein.de

The points of contact between sport and art are the sphere of action for the “Wilhelmsburg Art & Sports Club” and its first section: football! In contrast to common practice in art, football is clearly committed to cooperation, to collaboration among participants, to the public and to competition. Focusing on these elements goes beyond enthusiasm for a field supposedly alien to art; it offers an opportunity for artistic and societal action in the urban context. The project “Wilhelmsburg Art & Sports Club” spirits fans and those who aspire to fandom away into the exciting and eventful field of art and sport. The club offers various activities with artists, urban planning students, and musicians. They include regular fitness gymnastics with live music, jogging readings through Wilhelmsburg, the testing of new football formats, and a live football magazine.
Curated by Jan Holtmann

Posturban
Art and Live after the City

Thomas Baldischwyler, Stefanie Becker, Björn Beneditz, Jonas Weber Herrera, Silke Kapp, Katrin Klitz-ke, Rupprecht Matthies, Kerstin Niemann, Erich Pick, Daniel Poller, Schroeter & Berger, Jan Sieber, Alexandra Waligorski, u. a.
Venue: Die Schute, Maknete e.V., (Veringkanal behind Honigfabrik, Industriestraße 125, 21107 Hamburg)

Even as a naive vision, urban living no longer automatically implies a better quality of life for all people. From restructuring entire cities (the Haussmannisation of Paris) to building new urban districts (Hamburg’s HafenCity) and implementing gentrification measures (the Hamburg district of Wilhelmsburg), upgrading the urban fabric inevitably has a negative effect on the lives of large sections of the population. The development of urban societies, from Modernity via Post-modernity to the present day, has brought with it the paradoxical forces of integration and disintegration, which have now become the subject of urban sociology’s discussions on problems of inclusion and exclusion. The “urban lifestyle” is therefore hardly a positive reference value any more. Rather, the way of life in today’s cities is fading away into monotony, an unwillingness to commit, indifference and despair; it seems that any attempt at making things better stagnates in kitsch and banality. But is that really the case? What concepts and potential exist for life after the city? How should we formulate a critique of the everyday in a post-urban society?
Curated by Corinna Koch and Roger Behrens

A complete catalogue will be published accompanied to the project.

"Sidewalk Deli" is a cooperation between Kunstverein Hamburg and Internationale Bauausstellung IBA Hamburg.