Opening: Saturday, 6 May at 8 p.m.
Opening speech: Johannes Raimann
Exhibition space: Produzentengalerie plan.d.
Dorotheenstr. 59, 40235 Düsseldorf (DE); www.galerie-plan-d.de
Opening hours: Sa+Su, 3–6 p.m. and by tel. agreement: 0049 172 2642099
Finissage: Sunday, 28 May, 3–6 p.m.
UNWEIT is the title of a German-Austrian exchange project between plan.d., a “producer’s gallery” in Düsseldorf and the FOTOGALERIE WIEN. The collectives of both non-profit organisations are structurally not far (“unweit”) from one another. They consist of artists and (in the case of Vienna) two art historians, who devise, formulate and organise the year-round exhibition programme of the respective galleries. Both plan.d. (founded 1999) and FOTOGALERIE WIEN (founded 1982) consider themselves to be outside the sphere of commercial galleries and open exhibition, discussion and information platforms as well as places for exchange between national and international artists. Whereas plan.d. artists are involved in all mediums, FOTOGALERIE WIEN’s focus is on photography, video and new media.
For the UNWEIT exhibition, 21 artists and two art historians of both galleries developed a joint exhibition with new works largely conceived for the occasion. It will first be shown in Düsseldorf and come to Vienna in 2024, although in accordance with the cooperation of both collectives the show can, and should, undergo changes “en route to Vienna”. Artist Johannes Raimann, who is familiar with both collectives, has an intermediary role as curator.
The title of the exhibition, UNWEIT is a term that has been interpreted and dealt with by the artists in very different ways. Works will be presented that deal with nearness and distance. Geographical distance can be overcome by the jointly developed exhibition concept. In addition to physical distance, mental and social aspects also play a role. Social interaction is a game between distance and closeness, presence and absence, narrowness and expansiveness, separation/loneliness and togetherness. Some artists focus on these relationships.
Others engage with the issues of mobility or travel. Travelling is an activity in which time and space are intertwined. Time that leaves traces. So there are also works in which the subject of “Unweit” is approached from an ecological perspective. In a fully globalised world questions of distance have to be reconsidered. Overcoming distance uses up finite resources. So practices such as “walking” or “running” take on new meanings. Furthermore, meditative works, aimed at a consideration of philosophical, existential questions, are part of the exhibition. The full range of meanings implicit in the word “Unweit” becomes visible by bringing together the different approaches.
There will also be an exhibition within the exhibition (Sweet Memories) conceived by Aljoscha Gößling: participating artists can place a small object on a presentation surface built by Gößling – potentiated encounters, nearness and dialogue. New connections can arise.
Petra Noll-Hammerstiel and Johannes Raimann