An exhibition conceived by Gallien Déjean, Emmanuel Guy, Juliette Pollet and Fanny Schulmann, with Reynaldo Gomez and Sif Lindblad.

Opening: Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m., with words by Thomas Becker

Whilst talking about politics with our friends, our gazes settle mechanically on the objects laid out on the table. Seeking a way out from the contradictions of our discussions, or a link between words and thoughts, the eye scans the seemingly insignificant things before it in the hope of finding some void in which to clarify the situation. Yet it is often by exactly the inverse operation – starting instead from the objects on the table – that one manages to take stock. The end of Virginia Woolf’s short story, Solid Objects, offers a good example of such an operation. As he attempts to understand why his friend John has abandoned a brilliant political career to collect discarded objects, Charles suddenly feels threatened by the items that clutter John’s study. John is at pains to explain that he has not, in fact, given up on anything. But to no avail: Charles prefers to flee rather than confront the political dimension of John’s practice. Yet even so, he has glimpsed the capacity of resistance and the threat contained by these collected objects.

“Any article liable to be dangerous to persons is deemed to be a weapon when it is used to kill, wound or threaten, or is intended by its bearer to be used to kill, wound or threaten. Any article which resembles a weapon as defined in the above paragraph to such an extent as to cause confusion, and which is used by its bearer to threaten to kill or to wound, or is intended by its bearer to threaten to kill or to wound, is deemed to be a weapon.” It is in these terms that article 132-75 of the French Penal code sets out the definition of “une arme par destination” – an object that becomes a weapon both by virtue of its potential to cause harm and by the bearer’s putative intention to cause harm.

We wanted to support John in his collector’s research, and to restore the capacity of certain art works to intimidate, and so decided in turn to assemble some objects on a table and to put them to the test. The constitution of this collection was the starting point for a collective discussion which aspires to establish the beginnings of a critical line of thought that centres on and proceeds from the contemporary regime of the object. In opposition to a premise wherein the object is figured as the relational element between the human being and their environment, this exhibition examines objects’ inherent faculty of resistance. At the juncture of politics, physics, and ontology, this temporary accumulation attests to the underground, autonomous and non-relational aspect of artefacts, to their capacity for obstruction, their burlesque instability, and their lethal potentiality.

Downloads: KVLBulletin08Art. 132-75

With the exhibition Art in Public Space, Langenhagen, Kunsthalle3000 collects sketched memories of the citizens of Langenhagen. In June and July people in the streets of Langenhagen are asked to sketch a sculpture or art intervention from the public space of Langenhagen. The exhibition at the Kunstverein, which begins as an empty exhibition space, will slowly fill with the sketched memories. Thus, a growing collection of subjective, two-dimensional images - and a collective, visual memory of the vivid history of art in public space in Langenhagen is created.

The city of Langenhagen is known for several intensive phases in which art projects in public space were realized. This development started in the 1980s and led to five sculpture symposia. The exhibition series 'vor Ort - art in urban situations', which gained nationwide attention, followed in the 1990's. As part of this exhibition series, well-known artists such as Yoko Ono, Karin Sander, Thomas Hirschhorn, Roman Signer and others were invited to create temporary interventions in public space. With the open competition '99 Standorte' in the context of EXPO 2000 in Hannover, the last large-scale exhibition of art in the public space of Langenhagen took place. Numerous artworks by nationally and internationally known artists can still be found throughout the city of Langenhagen.

*Kunsthalle3000 is a project by German artist Thomas Geiger - who is a guest at the Kunstverein for one year. As an intervention within the institution, Kunsthalle3000 creates a series of situations located in the gap between institutional-, private- and public space.

Finissage: Sunday July 28 2 - 4:30 pm - An open discussion about the history of art in public space in Langenhagen, with Thomas Geiger, Noor Mertens and other invited guests.

The Kunstverein is installing a new, large communal table this summer. This action is the beginning of a program where things are proverbially put on the table. From June onwards, the archive of the Kunstverein will be sorted, and from the end of July it will be exhibited in the Kunstverein. Come by to learn more about the history of this institution!

Program: 5.8.19 – 14.8.19, 12:00 - 17:00 Free space for thoughts and buildings #2

15.8.19, 19:00 Open discussion about the history of the Kunstverein

17.8.19, 15:00 Summer party

ROOMS TO LET is a multi-chaptered project by the artists Andrea von Lüdinghausen and Mareike Poehling. Each chapter takes place in a different hotel room – after Ulan Bator, Hanover and Hiroshima the two artists now realize the project in the Leonardo Hotel Hannover Airport, Langenhagen. With found objects, sculptural elements, drawings, photographs and videos, the artists weave their own stories into the heterotopic spaces. Both the apparent neutrality and the specific atmosphere of the transitory space and its surroundings influence their working process. ROOMS TO LET uses the hotel room as material, and asks questions about the role of the exhibition space for the artistic practice. Out of this develops a multi-layered intervention.

Address: Leonardo Hotel Hannover Airport Petzelstrasse 60 30669 Langenhagen

Opening hours: Wednesday 28.8. 5 – 10 p.m. Thursday 29.8. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Friday 30.8. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday 31.8. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sunday 1.9. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Directions: There is a shuttle bus (free) between the Kunstverein and the hotel.

By public transport: From Hannover main station: S-Bahn S 5 to Hannover Airport, then 4 min. Walk (400 m)

By car: 9 min. From Kunstverein Langenhagen (see map) Parking facilities at the hotel, identify yourself as a visitor of ROOMS TO LET.

Downloads: KVLBulletin09Ryslavy + Rooms to Let

What does Kurt Ryslavy do for a living? This seemingly straightforward question reveals an underlying theme that Ryslavy plays with in his works. The Austrian-born artist/wine merchant/writer/collector/Sunday-painter plays with the ideas of amateurism and professionalism in his lifestyle, his artworks, and the artworks of others. Ryslavy creates works of art from bills and notes from his wine business, constantly blurring the distinction between his role as an artist, collector and dealer of art, and wine merchant. In his 'Verkaufswerken', he creates packaging in order to enhance the attractiveness of a sale of (valuable) works by other artists that got into his collection by exchange. He plays with the taboo of a work made to sell within the highly professionalised art world. The exhibition refers to olfactory problems, painting problems and repetition problems. A multisensory installation deals with commercial and non-commercial repetition, as well as originality and routine (or the dependence on routine as a kind of substantive corruption) within one’s artistic practice.

Kurt Ryslavy’s exhibition takes place both in the space of the Kunstverein as well as in the former chapel in Langenhagen’s Eichenpark. The chapel can be reached by foot in 10 minutes and is open every Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. In addition, it can be visited by appointment.

During the exhibition, a publication will be published, which highlights Kurt Ryslavy’s Verkaufswerke.

Downloads: KVLBulletin09Ryslavy + Rooms to Let