Current

Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger

NATIONALPARK

Die Ausstellung Nationalpark ist die letzte, grosse Hommage an den Sulserbau. 60 Jahre lang diente das vom Architekten Walther Sulser entworfene Gebäude als «Naturhistorisches und Nationalparkmuseum», dann benutzte es das Bündner Kunstmuseum ab 1989 für Wechselausstellungen. 2014–2016 wird an diesem Standort der Erweiterungsbau des Bündner Kunstmuseums errichtet. Die Installation des Künstlerpaars Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger erinnert nicht nur an die ursprüngliche Funktion des Gebäudes, sie schafft auch Raum für Neues: Der Park wird sich stetig wandeln, seine Pflanzen- und Kristallwelt wird wachsen und vergehen – vom längsten bis zum kürzesten Tag des Jahres.
Das Künstlerpaar Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger verwandelt den Sulserbau des Bündner Kunstmuseums in einen noch nie dagewesenen «Nationalpark». Vom Untergeschoss bis in den Dachgiebel hinauf gestalten sie das Gebäude um: Sie reissen die Einbauten raus und bauen eine Berglandschaft daraus, zapfen das Dachwasser ab und konstruieren Wasserläufe damit, öffnen Museumsfenster, holen Sonne, Wind und Regen ins Haus, pflanzen verschiedenste Gewächse, locken alle möglichen Tiere an und präsentieren Sammlungen und Ansammlungen, in denen sich die Grenzen zwischen Künstlerischem, Künstlichem und Natürlichem verwischen.
Mit ihrer Installation Nationalpark erinnern Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger nicht nur an die ursprüngliche Funktion des Baus, sie schaffen auch Raum für Neues: die Installation wird sich im Laufe der sechs Monate stetig verändern. Die Pflanzen- und Kristallwelt wird wachsen und vergehen, blühen und verblühen. Im Nationalpark sind Bildergärten, Gedankenfelder und Wissensquellen angelegt, die neue Ideen und Zusammenhänge entstehen lassen, was denn die Natur und das Museum sein könnten. Die Ausstellung ist eine Pflanzstätte für Einfälle, ein Treibhaus der Fantasie, ein Beobachtungsraum der Kunst und ein Ökosystem unerwarteter Aktivitäten.

Der Schweizerische Nationalpark feiert 2014 sein 100-jähriges Jubiläum. Die Ausstellung im Bündner Kunstmuseum bildet dazu den künstlerischen Auftakt.

Gerda Steiner (1967) & Jörg Lenzlinger (1964) arbeiten seit 1997 zusammen. Sie haben sich national und international einen Namen gemacht mit grossen, raumgreifenden Installationen, die sie für die jeweiligen Orte entwickelt haben, etwa für die Landesausstellung der Schweiz, die Expo.02 (Heimatmaschine), für die Biennale Venedig/Kirche San Staë (Giardino calante, 2003), für die Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen (Seelenwärmer, 2005), im ACCA Melbourne (water hole, 2009), im Arp Museum, Rolandseck (Hochwasser, 2011), im Art Tower Mito, Japan (power sources, 2012).

Vernissage
Freitag, 21. Juni, 18 Uhr
Begrüssung und Einführung: Stephan Kunz, Direktor Bündner Kunstmuseum, unter Mitwirkung des Bündner Wanderchores. Anschliessend Apéro und Serge’s Buffet

Öffentliche Führungen
Donnerstags, 18 Uhr: 27. Juni, 11. Juli, 18. Juli, 29. August, 5. September, 7. Novem­ber, 28. November
Sonntags, 11 Uhr: 30. Juni, 11. August, 1. September, 8. September, 29. Septem­ber, 20. Oktober, 3. November, 24. November

Kunstvermittlung
Garten der Sinne: Zusätzlich zum regulären Angebot organisiert die Kunstvermittlung zusammen mit der Musikerin Riccarda Caflisch musikalische Spaziergänge durch die Ausstellung. Information/Anmeldung/Kontakt: alexa.giger@bkm.gr.ch 081 257 28 72.

Einführung für Lehrpersonen
Mittwoch, 28. August, 17 bis 19 Uhr, Anmeldung erforderlich
Anmeldung unter 081 257 28 72 oder alexa.giger(at)bkm.gr.ch
www.buendner-kunstmuseum.ch/kunstvermittlung/veranstaltungen.html

Sonderveranstaltungen

Donnerstag, 1. August, 17–23 Uhr
BUNTESFEIER im «Nationalpark» im Rahmen der Ausstellung von Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger, mit DJ Pult, Alex Gloor, Marc Lardon und Person sowie Essen und Getränken

Donnerstag, 12. September, 19 Uhr
Wildnis schaffen – zur Ideenwelt der «Nationalparkgründer»
Vortrag von Patrick Kupper, Historiker, Dozent für Geschichte an der ETH Zürich. Anschliessend Diskussion mit Gästen, Moderation: Andrea Hämmerle

Donnerstag, 19. September, 19 Uhr
Feigen flüstern, Weiden wispern
Vortrag von Florianne Koechlin, Biologin, Autorin

Samstag, 21. September, 20 Uhr
Sonnen. Konzert des Ensemble ö!
Mit Werken von Maurice Ravel, Kaija Saarjaho, Junghae Lee, Albert Roussel, Camille Saint Saens, Claude Debussy, Oliver Messiaen

Donnerstag, 17. Oktober,19 Uhr
Buch-Vernissage
Atlas des Schweizerischen Nationalparks. Die ersten 100 Jahre.
In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Schweizerischen Nationalpark und dem Bündner Naturmuseum

Donnerstag, 24. Oktober, 19 Uhr
Leseflüsse, Landschaftsklänge
Mit den Autoren Bodo Hell und Leo Tuor sowie dem Musiker Hans Hassler

Samstag, 26. Oktober, 20 Uhr
Secret Gardens. Konzert der Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden
Mit Werken von Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Charles Ives, Paul Hindemith, Dieter Schnebel und Jürg Baur

Samstag, 16. November, 12–24 Uhr
Langer Samstag
Orientalische Nacht in der Villa Planta

Donnerstag, 21. November, 19 Uhr
Brüggers Bastarde. Umstrittene Forschung in Chur.
Vortrag von Tobias Scheidegger, Institut für Populäre Kulturen, Universität Zürich

Samstag, 21. Dezember, 17 Uhr
Finissage der Ausstellung Nationalpark von Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger und Abschiedsfeier für den Sulserbau. Mit Arno Camenisch (Autor) und Lucas Niggli (Schlagzeug) 

Uninhabitable Objects – Dwellings between Imagination and Reality

Bündner Kunstmuseum, June 1 to August 25, 2013

With “Uninhabitable Objects” a topic is being analysed at the Bündner Kunstmuseum, which is of general social relevance. The dwelling – no matter how rudimentary – is of existential significance for human beings. This exhibition is about the subjective-imaginative debate on space and living concepts: “When is something inhabitable?” “Who lives there?” or “Could I live there?”

The selected works in one way or another all point to reality. In fact, they are images or models of dwellings, which are or were actually built. However, for the viewer they are de facto neither accessible nor inhabitable and therefore challenge their imagination. Precisely because dwellings are a central and everyday part of our lives, the ambiguities of artistic renderings provoke irritation as well as fascination. Rachel Whiteread, for example, had a Victorian house completely cast in concrete and had the shell removed, so that the former living space faces us as a mute memorial to absence. In contrast, the artists’ duo Gabriela Gerber and Lukas Bardill bring to life the military fake village Answeisen, by creating the illusion with clay and light that the house claddings are lived in. Bianca Brunner in her photo series Uninhabitable Objects constructs provisional shelters and takes photographs of them in a way, which leaves them strangely vague in their function as well as in their scale. Benjamin Appel builds a space-filling, life-size but hermetically sealed object with old furniture, which seems simultaneously familiar and forbidding. Not Vital, in turn, had many of his “inhabitable sculptures” actually made in Niger, in the Engadin or in Patagonia. Nevertheless, for political, climatic or geographic reasons occupancy even in these cases usually only happens in the imagination.

In this exhibition the main issue is not the house as status symbol but its basic meaning for humans. “The meaning of the hut” lies in its having a physical protective function as well as offering the possibility of “dreaming in peace” (Gaston Bachelard). Children early on build houses with simple means and materials in order to hide from the world and to have a place for themselves alone. Especially in our time and in our affluent society, in which most have a fixed abode in a solid house, the hut becomes important again as a place for contemplation and retreat. The desire to build, which has its roots in childhood, is taken up as well in artistic concepts, which all deal with the mental entering and experiencing of space. Benjamin Appel, Bianca Brunner, Gabriela Gerber/Lukas Bardill, Catrin Lüthi K, Christof Rösch, Thomas Schütte, Gaudenz Signorell, Not Vital and Rachel Whiteread show objects, installations, photographs and videos.

This primordial dream of independence and feeling of security, embodied in the makeshift simplicity of the hut, is the basis for a special event for children. Curator Katharina Ammann in close collaboration with art mediator Alexa Giger develop a children’s building site in the garden of the historic Villa Planta. In the summer under professional supervision and with artists and craftsmen a children’s villa will be built, in which space and living fantasies can be tested in a playful way.

Instead of a classic exhibition catalogue there will be a publication, in which the guideline will be the concept of intervention. Beside information on the artists it will also include suggestions and instructions on practical implementations in the area of building, dwelling and living.

Katharina Ammann

Opening
Friday, May 31, at 6 pm

Welcome address: Barbara Gabrielli, Head of Department for Culture
Introduction: Dr Katharina Ammann, Curator Bündner Kunstmuseum 

Public Tours
Thursdays, at 6 pm: June 6, June 20, July 4, July 25, August 22
Sundays, at 11 am: June 9, August 25

Answiesen Visitation
Inspection of local combat installation St. Luzisteig with Gabriella Gerber and Lukas Bardill
Saturday, June 8, at 8.30 pm
Meeting point Bündner Kunstmuseum, number of participants limited
Registration by phone 081 257 28 68 or mail info(at)bkm.gr.ch

Publication
Uninhabitable Objects – Behausungen zwischen Imagination und Realität, edited by Katharina Ammann and Alexa Giger, texts by Katharina Ammann, Alexa Giger, Anna Joss, Christina Luzzi, Nicole Seeberger, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Price CHF 28.- (BKV 24.-)

Building Project Children’s Villa

Building Days for School Classes:
June: Tues. 4/Thurs. 6/Tues. 11/Thurs. 13/Tues. 18/Wed. 19/Thurs. 20/Tues. 25/Wed. 26/Thurs. 27.

Building during the Holidays:
July 2 – 5 for children from the age of 10 years

Registration by phone 081 257 28 72 or by mail alexa.giger(at)bkm.gr.ch
Information: www.buendner-kunstmuseum.ch/kunstvermittlung/veranstaltungen.html

Introduction for Teachers
June 5, 5 pm to 7 pm, registration required

Events NAIRS Center for Contemporary Art, Scuol
Based on the exhibition at the Bündner Kunstmuseum Christof Rösch is organising a parallel exhibition at NAIRS Center for Contemporary Art, which under the same title “Uninhabitable Objects” examines the relationship between sculpture and architecture more closely.

Friday, June 14, at 6 pm
Opening Uninhabitable Objects – Purposeless Architecture and the Benefit of Art

Tuesday, August 6, at 8 pm
NAIRS FILM: Rachel Whiteread “House” 1993, introduction by Katharina Ammann

Wednesday, August 7, at 7.30 pm
Talk between architects and artists and the curator Christof Rösch and Katharina Ammann

Mirko Baselgia
Primavera 

Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, March 22 to June 23, 2013

Mirko Baselgia, born 1982, is one of Graubünden’s most promising young artists. On occasion of the Manor Art Prize Chur presentation the Bündner Kunstmuseum is awarding him an exhibition – the first museum exhibition of his emerging career.

In his still quite young oeuvre Mirko Baselgia proves to be an artist whose work is characterized by a particularly careful selection, use and combination of different materials. Typical for his multifaceted work is that he neither commits himself to any one medium, to any one design vocabulary nor to any special material, but newly develops each work from scratch. Topics, which interest him, are investigated by means of extensive research and by including various experts. He thereby combines artistic questioning with downright scientific methods, and so time and again comes up with surprising solutions. His sculptural works are convincing in their three-dimensional placing in space. They are emblems, which not only reflect, both in form and content, the subject’s relationship to its environment, but also raise socio-political questions.

First Museum Exhibition
For his first museum exhibition at the Bündner Kunstmuseum Mirko Baselgia has created new works, which partly refer to the specific architectural features of the Villa Planta where the museum is located today: Thus a spring garden with three beehives appears above the main entrance, the window of the former bathroom is newly glazed, and for the sculpture niches, which are empty today, Mirko Baselgia has had new statuaries cast in lava. The exhibition extends over several rooms of the art museum integrating the connection between interior and exterior.

Catalogue
A catalogue (in German and English) published by Scheidegger&Spiess accompanies the exhibition. It is the artist’s first publication and gives a representative overview of his work to date and documents the current exhibition. In addition an interview between the artist, Stephan Kunz and Christiane Meyer-Stoll offers insight into Mirko Baselgia’s world of ideas and artistic practice.

Opening
Thursday, March 21, 2013, at 7 pm
Reception and introduction: Stephan Kunz, Director Bündner Kunstmuseum 

Presentation of the Manor Art Award Chur: Pierre-André Maus, Board Member Maus Frères SA, Genève

Antupada – Meeting with the Artist and Guests
Thursday, June 13, at 7 pm

Introduction for Teachers
March 27, 5 pm to 7 pm, registration required

Children’s Workshops

Atelier I
Wednesday, May 15, 2 pm to 4 pm for children ages 6 – 8

Atelier II with Mirko Baselgia
Wednesday, May 29, 2 pm to 4 pm for children 9 – 12

Atelier rumantsch
Ils 5 da zercladur, da las 14 fin las 16

Catalogue
Mirko Baselgia. Primum, edited by Stephan Kunz, with a conversation between Mirko Baselgia, Stephan Kunz and Christiane Meyer-Stoll, Zürich: Scheidegger&Spiess, 2013, 88 pages, approx. 60 illustrations, CHF 39.- (BKV CHF 34.-)