STATION CURATED BY KIM EINARSSON AND ADNAN YILDIZ AT KONSTHALL C STOCKHOLM IN COLLABORATION WITH KÜNSTLERHAUS STUTTGART
[S] Sch, Sh, the Politics of Space (2011)
Painting installation with
PAINTING ON BLOCKS 3,5M X1,70M
PAINTING ON EASEL 7,4 M X 1,70 M
Made with support from The Swedish Arts Grants Comitee
Introduction by Kim Einarsson & Adnan Yildiz
STATION is a long-term project based on the idea of "moving together in time and space" towarda a conceptual destination. The project started as an discussion about the contextual references of Konsthall C and was later shaped by curatorial and artistic research around questions of mobility, the transfer of narratives and discourses as well as the regulations of the public domain. These discussions can also be applied to the context of the collaborating institution in this project: Künstlerhaus Stuttgart.
The project is based on a relatively long personal history. We (Kim Einarsson + Adnan Yildiz) were both based in Berlin where we worked as freelance curators. Consequently, we often carried projects into new contexts, bringing concepts from one place to another resulting in a few oppurtunities to keep up a long-termed dialogue with an audience. Sharing a close friendship, we worked in the same studio in Berlin and made collaborations on different levels. Within a year of each other, we both starting working at institutions. Since January 2010, Kim Einarsson has been the director at Konsthall C. Adnan Yildiz started working at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart in 2011. This shared personal history of collaboration and previous mobile and short-term proejct that would search for alternative forms of exhibition making and developing critical thinking for the transformation of democratic society.
Adnan was attracted by Kim's invitation to make an exhibition at Konsthall C and especially to the relationship between the roles and positions of an audience and a citizen. Defining Konsthall C as a form of public space, the working process has been based on question of the process of making discussions public as well as relating this action to the politics of an institutional setting. By initiating projects that use different formats, temporarlities, levels of participating and that involve time-consuming processes, the program of Konsthall C constantinously explores different modes of production and communication. Early on, the artists Aykan Safougly (Berlin/New York) and Lisa Torell (Stockholm) were invited to become our fellow travellers. In a number of works, both found them have focused on social movements and the politics of public space, albeit in very different ways. ..
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Texts on canvas:
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Openness has changed. These days publicness implies an ear-splitting silence. I tiptoe in my fleece slippers, colouring the world. My purpose has transformed from speaking into colouring.
I would speak, but never have opinions. If I should, the opinions would be followed by reproduced, named, investigation, research, report and analysis. Words breathing time should rather not be given any time. The language, the form would be repeated, not invented.
The world was divided; the categories were my freedom. Within them I would act. It was permitted, almost, forgiven. Everything would be what it seemed to be: Politics – political, humor – humoristic. It echoed in my ears, the one or the other. Simple and form fascistic, cost effective and crowd-pleasing. Pedagogy would be present but never obvious. It would be nice, hollow and fantastic. New but recognizable. The silencing was done systematically, symptomatically. It was never a question of censorship; there is no censorship in Europe. Freedom of speech,. Comma full stop. I had it at the tip of my tongue, but yet I never dared to speak it. The mantra sang in my ears. The world is beautiful.
And it should become more beautiful, it is already more beautiful. The perspective has shifted, I’ve lightened up the public space, added some yellowish gray, now I sit here working with the words. Letters that one after the other seem to be made for each other, painless, passionate, harmless, representative and yes, that’s it – beautiful. Slurp. But it is difficult, infected; they are somewhat beyond the purely artistic. There is a risk that they mean something, that they are form, form, form and function. Aesthetics.
Words and rhetoric, what sticks out gets amputated; the journalist knows that as well as the exhibitor and the institution. The methods are as subtle as they are pretend democratic; withdrawn grant, changed rules and regulations, removed piece, unpublished article, closed exhibition, one occurs more seldom than the other, but yet it is perceptible. Yes, yes – consensus, Oohh aahh – fear of conflict, I couldn’t but agree. You and I would be together, united and unified. The support, the pat on the back, was more appropriate now than ever before. It was there beyond the word, beyond the language, beyond beyond, that the public space began to appear reflect materialize
Fleece slippers give good a sound.
Silence.
[S]Sch, sh, the Politics of Space
Öppenheten har förändrats. Numera innebär offentligheten en öronbedövande tystnad. Jag tassar på tå i mina fleecetofflor och färglägger världen. Mitt syfte har förvandlats från att tala till att färglägga.
Jag skulle tala, men aldrig ha åsikter. Om jag så skulle, skulle åsikterna följas av återgivet, namngivet, forskning, research, rapport och analys. Ord som andades tid skulle helst inte ägnas tid. Språket, formen skulle repeteras, inte uppfinnas. Världen var indelad, kategorierna var min frihet. Innanför dem skulle jag agera. Det var tillåtet, snudd på, förlåtet. Allt skulle vara det, det syntes vara: Politik - politisk, humor - humoristiskt.
Det ekade i mina öron, det ena eller det andra. Enkelt och formfascistiskt, kostnadseffektivt och publikinfriande. Pedagogiken skulle vara närvarande med aldrig uppenbar. Det skulle vara snyggt, intetsägande och fantastiskt. Nytt men igenkännbart. Tystandet skedde systematiskt, symptomatiskt. Det handlade aldrig om censur, Europa har ingen censur. Yttrandefrihet,. Komma punkt. Jag hade det på tungan men vågade ändå aldrig uttala det. Mantrat sjöng i mina öron. Världen är vacker.
Och den skulle bli vackrare, den har redan blivit vackrare. Perspektivet har förskjutits, jag har ljusat upp det offentliga rummet, lagt på lite gulgrått, nu sitter jag här och jobbar med orden. Bokstäver som vartefter varannan verkar vara som gjorda för varandra, smärtfria, lustfyllda, ofarliga, representativa och just det ja - vackra. Slurp. Men det är svårt, infekterat, de står så att säga lite utanför det rent konstnärliga. Risken finns ju att de betyder något, att de inte bara är form, form, form och funktion. Estetik.
Ord och retorik, det som sticker ut amputeras, det vet såväl journalist, utställare som institution. Metoderna är lika subtila som låtsasdemokratiska; indraget bidrag, förändrat regelverk, borttaget verk, utebliven artikel, stängd utställning, det ena sker mer sällan än det andra, men likväl är det kännbart. Ja, ja - konsensus, Ooåå – konflikträdsla, jag kunde inte annat än att hålla med. Du och jag skulle vara enade, förenade. Medhållet, klappen på axeln var mer gångbar nu än någonsin tidigare. Det var där bortom ordet, bortom språket, bortom bortom som det offentliga rummet började urskiljas speglas ta form
Fleece-tofflor ger bra ett ljud.
Tystnad.
