For the exhibition, Andrea Pichl has devised an architectural installation dealing with the economic transfer between West and East Germany and the transformation occurring after 1989. The public plays a role in the staged scenario, which incorporates commonplace, largely standardised and mass-produced building components and objects.

Pichl removes items and spaces from their original context, scrutinising them and inquiring which image of humanity and notion of social coexistence imbue them. How do invisible structures such as state power, flows of capital and historical upheaval manifest themselves? Where does the public sphere end and the private one begin? When does a utopian vision turn into dystopian reality?

Following Naama Tsabar’s solo show, Pichl’s spatial installation is the second exhibition of contemporary art to be shown in parallel with the permanent presentation of Joseph Beuys in Hamburger Bahnhof’s Kleihueshalle that also references his work.

The Artist Andrea Pichl

Andrea Pichl (b. 1964, lives and works in Berlin) critically examines postmodern architecture and design. This concerns social housing complexes just as much as it does grates, fences and decorative elements from the exterior space and doors, textiles and carpets in the interior one. These anonymously designed forms define, shape or demarcate space, yet their inconspicuousness makes them hardly noticeable. Based on research, Pichl produces installations, drawings and photographs. Using strategies of appropriation and transference, the artist directs the viewer’s gaze to individual components, fragments and excerpts.

Publication Accompanying the Exhibition

Accompanying the exhibition is the ninth edition of the Hamburger Bahnhof catalogue series, published by Silvana Editoriale, comprising 112 pages, available at the Hamburger Bahnhof bookstore and through the Buchhandlung Walther König webshop for €12. ISBN: 9788836656561

The publication was made possible by Freunde der Nationalgalerie.

Curator

The exhibition is curated by Sven Beckstette, research associate at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.

The exhibition is supported by LEAP Art Foundation.

With the support of Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e. V.

A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin