28 Aug 2009

Conflicting Tales - The Burger Collection in Berlin

The Burger Collection opens its quadrilogy of exhibitions and events in Berlin in 2009. Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1) is the inaugural exhibition of a four-part project of temporary exhibitions in four different cities worldwide to be held in the upcoming years. Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1) interweaves the works by more than 35 artists including two outdoor projects with an editorially ambitious catalog and events such as roundtables, artist talks and a workshop.

Scenes of conflict and antagonism, scenes of disagreement and discord are motifs for the opening exhibition. With this premise, the exhibition engages with subjectivity, not an interior view, but an engagement with the field of tension that opens between the individual and society. Consciousness is posited as a problematic: how does the individual deal with societal ideas, rules, and models? Through what decisions does the individual arrive at the position that he or she ultimately takes vis-à-vis the others? In Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1), art is not subjected to sociology, but becomes meaningful to the extent that it allows the viewer to observe how subjectivity is formed, influenced, challenged, and perhaps generated within aesthetic processes or phenomena.

In the upcoming parts of the quadrilogy, The Burger Collection will approach the collection from different discursive perspectives dealing with the aesthetic key terms of narration, history, and language.

Artists of Conflicting Tales:
Jaishri Abichandani, Adam Adach, Monika Baer, Fiona Banner, Norbert Bisky, Fernando Bryce, Rafal Bujnowski, Verne Dawson, Wim Delvoye, Atul Dodiya, Urs Fischer, Tim Gardner, Gwon Osang, Sabine Hornig, Hubbard/Birchler, Bharti Kher, Douglas Kolk, Lee Dongwook, Nalini Malani, Hugo Markl, Olaf Metzel, Muntean/Rosenblum, Hans Op de Beeck, Grayson Perry, Jaume Plensa, Damien Roach, Julian Rosefeldt, Charles Sandison, Vittorio Santoro, Dennis Scholl, Collier Schorr, Steven Shearer, Fiete Stolte, Mathilde ter Heijne, Paul Winstanley, Zhang Dali

Exhibition Catalog:
Each exhibition of the quadrilogy is accompanied by a catalog. Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1) is comprised of full color illustrations of all works included in the exhibition, of in-depth essays related to the issue of subjectivity by writers, theoreticians and philosophers Manuel Cirauqui, Daniel Kurjaković, Robert Pfaller, and Jörg Volbers. The publication also features specially conducted conversations on the relationship of art and discourse with an international network of up and coming art historians and philosophers. Texts in English and original language. 228 pages. Full color images. Approximately 40 Euros. Design by Philipp Herrmann. Published by JRP-Ringier, Zurich.