New exhibition „Wolfsburg Unlimited. A City as World Laboratory“ from April 24, 2016 in the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

Whether in real life or in art-the most important thing is that changes start with ourselves, on our own doorsteps, in our immediate surroundings. For this reason the first large exhibition to be put on by director Dr. Ralf Beil named „Wolfsburg Unl

New exhibition "Wolfsburg Unlimited. A City as World Laboratory" from April 24, 2016 in the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

Franz Ackermann, evasion XVII (two pipelines delivering a city-build me up to knock me down), 1998 (Source: Franz Ackermann)

What is a city? What distinguishes it? What can it be? Ralf Beil has not only asked himself these questions but also posed them to a circle of selected international artists in order to explore interpretations and metamorphoses of Wolfsburg. Seven large-scale projects created especially for the exhibition reflect the city in the museum, thus making the „city as world laboratory“ tangible.

For the first time the entire museum will serve as exhibition spaces, from the entrance and foyers to the educational rooms and the Japan Garden. In Julian Rosefeldt“s total installation in the 16-meters high exhibition hall a container terminal encounters a drive-in movie theater in a scale of 1:1. John Bock has built a material field with film inserts on the architect Hans Scharoun and his Theater Wolfsburg. The photo installations by Eva Leitolf and Peter Bialobrzeski are juxtaposed with a room ensemble by Remy Markowitsch. A black and white fresco by Didier Rittener as well as a sound window by Nevin Aladag rounds off together with a carousel by Janet Cardiff und George Bures Miller this expansive and multifaceted exploration of city, work, world and museum.

„Wolfsburg Unlimited“ is concerned with sounding out this very special city“s stories and histories as well as its (im)possibilities. It will explore the distinctive axes of space and time in this corporation headquarter with adjacent housing facilities that was founded in 1938 as the „City of the KdF [Strength through Joy] Car“-from the garden city of the 1940s, the agglomerations and satellite towns of the 1960s and 1970s to the Porschestraße pedestrian zone of the 1970s and 1980s and the event city with Autostadt, outlet stores and phno Science Center since 2000.

Wolfsburg represents the realities of modernism as well as the present in a very special way. The „Capital of Volkswagen,“ headquarters of a global corporation, is an exemplary site of the latter half of the twentieth century and our own twenty-first century, especially as regards the tension between industrialization, mobilization and digitalization, between mass and individual, between local and global action.

The exhibition will be shown from April 24 – September 11, 2016.

The Participating Artists
Franz Ackermann, Nevin Aladag, Christian Andersson, Peter Bialobrzeski, John Bock, Janet Cardiff / George Bures Miller, Christo, Don Eddy, Douglas Gordon, Heinrich Heidersberger, Peter Keetman, Anselm Kiefer, Eva Leitolf, Remy Markowitsch, Marcel Odenbach, Arnold Odermatt, Nam June Paik, Antoine Pesne, Peter Roehr, Didier Rittener, Julian Rosefeldt, Werner Schroeter, Luc Tuymans, James Welling, Charles Wilp.

The Publication
The catalogue „Wolfsburg Unlimited. A City as World Laboratory,“ edited by Ralf Beil and published by Verlag Hatje Cantz, unites essays by Ralf Beil, Marcel Glaser, Manfred Grieger, Stephan Krass, Alexander Klose, Alexander Kraus, Günter Riederer et al. Interviews by Christiane Heuwinkel and Remy Markowitsch in addition to documentations of the artist projects and curated sections expand the horizon even further. And artist texts by Peter Bialobrzeski, John Bock and Eva Leitolf as well as source material by Michel Foucault, Josef Ganz, Sigfried Giedion, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Nordhoff und Peter Sloterdijk make the publication a very different kind of compendium on the city of Wolfsburg. Hardcover, 23 x 28 cm, 352 pages, price in the museum shop: EUR 35.

Our Sponsors
The exhibition is supported by Volkswagen Financial Services AG, the city of Wolfsburg, the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, the Sparkasse Gifhorn-Wolfsburg and Pro Helvetia.

Press preview on Thursday, April 21, 2016, 11:15 a.m.
Opening on Saturday, April 23, 2016, 7 p.m. with party from 9 p.m.

Bildquelle: Franz Ackermann

Das Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg wurde im Jahr 1994 eröffnet und kann bereits heute auf eine einzigartige Geschichte mit einer Vielzahl maßgeblicher Ausstellungen und Veranstaltungen zurückblicken. Es ist in kurzer Zeit gelungen, das Haus regional zu verankern und gleichzeitig international Beachtung zu finden. Das Museum ist der Kunst aus Gegenwart und Moderne gewidmet und es vereint die verschiedensten Medien, angefangen von Malerei, über Skulpturen und Fotografie, Video und neue Medien bis zu Mode und Design. Das imposante, modernistische Gebäude im Zentrum der Stadt gelegen, präsentiert auf 3500 qm Ausstellungsfläche sowohl wechselnde Ausstellungen als auch Werke aus der Sammlung.

The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg was opened in 1994 and can already look back at a unique history with numerous authoritative exhibitions and events. Within a brief period of time, it has been possible for the museum to position itself locally and find international recognition at the same time. The museum is dedicated to modern and contemporary art, combining diverse media ranging from painting, photography and sculpture and the new media to fashion and design. The striking modernist building located in the heart of the city presents temporary exhibitions as well as works from its own collection on 3,500 square meters.

Kontakt
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Christiane Heuwinkel
Hollerplatz 1
38440 Wolfsburg
05361266969
media@kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de
http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de