Wissen Schaffen Catalogue
Wissen Schaffen Catalogue
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and history. Its concept and title developed in a world transfigured
by the election of Donald Trump, in a city deeply engaged by Angela
Merkel’s assurance that Germany could “manage” the migrant
crises (“Wir schaffen das”). Even as scientific reasoning and research
institutions were being threatened across the Atlantic, we observed
the orderly displacement of scholars from around the world to Wiko
in Berlin. While living as temporary residents in the comfort of the
institute, we could not ignore the simultaneous arrival in Berlin of
thousands of refugees from the Middle East.
Texts by Katarzyna Puzon and our own texts regarding our work guide
the catalogue to the exhibition. The catalogue explores our work with
respect to our examination of the relationship of knowledge to making
and creation. Puzon engages with individual works, the exhibition, and
our short texts about the processes of research and production that
led to their making. We added some thoughts about the making and
meaning of individual pieces.
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the academic life of Wiko Fellows, including the building and its
surroundings, show the overlap between research and art, knowledge
and creation. In both research and art, the process of creation starts
much earlier than we might be able to grasp it consciously.
Time and space play out in all the works through the multifarious
dimensions of form and content. Substances such as coffee and tea
serve as the sustenance of both creation processes and their results,
which are often far from being final. This incompleteness unfolds
in time linked to the past, the present, and the future, as illustrated
by Lambe’s Jackets for Books not Written. The way in which the artists
used the space and displayed their works corresponded to its layout
and capacity. Several objects, for instance, proved to be too heavy and
could not be hung on the panels of the wall. Tables and bookcases
were incorporated into the exhibition. And windows, in particular,
served multiple functions, playing with the idea of the insider/
outsider, as Ossman’s Bibliography astutely exemplifies. The practice
of blurring the lines and overcoming dichotomies references the
artists’ other works too.
Katarzyna Puzon
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Environments
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Seeped in History, Knowledge, Place 2017.
Tulle, paper, ink, thread. 3 pieces 12 x 24
inches/60 x 80 cm. (Pages 7-9)
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These “teabags” reference how we absorb the memories of our environments,
often unconsciously. The ink-stained velum “leaves” in the first bag are
printed with historical archives. “Memory” focuses on the institute. It contains
the names of every Fellow in residence since Wiko was founded in 1981.
The third bag is filled with evidence of the natural and built environment
of the Grunewald neighborhood. The bags look fragile, but they are meant
to be touched, read, and rearranged.
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Unbekannt: Destination Series:
Reiseziel Unbekannt
Berlin is, for many, a city of displacement. In the past, it has estranged
citizens, exporting many to places of horror and, as the monument at
Gleis 17 in Grunewald tells us, sometimes to the unknown – “Unbekannt.”
In the present, the city offers thousands of strangers – Unbekannte –
refuge from places of horror. At Wiko, a very different form of
displacement happens that illustrates another side of Berlin; a side
for which the city was reputed long before the World Wars: the hosting
of scholars, often strangers to Germany, in the pursuit of knowledge. It
is these dichotomies I explore in the work I undertook during my year
in Berlin, in a set of large drawings in graphite and smaller works in
ink, and digitally in jackets for books “not yet written” – titles solicited
from Wiko Fellows of works that they might one day write if time or
another lifetime allowed.
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Many didn’t survive the voyage, as their African predecessors hadn’t,
and the carriers were dubbed “Coffin Ships.” Now, we are witnesses
to another forced diaspora, one in the process of being created with
hundreds of thousands fleeing their homelands in search of shelter
abroad, traveling into unknowable futures, to destinations unknown.
There is a parallel with the past that we cannot ignore. Although their
fate is more assured than those of the people commemorated by Gleis
17, nevertheless many do not reach sanctuary. Many fleeing the carnage
of Syria have not survived the voyage over the Aegean Sea to Greece.
Germany is one of a few countries that has opened its arms in fulsome
welcome to refugees and, in doing so, has somewhat atoned for its
own terrible history. These were the thoughts going through my mind
as I worked on these drawings.
CL
Unbekannt 4 2016.
Graphite on paper. 24 x 36 inches/70 x 91.5 cm.
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Lambe’s Reiseziel Unbekannt triptych is concerned with displacement
and the unknowns inscribed in that experience. Entering the colloquium
room, one saw three large drawings hanging on the wall next to the
door. The artist’s use of erasable graphite on paper adds to the tenor of
disappearance and the way in which it registers, making her work very
relevant in the current sociopolitical context. Starting with the significance
of the Grunewald neighborhood, more specifically the monument
dedicated to the infamous Gleis 17 from which Berlin Jews were deported
to extermination camps, the piece conjures images of the missing. It
denotes lost lives, missing information, and unknown destinations. Lambe
connects this with the experience of those forced to leave Ireland during
the Great Hunger. Her motivations behind dealing with the questions of
disappearance and displacement were informed by the current so-called
“refugee crisis” and Berlin’s difficult past. Addressing the timely subject
of dispossession and forced migration, she looks retrospectively at the
memory of the neighborhood, the history of her native Ireland, and the
displacement of Syrian people fleeing their homeland due to the ongoing
war. The drawings bring to the fore the experience of being exiled from
and exiled to, tackling the phenomenon of exile as something visible,
yet always in the process of disappearing.
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Unbekannt 1 (Destination Series),Detail 2017.
Graphite on paper. 84 x 40 inches/213 x 100 cm.
(Left, Detail Above)
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Unbekannt 2 (Destination Series), 2017. Unbekannt 3 (Destination Series), 2017.
Graphite on paper. 84 x 40 inches/213 x 100 cm. Graphite on paper. 84 x 40 inches/213 x 100 cm.
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Unbekannt 2 (Destination Series), Detail 2017.
Graphite on paper. 84 x 40 inches/213 x 100 cm.
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In this installation I paid particular attention to the ornate mansion
where many of Wiko Fellows reside. From our apartments in the Villa
Walter, we looked out on public lakes and gardens. Spear-bearing
guardians on the villa’s patio appeared ready to protect us from
intruders. The grand stairway to our apartments was lined with friezes
of Roman deities. Spring petals or swans appeared like temporary
brushstrokes on this canvas that savantly mingled natural and cultural
references to create a sense of calm luxury and classical culture
reminiscent of a bygone era. I made the site-specific piece as a curtain
for the central window in the institute’s main building to bring together
the disparate, yet layered elements that compose the sensorial
experience of life at Wiko according to a certain conception of an
ideal research environment.
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References
Bibliography 2017.
Velum, ink, tape, cornstarch,
PVC tube1.5 mile x 5 inch-
es/1.6 kilometer x 12.7cm.
List of books ordered from
the Wiko library by Fel-
lows from late August 2016
through February 2017.
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Index Cards 2016-17.
Acrylic on canvas, wooden box. 25 canvases
5 x 7 inch/13 x 18 cm.
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Laid out on a table in one of the rooms that served as part of the
exhibition space, Ossman’s Index Cards is composed of objects that
refer to the practice of recording and storing information. The word
index denotes “something that points to” and this is what the piece
intended to do. The Cards encouraged tactile engagement and
resuscitated a way of organizing knowledge that is no longer popular.
They tackle a variety of subjects that illustrate aspects of academic
life, both at Wiko and beyond. Scholarly work is also physical and
may cause ailments, as one card points out. It shows a scholar sitting
and addresses the potential side effects of remaining in this position
for a long time, such as knee stiffness, eye strain, poor blood
circulation, sciatica, and scholar’s elbow. Swans are a recurring
theme in the exhibition due to their presence in the area and nearby
lakes. One card reads “Swans von Koenigsallee/See,” thereby alluding to
Grunewald’s main street, and another asks: “When does it (he) (she)
go when the lake is frozen?” The interplay of form and content evokes
memories, responses, and questions that concern experiences,
observations, and emotions.
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Formats for both research and artmaking have been revolutionized in
recent years. Many Wiko Fellows developed their first research projects
in a pre-computer age. Like them, I recall using index cards to keep
track of references and research findings. Analysis and writing meant
literally spreading the stuff of knowledge out on the desk or across
the room. With the introduction of the computer, this tactile aspect
of thought arrangement disappeared. Over the same period, the visual
arts have tended to adopt more conceptual approaches to their
curriculum and practice: figure drawing courses are no longer obligatory;
some consider painting an “old school” medium. Thus, I use canvases to
record my lecture and field notes on life at Wiko to reflect on these
shifts in practices and my own practice as an artist-scholar. The
“cards” depict particular lectures by Fellows and aspects of Wiko life.
They are meant to be handled, inspected close-up and rearranged,
calling up memories and generating conversation among the public.
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Sustenance
Meals are a high point of the Wiko experience. Food spread on the
buffet for breakfast or lunch, or served by waiters at the weekly
sit-down lunch and dinner stood out dramatically against the white
table cloths and walls of the dining room. I used cutlery to paint
“Fork, Knife, Spoon” with egg tempera composed of kitchen oil, spices,
and condiments after thinking about the movements that are ignored
when people are engaged in a meal-time conversations. The marks
of forks on this “tablecloth” suggest the act of eating, or how several
lines of conversation cross the table, loosened up with a splash of red wine.
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Morning Coffee 2016.
Coffee, glue and gold leaf on paper.25.5 x
39.4 inches/65 x 100 cm
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Cappuccino 2017.
2017. Velum, tissue paper, drawing paper, cof-
fee, ink, acrylic gel, glue. 39 inches/100 cm.
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Espresso 2016.
Velum, paper, coffee, ink, acrylic, glue, gold leaf.
35.4 inches/90 cm.
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Exchanges, Fantasies,
Discoveries
Over the course of the nine months of Tuesdays studying the Fellows
from the back of the room, behind them, the exercise took on the
aspect of an anthropological project – first in terms of gesture, and
then in habits and alliances and, as time went on, in changing habits
and changed alliances. Among the Fellows there were quite a few
anthropologists and biologists, including evolutionary biologists,
entomologists, ornithologists, and so on, which added a certain
amount of unintended irony to my project. The watchers became
the watched.
CL
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Lambe’s series of drawings entitled Listeners exposes the skill of
listening and the richness of bodily communication that accompanies
it. She immersed herself into this activity by attending Tuesday
colloquia that significantly contribute to making Wiko a “space for
intellectual resonance” (Resonanzraum). Wiko’s attempt to foster
exchanges and share across disciplines creates the opportunity to
address questions of difference. Drawing Fellows during the weekly
seminar, Lambe put herself in the position of an observer and a
different kind of listener – one that is attentive to bodily movements,
gestures, and facial expressions. The shift of the focus from speaking
to listening exemplifies the much-needed ability to be receptive to
new ideas and different ways of dealing with the world academically,
albeit not only and not necessarily the ones with which scholars are
familiar. Lambe’s experiments with facsimiles resulted in the multiplication
of the number of listeners, which attracted a lot of attention during
the exhibition opening, especially from Wiko Fellows who pointed at
themselves and recognized their colleagues, often multiple times.
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Listeners #21
Listeners #37
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Listeners #21
Listeners #31
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Listeners #22
Listeners #13
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Listeners #9
Fellows Finding Themselves on the Wall (not Shared Before the Exhibition)
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Discoveries
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Jackets for Books not Written 2017.
12 digital images on photo-paper,
each 7 x 5 inches/18 x 12.5 cm
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I solicited titles from the Fellows with the instruction that, while
they could include a subtitle, there should be no other information
about the book. In some cases, people sent me titles for works they
planned to write or, as I later discovered, books they were in the
process of writing (which was not what I intended and, as such,
blurred the lines between a graphic design project and an art project);
others sent me what I wanted: titles for books that were not written,
for example: Katharina Volk’s Classical Therapy, Lena Lavinas’ Dark Heavens
for Pure Joy and Michael Jennions’ The Lord of the Ringbahn. Jennions did
attempt to walk the 1011 kilometers while he was in Berlin.
CL
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Seasons
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to the natural seasons: in the autumn, initial projects change and fall
like autumn leaves. Ideas are challenged and manuscript drafts are
edited and sometimes discarded in the cold of winter. Spring enthusiasms
mingle with disappointment: no one completes everything they set
out to accomplish while in Berlin.
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Spazieren Gehen (Taking a Stroll) 2017.
Acrylic, ink and paper on linen. 48 x 84.6
inches/122 x 215 cm.
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Acknowledgements
Contributors
Claire Lambe graduated with a BFA in Fine Print from the National
College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland, and earned an MFA in
painting at the City University of New York. In addition to being an
accomplished portraitist, Claire’s work has, for many years, focused
on social and environmental issues. As a long-time educator, she
has been concerned with access to art-making and the accessibility
of art. This led to her setting up a studio in the public library of her
adopted hometown of Woodstock, in upstate New York, where she
painted members of the community over a period of six months in
2015. During a 2016 sojourn in Costa Rica, she made paintings
that commented o n t h e a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f b e a c h f r o n t b y f o r e i g n
d e v e l o p e r s . In her 3D work she has explored the question of
conflicting wishes, both political and environmental.
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Susan Ossman studied history and fine art at UC Berkeley, earned
a DEA in history from the University of Paris VII, then returned to
Berkeley for a Ph.D. in anthropology. Her books include Moving
Matters, Paths of Serial Migration (Stanford, 2013) and Three Faces
of Beauty, Casablanca, Paris Cairo (Duke, 2002). While she has always
made art, often in relation to topics of anthropological fieldwork, it is
only since her 2012 Fabric of Fieldwork Exhibition at the Brunei Gallery
in London that she has developed an ongoing program of exhibition.
Since then, she has shown work in solo and group shows in California,
France, the Netherlands, Romania, and Germany. She has also created
collaborative programs across scholarship and art. On the Line (2013-
2016) shaped an evolving field for generating visual art, performance,
and community engagement. Lifeworks uses anthropological methods
to develop artworks from life stories. The Moving Matters Travelling
Workshop (MMTW) international art/scholarship collective grew out of
her research on serial migration and has created a mobile laboratory
for arts/research experiment.
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how multiple discourses and practices of urban heritage were
mobilized and framed by ongoing changes in the city and engaged
in future-making. Her current research focuses on Berlin, where she
examines the politics and poetics of representation and recognition,
primarily in relation to Islam and heritage-making, as part of the
project Making Differences in Berlin: Transforming Museums and
Heritage in the 21st Century. Katarzyna has authored a number of
publications, including “Memory and Artistic Production in a Post-War
Arab City” (in Post-Conflict Performance, Film and Visual Arts: Cities of
Memory, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and “Saving Beirut: heritage and
the city” (International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2017).
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