On 5th July 2007, the German Bundestag passed the Second Act Governing Copyright in the Information Society ("Second Basket" of copyright law reform). Four years after the first reform, a new balance has been struck between the interests of authors, exploiters, equipment producers and end-users, none of whom are, however, especially happy with the compromise solution....
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There's one left. Large, shimmering, made of hundreds of pieces of
mirror, Olafur Eliasson's "Upside-down mirror lamp" in Erich's old lamp
shop, as Berlin's Palast der Republik was nicknamed. On December 31 the last
light will go out.
all photos: Stefan Maria Rother
The
Berlin art scene was late, in fact very late in discovering the Palast
der Republik,
which has been threatened with demolition for years. Very late, but
when they did the impact was great. On Friday December 23, an exhibition is set to open
there, called "36 x 27 x 10". It will run for just nine days before the
building is closed for good at the end of the year. And so at the
eleventh hour, every one that is anyone in contemporary art in Berlin
is closing ranks: Olafur Eliasson and the Biennale artist Thomas
Scheibitz, three of the four nominees for the Nationalgalerie's prize
for Young Art, John Bock, Angela Bullock and Monica Bonvicini, Eberhard Havekost, currently exhibiting in Wolfsburg,
Tacita Dean, Candice Breitz and Rikrit Tiravanija, Christoph
Schlingensief, Björn Melhus, Thomas Demand, Olaf Nicolai and Jeppe
Hein, Gerwald Rockenschaub and Manfred Pernice.
It took ten days
for the show to snowball into existence: one artist rang up the next
and soon there were 36. "There were others who wanted to take part but
we had to draw a line at some point," explains Florian Wojnar from the
art collective Future 7. Eliasson adds: "It would be so easy to do more
impromptu shows like this. We've been looking for this kind of a location for a
long time."
The room is a white exhibition space, 36 by 27 by 10
metres in size, which was left over from the last exhibition "Fraktale
IV". A classic white cube, generous, brightly lit and monumental. It is
the sort of art museum Berlin's artists have always wanted. Because the
museums, the Hamburger Bahnhof and the Neue Nationalgalerie,
do not
sufficiently reflect the rich art scene, in most people's opinion. A
proper home for contemporary art in a central location in Berlin, open
for a dialogue between art and society – that's hardly a new demand.
What's new is that this much commitment is so soundly and convincingly
demonstrated.
It doesn't have much to do with the the historic
Palast der Republik any more though, lamps or no lamps. The demolition
date in January was recently confirmed once again buy all governing
parties and the exhibition will certainly not be able to prevent it
going ahead. However the exhibition does have the character of a demonstration, and is more like a dialogue between the artworks than a
carefully curated show. Rikrit Tiravanija shows the towel that
has accompanied him ever since he arrived in Berlin. Christoph
Schlingensief recycled the stage set from his "Parsifal" in Bayreuth,
John Bock integrated the child of Thomas Scheibitz in his
"Babyshambles" installation, and Franz Ackermann shows a monumental
painting "Zugang zum Meer" (access to the sea).
Berlin on the sea
is an old pipe dream, no more likely than that the Palast will stay
standing. But one thing has been made very clear: how rich the Berlin
art scene is, how rare it is to witness such a display of unity and how
desperately necessary this sort of arena is for young art. This is far
more than just an articulation of fun culture of the type that reared
its ugly head in some of the "Zwischennutzung" (interim use) projects
of last summer, and there is also more to it than morbid romanticism of
the great gutted ruin of a building.
While the Museumsinsel is
being meticulously restored, just over the road, a lively art location
could come into being at relatively little expense, which the artists
would embrace and fill. With art for which Berlin is globally known and
treasured. It is one of the greatest virtues which the city could put
to work, if it only wanted to. But this involve a light going on
with those in charge, and it would need to be at least the size of
Eliasson's mirror lamp.
Palast der Republik, 23 - 31 December, 2:00 - 10:00 pm. Info: www.white-cube-berlin.de
*
The article originally appeared in the Tagesspiegel on 21 December, 2005.
Christina Tilmann is the arts editor of the Tagesspiegel.
Translation: lp.
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