Deep Deep Down

Collections are only exhibited to a small extent. Much of the art rarely sees the light of day. What if we rendered more obvious a collection’s natural state of being instead? Not to mourn its life in the shadows but to make it understandable and sensational. In every sense of the term. To do so, one would use quantitative criteria instead of thematic or formal ones. One would also embrace the backstage tools – crates, Excel files, jpegs, backstage devices – as clearly visible parts of the curatorial process.

This in an attempt to turn a public collection into something one can grasp intellectually and physically. In short, we decided to exhibit as much of the collection as possible.

However, cramming the rooms with art is a far more biased affair than defining clear parameters, step by step. Which is why we proposed the curatorial criteria below:

1. In the galleries, we retained only one work per artist, the one that appears first in the indexical listing. We then excluded works with specific instructions or unclear documentation.
2. From the remaining items, we began with the smallest, thereby producing a ‘Brazil nut effect’: smaller elements separate from larger ones to create a visual arrangement of their own accord.
3. The remaining two-dimensional items are displayed in the East Gallery sorted by size. More are displayed in alphabetical order (by artist surname) in the West Gallery. Sculptural work is also displayed in the West Gallery while audiovisual work is projected in the Auditorium.
4. As many remaining items as possible are exhibited within crates. With their help we created a scenography that serves as a stage for discussion, programming and more.

The curators

Shirana Shahbazi first studied photography at the Fachhochschule, Dortmund before joining the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zürich. Her work has been the subject of monographic exhibitions in numerous institutions, notably Kunsthaus Hamburg (2018); Istituto Svizzero, Milan (2018); Museum Fotogalleriet, Oslo (2017); KINDL, Berlin (2017), and Kunsthalle Bern (2014). In 2005, she participated in the 51st Venice Bienniale. Her work is part of the collections of Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim Museum, New York; MoMA, New York, and Migros Museum, Zürich, among others. In 2019, Shahbazi was awarded the Meret Oppenheim Prize.

Tirdad Zolghadr is a curator and writer. He teaches at the Graduate School, Universität der Künste Berlin. His writing includes fiction as well as publications based on extensive curatorial research, such as REALTY: Beyond the Traditional Blueprints of Art & Gentrification (Hatje Cantz, 2022). Recent curatorial work includes an associate curatorship at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017–20), but also biennals, as well as long-term collective initiatives.

Screening programme

David Zink Yi, Pneuma, 2010. 1 min 25 sec. Donation 2012 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus
Denis Savary, La Courtisane, 2004. 1 min 58 sec
Laure Tixier, Toontown Année Zéro, 2000 . 3 min 30 sec
Mark Lewis, Brass Rail, 2003. 3 min 54 sec
GCC, CO-OP, 2014. 4 min 8 sec. Donation 2015 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus
Lucia Nimcová, Double Coding, 2010 . 5 min 14 sec
Robert Breer, Jamestown Baloo’s, 1957. 5 min 25 sec. Donation 2003 – Anonyme
Sven Johne, Elmenhorst, 2006. 6 min 20 sec. Donation 2016 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus
Valérie Mréjen, Portraits Filmés 2, 2003. 8 min 20 sec
Yazid Oulab, Percussion graphique, 2004. 8 min 55 sec. Donation 2006 – Anonyme
Mark Dean, Goin’ Back (The Birds/ The Byrds x 32 +1), 1997. 9 min 35 sec
Raphaël Zarka, Gibellina Vecchia, 2010. 11 min 7 sec
Philippe Parreno, The Boy from Mars, 2003. Musique : Devendra Banhart. 11 min 9 sec
Gonzalo Lebrija, Golden Hours, 2015. 11 min 21 sec. Donation 2015 – Allen & Overy
Helena Almeida, A Experiência do Lugar II, 2004. 12 min 55 sec. Donation 2006 – Reginald Neuman
Cecilia Bengolea, Deary Steel, 2022. 13 min 14 sec
Wael Shawky, The Cave (Istanbul), 2004. 13 min 22 sec
François Roche / R&Sie(n), I’ve heard about, 2005. 15 min 6 sec
Orit Ben-Shitrit, VIVE LE CAPITAL, 2010–2012. 15 min 41 sec
Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Hiroshima Art Document, 1998. 15 min 43 sec. Donation 2007 – De l’artiste
Janaina Tschäpe, As Camaleoas, 2002. 17 min
Camille Sauthier, Notre Jardin, 2006. 17 min 16 sec
Jean-Louis Schuller, Chungking Dream, 2008. 17 min 23 sec
John Wood et Paul Harrison, Semi Automatic Painting Machine, 2014. 19 min 36 sec
Yves Netzhammer, Adressen unmöglicher Orte, 2009. Musique : Bernd Schurer. 22 min 12 sec
Hussein Chalayan, Anaesthetics, 2004. 22 min 22 sec
Beatrice Gibson, The Tiger’s Mind, 2012. 23 min 40 sec. Donation 2016 – Baloise Group
Chto Delat/What is to be done?, Partisan Songspiel. A Belgrade Story, 2009. Musique : Mikhail Krutik. 29 min 27 sec. Donation 2009 – KBL European Private Bankers
Ciprian Mureşan, Dog Luv, 2009. 30 min 32 sec
Eva Kot’átková, Controlled Memory Loss, 2009. Exercise n°1 – Hanging. Exercise n°2 – Mound. Exercise n°3 – Sitting, Standing, Lying. Exercise n°4 – Home Reconstruction. 32 min
Antoine Prum, Mondo Veneziano, High Noon in the Sinking City, 2005. 32 min 50 sec
João Penalva, Kitsune, 2001. 57 min
Philipp Goldbach, Hikari 275, 2004. 1 h 34 min 41 sec. Donation 2013 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus