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:

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.
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.
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.
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

10h00

David Zink Yi, Pneuma, 2010
1 min 25 sec
Donation 2012 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus

Denis Savary, La Courtisane, 2004
1 min 58 sec
Acquisition 2005

Laure Tixier, Toontown Année Zéro, 2000
3 min 30 sec
Acquisition 2001

Mark Lewis, Brass Rail, 2003
3 min 54 sec
Acquisition 2004

GCC, CO-OP, 2014
4 min 8 sec
Donation 2015 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus

Lucia Nimcová, Double Coding, 2010
5 min 14 sec
Acquisition 2011

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
Acquisition 2005

Yazid Oulab, Percussion graphique, 2004
8 min 55 sec
Donation 2006 – Anonyme

11h00

Mark Dean, Goin’ Back (The Birds/ The Byrds x 32 +1), 1997
9 min 35 sec
Acquisition 2000

Raphaël Zarka, Gibellina Vecchia, 2010
11 min 7 sec
Acquisition 2011

Philippe Parreno, The Boy from Mars, 2003
Musique : Devendra Banhart
11 min 9 sec
Acquisition 2003

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

12h00

Cecilia Bengolea, Deary Steel, 2022
13 min 14 sec
Acquisition 2022

Wael Shawky, The Cave (Istanbul), 2004
13 min 22 sec
Acquisition 2006

François Roche / R&Sie(n), I’ve heard about, 2005
15 min 6 sec
Acquisition 2007

Orit Ben-Shitrit, VIVE LE CAPITAL, 2010-2012
15 min 41 sec
Acquisition 2013

13h00

Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Hiroshima Art Document, 1998
15 min 43 sec
Donation 2007 – De l’artiste

Janaina Tschäpe, As Camaleoas, 2002
17 min
Acquisition 2002

Camille Sauthier, Notre Jardin, 2006
17 min 16 sec
Acquisition 2007

13h55

Jean-Louis Schuller, Chungking Dream, 2008
17 min 23 sec
Acquisition 2008

John Wood et Paul Harrison, Semi Automatic Painting Machine, 2014
19 min 36 sec
Acquisition 2015

Yves Netzhammer, Adressen unmöglicher Orte, 2009
Musique : Bernd Schurer
22 min 12 sec
Acquisition 2010

14h55

Hussein Chalayan, Anaesthetics, 2004
22 min 22 sec
Acquisition 2004

Beatrice Gibson, The Tiger’s Mind, 2012
23 min 40 sec
Donation 2016 – Baloise Group

15h45

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
Acquisition 2012

16h45

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
Acquisition 2011

Antoine Prum, Mondo Veneziano, High Noon in the Sinking City, 2005
32 min 50 sec
Acquisition 2009

Wednesdays only

17h50

João Penalva, Kitsune, 2001
57 min
Acquisition 2001

18h50

Philipp Goldbach, Hikari 275, 2004
1 h 34 min 41 sec
Donation 2013 – Stephanie et Patrick Majerus