Hi Ventilation at Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof

Artists: assume vivid astro focus (avaf), Fion Pellacini, Marvin Moises Almaraz Dosal, Henry Andersen, Elisa Barrera, La Bruja de Texcoco, Vanessa Conte, Gina Fischli, Bryana Fritz, Egon Van Herreweghe, Thomas Min, Magnus Hvidtfeldt, William Joys, Nina Kuttler, Shira Lewis, Sam Lewitt, Line Lyhne, Melissa E. Logan, Magdalena Los, Fernando Marques Penteado, Isamu Marsden, Ohio Magazin, The Open Mouth, one mother, Hélène Padoux, David Reiber Otàlora, Niclas Riepshoff, Mark von Schlegell, Pablo Schlumberger, Aleen Solari, Hoda Tawakol, Natyada Tawonsri, Gesa Troch, Yulia Wagner, Emma Wilson, Alison Yip

Exhibition title: Hi Ventilation

Curated by: Rebekka Seubert

Venue: Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg, Germany

Date: September 22 – November 10, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof

Hi Ventilation, show me your winding winds and breathe some air into the corners! Let’s pretend we’re trains, let’s roll together, let‘s train surf and challenge structures, let’s find fresh air and free spaces!

During play, relationships can be shifted and reversed; social bonds and new ideas can emerge during free experi-mentation. During the dark times of 1938, Johan Huizinga formulated his idea of the „Homo Ludens“—the playing human being at the origin of culture—and defended the opening of possibilities in narrow times. In reflecting on what a Kunstverein can be, we wish to build upon this term with this exhibition: because to make a difference, we have to keep moving. Movement, physical experience, and challenging norms are central to the work of assume vivid astro focus (avaf). For the 2004 Whitney Biennale, they built their first roller skating rink in New York’s Cen-tral Park as a tribute to the local roller skating community. Their aim was to set people into motion and give them space to express themselves on the ground offered by art, thus bringing about change. For the 20th anniversary of Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, we are delighted that avaf have designed a site-specific roller skate rink for our exhibition hall, making extensive reference to the former colonial architecture and history of the waiting room at Harburger Bahnhof. To mark the anniversary, you can explore the Kunstverein’s exhibition hall with or without roller skates and glide through a panorama full of botanical and animistic border crossings and challenges, with new works by Melissa E. Logan / chicks on speed (born 1970 in New York, lives in Hamburg), David Reiber Otálo-ra (born 1992 in Münster, lives in Berlin), Niclas Riepshoff (born 1992 in Bremen, lives in Berlin), Aleen Solari (born 1982 in Bielefeld, lives in Hamburg), Hoda Tawakol (born 1968 in London, lives in Hamburg), and Alison Yip (born in Calgary, lives in Brussels).

This panorama is contrasted by the sculpture Humpty Dumpty by Fion Pellacini (born 1986, lives in Hamburg), a to-scale reproduction of an Eton Fives playing field. Eton Fives is a niche British sport that was created in the 19th century. It originated on the outside wall of the chapel at Eton College and is played against the wall with the bare hand and a ball at boarding schools all over the world. Its very specific playing-field architecture can be under-stood as an image of asymmetrical conditions. Like a diorama, it invites us to renegotiate them as a kind of spatial symbolism. The Eton Fives Court at the Kunstverein is thus available as a space for a workshop and as an exhibi-tion space within the exhibition space throughout the fall for the weekly changing Five in Fives series of exhibi-tions, opening every Wednesday. The series negotiates issues connected with the structure of an art association, Kunstverein: games, the body, networks, gardens, and the train that will carry us and our association forward into the next 20 years!

Installation view at the front: avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, Thirsty (painting on DJ booth) by Alison Yip, 2019, at the back: Humpty Dumpty (Eton Fives Court) by Fion Pellacini, 2019

Installation view at the front: avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, Sind durstig (sculptures) by Niclas Riepshoff, 2017, at the back: Lure #15, Lure #18 (textile sculpture) by Hoda Tawakol, 2019

Sind durstig (sculptures) by Niclas Riepshoff, 2017

Hi Ventilation, 2019, exhibition view, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof

Thirsty (painting on DJ booth) by Alison Yip, 2019

Hi Ventilation, 2019, exhibition view, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof

Humpty Dumpty (Eton Fives Court) by Fion Pellacini, 2019

Installation view at the front: avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, Flags by Melissa E. Logan, 2019, at the back: Lure #15, Lure #18 (textile sculpture) by Hoda Tawakol, 2019

Flags by Melissa E. Logan, 2019

At the front: Lure #18 (textile sculpture) by Hoda Tawakol, 2019, At the back: Flags by Melissa E. Logan, 2019

Lure #18 (textile sculpture) by Hoda Tawakol, 2019

transrugs (dancing rugs) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019

METEOR (Blepharis Pruinosa): Platz an den Sonnen wallpainting by David Reiber Otálora

Installation view Bar Putti (installation) by Pablo Schlumberger, 2019, avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, Tränenkette (mirror sculpture) by Niclas Riepshoff, 2019

avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, Tränenkette (mirror sculpture) by Niclas Riepshoff, 2019

Tränenkette (mirror sculpture) by Niclas Riepshoff, 2019

Installation view ‘til my legs felt like stone, Philadelphia P.A. by Aleen Solari, 2019, Flags by Melissa E. Logan, 2019, Join AIRE prints by Natyada Tawonsri, 2019

We Are Here (painting) by Natyada Tawonsri, 2019

Installation view avaf (roller rink) by assume vivid astro focus, 2019, transrugs (dancing rugs) by assumevividastrofocus, 2019, Flags by Melissa E. Logan, 2019

transrugs (dancing rugs) by assumevividastrofocus, 2019

Hi Ventilation, 2019, exhibition view, Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof