der Legende nach at Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen

der Legende nach presents works from the collection of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen alongside selected contemporary positions. The exhibition is informed by a reflection on the concept of “notation,” which refers to a system composed of signs and symbols that identifies, describes, or depicts. A notation can be either an action or a method, and it can serve as both a tool for transmission and a vehicle for information.

Sequences, gestures, and ideas are captured in nonlinear processes for the purpose of documentation and (re)production; these processes involve the structuring, categorization, and standardization of the material. The clarity, legibility, and thus supposed functionality of a notation require the use of agreed-upon signs, which, however, are never neutral or fully representative.

Moments of subjectivity and elasticity can be reflected in both consistency and deviation. The (re)translation of information assumes that something is repeatable, yet this reproducibility initially remains an assertion. Here, intended or unplanned “errors” in a transmission are understood as possibilities: They mark the limits of systems and test the potential for constructive change.

The exhibition brings together works that appropriate established systems or actively subvert them, thereby developing individual signatures or new vocabularies. Others direct (re)performances, manipulate reproductions, or address questions of documentation using different media. In this respect, notations, in der Legende nach, do not necessarily appear as actions or methods. Instead, they are employed as a conceptual filter, to highlight certain aspects of the works and stimulate reflection on production, transformation, and interpretation.