From September 2023 to early February 2024, the Goethe-Institut Montreal, in cooperation with the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), presents a programme of 20 video works from n.b.k Video-Forum’s extensive video art collection, curated by Anna Lena Seiser (Head of Collection n.b.k. Video-Forum).
On display are videos by renowned artists from Germany, such as Hito Steyerl, Alicia Kwade and Antje Ehmann, who are no strangers to Quebec - but also video works by international artists, such as Pilvi Takala, Richard Serra and Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries.
On the one hand, the selected works reflect - sometimes critically, but also humorously - the geographical position of the projection screens at the Goethe-Institut Montreal, in the middle of the city, at a busy intersection on Ontario Street and St. Laurent Boulevard, i.e. a place of urban passage, but on the other hand they also represent the diversity of the n.b.k. Video-Forum collection.
The individual films will each be shown for a week from sunset to 2:00 a.m. on the three external projection screens of the Goethe-Institut Montreal at 1626 Boul. St-Laurent, and can be viewed on an indoor screen during the Institut's opening hours.
Founded in 1969 in Berlin, the Neue Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) is dedicated to promoting contemporary art.
The project was prompted by the anniversaries of the collaborating institutions - in 2022 the Goethe-Institut Montreal celebrated its 60th anniversary, and in 2021 the n.b.k. Video Forum looked back on 50 years of activity. Founded in 1971 on the initiative of artists and cultural producers in Berlin, the Video-Forum is the oldest and largest video art collection in Germany with 1,700 works of international video art. The collection focuses on Fluxus, feminist video practice, historical and contemporary video art from Berlin and media-reflexive approaches.
List of works:
Wolf Kahlen, S.C.H.A.F.E., 1975
Lucia Tkácová / Anetta Mona Chisa, How to make a Revolution, 2006
Hito Steyerl, Strike, 2010
Stefan Panhans, SORRY, 2010
Alicja Kwade, In Ewig den Zufall betrachtend, 2014
Harun Farocki, Umgießen, 2010
Tomas Schmit, e-constellations, 2004
Pilvi Takala, Worker’s Forum, 2015
Antje Ehmann / Eva Stotz, Labour in a Single Shot: Marseille. Potrait of a City, 2018
Corinna Schnitt, Once upon the time, 2006
Denis Beaubois, In the event of amnesia the city will recall … , 1997
Kristina Paustian, Positions, 2018
Eli Cortiñas, Walls Have Feelings, 2019
Richard Serra / Nancy Holt, Boomerang, 1974
Asta Gröting, PARKEN, 2001
Lerato Shadi, Selogilwe, 2010
Claus Böhmler, Record Archive on Videotape, 1987
Les Levine, I am an Artist, 1979
Michael Geißler / Rosalia Müller, Video – Ich sehe mich / Mimikry, 1977
Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of their Desparation, 2013
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, A CRISIS OF EVERYTHING AND NOTHING, 2023
