Artistic positions from Poznan and Hanover on current social issues
Under the title Urban Spheres, the Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover e.V. is planning a cultural exchange in collaboration with the Mediations Biennale Poznań (Poland) and creative industry players from both cities in the field of visual arts to mark the 40th anniversary of the city partnership between Poznań and Hanover. The exhibition develops artistic positions that take a stand on current social issues, accompanied by side events, initiatives and experts on the topics of urban planning, integration, digitalisation and globalisation.
The project builds on the many years of experience of cooperation between the Kunsthalle Faust and the Mediations Biennale Poznan. It is intended to serve as a starting point for the long-term establishment of the first Poznań-Hanover Biennale organised across two European countries, which, as a project with a European reach, will both provide regional artists with an international stage and enable the regional scene to network with international players. A return visit is planned as part of the Mediations Biennale Poznań 2020.
One focus of Urban Spheres is dedicated to concepts that deal with the appropriation, rededication and de-regulation of public space in a variety of ways and can be read as a counter-project to social developments such as the privatisation of public spaces and buildings. Our cities are increasingly undergoing enormous processes of architectural, social and urban political change. Social restructuring and changing values require a redefinition of urban space in both a positive and negative sense. The upgrading of entire neighbourhoods through redevelopment processes in the context of the transformation from an industrial to a service society, the use of environmentally friendly, digitally based mobility systems and the creation of traffic-calmed city centres go hand in hand with the privatisation of public space, gentrification processes and the simultaneous creation of ‘no-go areas’.
What about the history of a city, what characterises its identity? What future developments are already emerging in today’s urban societies in Poznań and Hanover? Urban Spheres formulates locally specific and generally valid questions in the artistic research field of increasingly radical utopias. This is where the creative approach of the invited artists lies, breaking up familiar structures and formulating new perspectives
Participating artists:
Artur Kłosiński, Małgorzata Kopczyńska, Arkadiusz Marcinkowski, Tomasz Matusewicz, Zbigniew Taszycki (Poznań), Andreas Guskos, Dorota Tołłoczko-Femerling (Stettin), Enric Fort Ballester, Götz Bergmann, Ole Blank, Leona Boltes, Hendryk Claussen, Boris v. Hopfgarten, Jörg Hufschmidt, Maje Mellin, Ulrike Schoeller and Ilka Theurich (Hanover)
Exhibition period:
Saturday, 31 August, until Sunday, 22 September 2019
Vernissage: Friday, 30 August 2019, 7 pm
Opening hours: Thu and Fri 4pm-8pm, Sat and Sun 2pm-6pm
Admission: 3 euros, reduced: 2 euros
Special opening hours during the Zinnober-Kunstvolkslauf:
Saturday, 31 August: 11am-7pm, free admission
Sunday, 1 September: 11 am – 7 pm, free admission
