Deutscher Pavillon

31/12/2024

Thresholds
German Pavillon 2024
60TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION
La Biennale die Venezia

Commissioner: ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
Curator: Çağla Ilk
Artists: Michael Akstaller, Yael Bartana, Nicole L’Huillier, Ersan Mondtag, Robert Lippok, Jan St. Werner

Chroniclers: Louis Chude-Sokei, Georgi Gospodinov
Dramaturgy:: Ludwig Haugk
Assistant Curator: Sandeep Sodhi

Team Yael Bartana: Daniel Meir , Matthias Singer , Oren Sagiv, Richard Gabriel Gersch, Assaf Kimmel, Simon Veroneg, Mor Bashan, Marie von Federlin, Daphna Keenan, Richard Gabriel Gersch, Gilad BenDavid, Adi Nachman, Saskia Wendland
Team Ersan Mondtag: Beni Brachtel , Josa Marx, Lorenz Stöger, Frank Büttner, Marina Galic, Jonas Grundner-Culemann, Eva-Maria Keller, Tina Keserović, Theresa Maria Schlichtherle, Felice Kaufmann, Arianna Addonizio, Michaela Mochiutti, Renato Nuvolazzi, Adriano Lurissevich,, Marcangelo Gagliardi, Lucia Codolo, Asya Donadel, Alexandra Brett, Cristiano Moioli, ChristianoParolin
Team Nicole L’Huillier – Ina Ritter , Justus Saretz
Team Robert Lippok – Justus Saretz, David Anton
Team Jan St. Werner: Jan Bernstein, Rudyard Schmidt

WITH

Alessandra Messali, Clemens Kusch/ Martin Weigert, Dmitry Ryabkov, Mattia Biadene, Rudyard Schmidt, Venezia Certosa Marina, Henriette Sölter, Jenni Schmitt, Matter Of , Ballhaus West. Marco Carrino, Giulia Brondin, Leonardo Dubois, Emma de Felice, Fabio Lapenna, Andrea Pani, Alessia Sala

18/11/2024

ERSAN MONDTAG – MONUMENT EINES UNBEKANNTEN MENSCHEN (MONUMENT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN)
Live performances will be held on the last weekend of the Biennale on
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11.00 to 5.30pm on 22. -23.-24.11.

In a droplet-shaped structure with three levels to explore, Ersan Mondtag gathers the fragments of a life: the world of work, housing, and public space. In this world, figures move like quotations of an everyday life that is past and cannot be reconstructed clearly. It is a search through the dust of unwritten history, its starting point is the biography of Mondtag’s grandfather, Hasan Aygün.

Life unfolds as a walkable architecture, allowing performers and visitors to move freely.

Performers: Jonas Grundner-Culemann Tina Keserović .actor_y
Arianna Addonizio

Composition, Sound Installation, Conductor:
Costume:
Artistic Assistant: .stoeger
Performance Coordination:
Director of Photography/Editing: Felice Kaufmann
Costume Production in cooperation with
Tailors: , , , ,
Men‘s Costume Designer:
Women‘s Costume Designer:
Costume Handling:
Costume Director:

Video Living Room
Director/Editing: Beni Brachtel
Camera: Gabriel Wolf
Saz and Vocals: Haci Aygün
Orchestra: Munich Symphony Orchestra
Sound Engineer for Recording: Georg Obermayer
Studio Recording Management by Beni Brachtel: Daniel Door
Choir Recording: Emanuele Wiltsch / Cosmogram

THRESHOLDS German Pavilion & La Certosa
2024
Curator:
Commissioner: .de .visualarts

03/11/2024

Today for the last time
Performance - ERSAN MONDTAG –MONUMENT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN
02.-03. November between 10.30-14.30

In a droplet-shaped structure with three levels to explore, Ersan Mondtag gathers the fragments of a life: the world of work, housing, and public space. In this world, figures move like quotations of an everyday life that is past and cannot be reconstructed clearly. It is a search through the dust of unwritten history, its starting point is the biography of Mondtag’s grandfather, Hasan Aygün.

Life unfolds as a walkable architecture, allowing performers and visitors to move freely.

Performers: 
Arianna Addonizio 

Composition, Sound Installation, Conductor: 
Costume: 
Artistic Assistant: .stoeger
Performance Coordination: 
Director of Photography/Editing: Felice Kaufmann 
Costume Production in cooperation with  blnensemble
Tailors:  ,  ,  ,  , 
Men‘s Costume Designer: 
Women‘s Costume Designer: 
Costume Handling: 
Costume Director: 

Video Living Room
Director/Editing: Beni Brachtel
Camera: Gabriel Wolf
Saz and Vocals: Haci Aygün
Orchestra: Munich Symphony Orchestra
Sound Engineer for Recording: Georg Obermayer
Studio Recording Management by Beni Brachtel: Daniel Door
Choir Recording: Emanuele Wiltsch / Cosmogram

THRESHOLDS German Pavilion & La Certosa 
2024
Curator: 
Commissioner: .de .visualarts

29/10/2024

Performance - ERSAN MONDTAG –MONUMENT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN
02.-03. November between 10.30-14.30

In a droplet-shaped structure with three levels to explore, Ersan Mondtag gathers the fragments of a life: the world of work, housing, and public space. In this world, figures move like quotations of an everyday life that is past and cannot be reconstructed clearly. It is a search through the dust of unwritten history, its starting point is the biography of Mondtag’s grandfather, Hasan Aygün.

Life unfolds as a walkable architecture, allowing performers and visitors to move freely.

Performers: 
Arianna Addonizio  

Composition, Sound Installation, Conductor: 
Costume: 
Artistic Assistant: .stoeger
Performance Coordination: 
Director of Photography/Editing: Felice Kaufmann 
Costume Production in cooperation with 
Tailors:  ,  ,  ,  , 
Men‘s Costume Designer: 
Women‘s Costume Designer: 
Costume Handling: 
Costume Director: 

Video Living Room
Director/Editing: Beni Brachtel
Camera: Gabriel Wolf
Saz and Vocals: Haci Aygün
Orchestra: Munich Symphony Orchestra
Sound Engineer for Recording: Georg Obermayer
Studio Recording Management by Beni Brachtel: Daniel Door
Choir Recording: Emanuele Wiltsch / Cosmogram

THRESHOLDS German Pavilion & La Certosa 
2024
Curator: 
Commissioner: .de .visualarts

10/10/2024

Echologues
Performance
12 October Saturday/Sunday 17.00-20.00
In the ruin on the island of La Certosa

On 12 and 13 October, artist and noise musician Marco Fusinato and bagpiper Erwan Keravec will join Jan St. Werner in the ruins of La Certosa and around the island for a collective performance that questions our perception of sound. What unites these three artists is their critical engagement with how sound influences our spatial perception and their interest in different frequency tones. In the performance, Fusinato, Keravec and Werner will experiment with how sound deconstructs the very notion of boundaries and thresholds.

Marco Fusinato is a contemporary artist and noise musician whose work takes the form of installation, photographic reproduction, performance and recording. Fusinato was selected to represent Australia at the 2022 Venice Biennale, where he presented DESASTRES, a 200-day performance as an installation, and his work and performances have been presented around the world, including several editions of the Venice Biennale, MoMA New York, Sao Paolo Biennale, Sydney Biennale, Glasgow International, Berlin Atonal and Unsound Kraków.

Erwan Keravec is a highland bagpiper, composer and improviser. In search of more unusual sounds and ways of playing and listening to his instrument, far from its original cultural environment, he explores improvised music, free and ‘noise’ jazz, and establishing a repertoire of contemporary music for solo pipes, trio with solo voice and with choir. With an interest in movement and settings associated with reinvention, he also writes, plays and improvises for dance.

08/10/2024

Echologues
Talk with Nikola Bojić and Jan St. Werner moderated ny Çağla Ilk
11th October Friday at 4.30
German Pavillon in Giardini

In a joint discussion artist, scholar and researcher Nikola Bojić and Jan St Werner will come together to explore Volumes Inverted through the ongoing spatial and sound related research of Bojić.

With his work Volumes Inverted Jan St Werner questions our spatial awareness by introducing us to the phenomena of high-frequency acoustic spectra that manifest themselves as hallucinations in the auditory system. Werner critically engages in how our spatial awareness is an ongoing negotiation between our mind and senses.

Bojić on the other hand looks into the modes of spatial production and perception across multiple scales and thematic registers.

In a conversation moderated by Cagla Ilk, the two artists and thinkers will talk about their respective work and engage in a critical discussion on space, sound and our surroundings.

Nikola Bojić is an artist, researcher, and educator exploring the relationships between space, technology, and future(s). His projects have been exhibited internationally, including at the Triennale di Milano, Venice Biennale, Taipei Biennial, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and ZKM in Karlsruhe. He was a visiting lecturer at MIT’s Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT), where he co-taught an advanced studio on the production of space. He is currently an assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Art in Zagreb and an affiliate researcher at MIT. Nikola holds a master’s degree in Art History and Information Sciences from the University of Zagreb and a postgraduate master’s degree in design studies from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

Jan St. Werner is co-founder of the music group Mouse on Mars and releases music under his own name via the Edition Fiepblattercatalog. He has realized sound interventions and exhibitions in art spaces such as the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2023), Lenbachhaus Munich (2023), HKW Berlin (2021)From 2017 to 2021 he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. Jan St. Werner lives in Berlin

04/10/2024

Acoustic fields
Performance & Talk between Robert Lippok and Ludwig Haugk
German Pavilion in Giardini
08. October Tuesday
Performance 3.00 pm
Talk 4.00 pm

For his work Feld, Robert Lippok installed a sonic mesh in the ground on the island of La Certosa to create an asymmetrical field that is not restricted by borders but by the magnetism of its soundscape. Lippok also integrated sounds from the building of the German Pavilion into his composition, creating a bridge between La Certosa and the historically charged building in the Giardini. With a performance in the Giardini in front of the German Pavilion, Lippok once again generates an immaterial connection between these two places and focalizes the notion of sound knowing no borders.
Following the performance, Lippok and dramaturg Ludwig Haugk will engage in a conversation about history, fields and what all this has to do with the GDR.

24/09/2024

Speculative fictions
Talk between Reza Negarestani and Yael Bartana
German Pavilion in the Giardini
26.September Thursday at 5 p.m

In a joint discussion, two internationally renowned thinkers Reza Negarestani and Yael Bartana will come together to explore Light To The Nations through Negarestani’s book Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials (Anomaly) and enable a reading linked to todays contemporary world politics and a shift in perspectives.

In his book Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials (Anomaly), author and philosopher Reza Negarestani combines an archaeology of the Middle East and a natural history of the world with the frightening prospects of contemporary global politics. The book is a theoretical fiction that intertwines the struggles and conflicts of crisis regions with speculative theology, history and philosophy to create a powerful narrative about the dreams of the earth’s uprising against the sun.

In her work Light To The Nations, Yael Bartana designs a generational ship that will transport humanity to new galaxies and planets in an act of salvation. Named after a passage from the Book of Isaiah calling for leadership, the generation ship serves humanity in the face of the man-made environmental and political destruction of Planet Earth. In her work, Bartana creates the vision of a speculative future that oscillates between dystopia and utopia, leaving behind traditional notions of space, land, and human connection to Earth.

Reza Negarestani is a philosopher. He has contributed extensively to journals and anthologies and lectured at numerous international universities and institutes. His current philosophical project is focused on rationalist universalism beginning with the evolution of the modern system of knowledge and advancing toward contemporary philosophies of rationalism, their procedures as well as their demands for special forms of human conduct. He is the author of Cyclonopedia (re.press, 2008) and Intelligence and Spirit (MIT Press, Urbanomic, 2018).

17/05/2024

10/05/2024

From TODAY, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: PERFORMANCES at Ersan Mondtag’s MONUMENT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN

counters the pavilion’s fascist architecture oriented towards eternity with a “monument” whose intellectual center is the question of collective memory. What do we take with us, what do we leave behind?

In a droplet-shaped structure with three levels to explore, he gathers the fragments of a life: the world of work, housing, and public space. In this world, figures move like quotations of an everyday life that is past and cannot be reconstructed clearly. It is a search through the dust of unwritten history, its starting point is the biography of Mondtag’s grandfather, Hasan Aygün.

Life unfolds as a walkable architecture, allowing performers and visitors to move freely. Live performances will be held every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 12.30 to 5.30pm.

ERSAN MONDTAG – MONUMENT EINES UNBEKANNTEN MENSCHEN (MONUMENT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN)

Performers:    Jonas Grundner-Culemann   Tina Keserović .actor_y Arianna Addonizio  

Composition, Sound Installation, Conductor: 
Costume: 
Artistic Assistant: .stoeger
Performance Coordination: 
Director of Photography/Editing: Felice Kaufmann 
Costume Production in cooperation with 
Tailors:  ,  ,  ,  , 
Men‘s Costume Designer: 
Women‘s Costume Designer: 
Costume Handling: 
Costume Director: 

Video Living Room
Director/Editing: Beni Brachtel
Camera: Gabriel Wolf
Saz and Vocals: Haci Aygün
Orchestra: Munich Symphony Orchestra
Sound Engineer for Orchestra Recording: Georg Obermayer
Studio Recording Management by Beni Brachtel: Daniel Door
Choir Recording: Emanuele Wiltsch / Cosmogram

THRESHOLDS German Pavilion & La Certosa 
 di Venezia 2024
Curator: 
Commissioner: .de .visualarts

01/05/2024

„In recognition of our origins and histories, and in dialogue with these places in Venice, we designed Thresholds together as a transdisciplinary work that acknowledges our own limitations. In this collaboration as a network that uses walls and leaves them behind, we are seeking something like hope in times that offer no grounds for it.“

In this sense, we take the opportunity here to share our appreciation for everyone involved in ’Thresholds‘.

First and foremost for the artists Michael Akstaller, Yael Bartana, Nicole L’Huillier, Ersan Mondtag, Robert Lippok and Jan St. Werner, as well as their teams.

– Daniel Meir; Matthias Singer; Oren Sagiv; Richard Gabriel Gersch; Adi Nachman; Shelley Harten as well as Gilad BenDavid; Saskia Wendland and everyone involved in ‚Light To The Nations, 2022–2024‘.

– Ina Ritter and Justus Saretz.

– Beni Brachtel; Josa Marx; Lorenz Stöger; Frank Büttner, Marina Galic, Jonas Grundner-Culemann, Eva-Maria Keller and Tina Keserović; Theresa Maria Schlichtherle; Felice Kaufmann; Berliner Ensemble and Carlotta Kämmer, Judith Nikolova, Julica Petersen, Frank Haselhorst, Andreas Kluke; Uta Rosi; Anja Sonnen; Svenja Niehaus and Elina Schnizler and everyone else making ‚Monument eines unbekannten Menschen‘ possible.

– Justus Saretz; David Anton and Rudyard Schmidt.

– Jan Bernstein and Rudyard Schmidt; Greg Kappes, Chris Haworth and Marcin Pietruszewski.

It is our true pleasure to express our gratitude also to our chroniclers Louis Chude-Sokei and Georgi Gospodinov as well as to all our colleagues, collaborators, comrades, friends, partners and supporters: ’Thresholds‘ wouldn’t be possible without you!

Last but not least, we would like to share our thanks to everyone who already has visited us. We are still overwhelmed by the warm responses, the honest feedback and support to the German Pavilion, both at the Giardini and at the island La Certosa.

Looking forward to everyone entering the world of ’Thresholds‘.


German Pavilion & La Certosa
.visualarts .de
April 20 – November 24, 2024

26/04/2024

Save the date and join the artist walk and talk and the activations at the German Pavilion on La Certosa.

‚Thresholds‘ is the first exhibition from the German representation to leave the German Pavilion, located in the Giardini. This outward step is a signal against the nation-state orientation of the Biennale’s garden. The island of La Certosa, as a park open to the public in the city of Venice, serves as a kind of antithesis to the walled territory of the countries representing themselves. ‚Thresholds‘ on the Island thus engages in a critical dialogue with both the pavilion and the Giardini.

27.04. 4 – 5 pm : Artist walk + talk tour with
28.04. 4 – 5 pm : Performance + Activation of Encuentros by
Meeting point: Thresholds by Louis Chude-Sokei (when stepping from the jetty onto the island upon arrival)

At the rear of the island La Certosa, beyond the old fortress walls, lies a small forest. This area used to be separate, but as a result of climate change and landfills, two islands became one. This is the spot where Michael Akstaller examines the acoustic peculiarity of forests and groups of trees with his work ‚Scattered by the Trees‘. This is where his guided tour will lead you. During the artist talk and walk, you will also gain insights into the work of Robert Lippok and Jan St. Werner.

Ambiguity, belonging, and codes of communication are fundamental to the work of Nicole L’Huillier. With ‚Encuentros‘, she developed a transceiver system that translates the island’s sounds into varying frequencies and mixes artificial and natural sounds into an acoustic space.
At the center of her performance is an invitation to activate your imagination in a vibrational way: in order to decenter, rearrange, and possibly unlearn some of the static and rigid things you’ve been taught – through resonance.

LA CERTOSA
Scattered by the Trees, 2024
Encuentros, 2024
Feld, 2024
Volumes Inverted, 2024
Thresholds, 2024

THRESHOLDS German Pavilion & La Certosa
di Venezia 2024
Curator: