The fifth column
The Explosive Power of a Smith Corona

With Danh Vo’s reconstruction and simultaneous deconstruction of the Statue of Liberty, Kunsthalle Fridericianum is once again paying tribute to the eventful history of its building as an icon of German Enlightenment – a history than can be assessed in different ways... more

The fourth column
Big Gestures, new Signs
by Rein Wolfs

Almost exactly two years ago I wrote my first web column, stating my ambitious aims as a run-up to the new exhibition programme. The art at the Fridericianum was to be human and humane, was to constitute “a pleading for the preconditions of humanity in the 21st century, yet to be defined”. The future in the Kunsthalle Fridericianum was to not be completely free of risks, was to be as courageous as possible, and was to now and then be provocative as well... more

The third column
LESS OIL MORE COURAGE – retrospectively looking forward
by Andrea Linnenkohl

One can assume that only very few oil paintings will be shown at the Fridericianum in the future and that the risk will actually be taken to engage with life, not in a modern way, but in a topical and direct manner... more

The second column
The schizophrenic quotient
by Marc-Olivier Wahler

I once curated an exhibition in public space. The motto given to the artists was: “If it looks like art, it’s not good enough”. If the viewer knows at first sight he is face to face with an artwork, the dialogue with its setting (in this case, the urban space), and the suspense this engenders, disappears... more

The first column
Minorities, outsiders, troublemakers and other human beings
by Rein Wolfs
 
Art is more important than one thinks and art is less important than one thinks. Primarily important is the tension. As the new artistic director of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum I aim at perceiving and designing the spaces in between the one and the other... more