| History
– 25 years artothek
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Eva Kuhl, 1984;
photograph: Rolf Kuhl |
It all began as an experiment. It was a time of
innovation in the field of culture. People spoke of democratising
art, and access to it was no longer to be restricted to a small
elitist group of initiates. This innovative mood could also be
felt in Cologne. More and more artists moved to Cologne to work
here and to exchange their views with other artists, and more
and more art galleries opted for Cologne. Some artists explained
the fascination which Cologne exerted with the fact that behind
the rather plain facades they found exactly the atmosphere they
needed to develop ideas and to realise unusual art projects. It
was precisely this unpretentious character of the city and its
tolerant atmosphere which seemed to open up possibilities for
creativity.
It was in those days that Horst-Johannes Tümmers,
art historian and director of the public library, came up with
the bold idea of lending not only books, but also contemporary
art. He found an ideal venue for the artothek in a 15th century
late gothic burgher’s house in the centre of Cologne. His
project was modelled on similar institutions in London and Berlin
and from the outset he emphasized the importance of collaborating
with the Kölnischer Kunstverein and the Museum Ludwig. Communication
with local art galleries and artists in their studios was also
seen as vital. Cologne, above all places, offered the opportunity
and necessity to keep in close contact with the art scene so that
the project was continuously inspired and shaped by artists. One
objective of the artothek was to provide international art so
that the public could profit from a wide cross section of contemporary
art. The other was to contribute to the support of young artists.
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Peter Below, 1993;
photograph: Jürgen Wittke |
But why should people hang up a painting at home
only to return it to the artothek a few weeks later? The artothek
regards its service as an offer to live with a work of art for
a limited period of time, to experience its qualities, or to reject
it, without having to buy it. This approach which does not require
immediate commitment is an invitation to experiment and can also
appeal to people who would otherwise be reluctant to visit art
galleries. Thanks to this concept, art for many people has become
a established part of their lives. Some of them have become collectors
of contemporary art.
Providing information on the artists whose works
of art are part of the collection and informing the public about
the Cologne art scene in general has become a further task of
the artothek. The local press is scanned for art reviews and invitations
on a daily basis in order to compile an archive which has been
used as a basis for producing a work of reference and address
book of Cologne artists in cooperation with other institutions.
It is now available in its fifth revised edition.
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Ellen Keusen,
1994; photograph: Roland Schrieferr |
Soon after the artothek was founded it launched
its exhibition programme. Initially, exhibitions were staged on
a small scale on the mezzanine floor. The works of art which could
be borrowed were displayed on the lower floor. It was the artist
Marlini Wickramasinha in1977 who came up with the idea of using
the entire space of the artothek for exhibitions. She wanted her
large-scale paintings which she produced in her kitchen and which
are impressive and at the same time oppressive to be looked at
from sufficient distance. In the first place, she wanted to view
them in this way herself. The effect was convincing. The room
with its high ceiling and curved gallery was ideally suited for
exhibitions.
Exhibitions do not follow a fixed pattern. They
range from painting, drawing, sculpture and photography to video
installations, performance and projects with a spatial dimension.
Initially, the exhibitions were devoted to artists from Cologne.
Later, international artists presented their works at the artothek,
amongst others Heinrich Dunst, Marcia Hafif, Nan Hoover and Markus
Weggenmann.
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Dorothee Joachim,
1995; photograph: Alistair Overbruck |
A jury ensures continuity and quality. Among the
members of the jury are curators from the Museum Ludwig and the
Kölnischer Kunstverein. This has enabled the artothek to
give the exhibition programme its own neutral profile with the
effect that even artists of international renown have taken the
opportunity of presenting a selection of their works at the artothek.
Among the many there are well-known names such as Mechtild Frisch,
Edgar Gutbub, Rune Mields, Horst Münch, Heinz-Günter
Prager, Norbert Prangenberg, Ulrike Rosenbach, Alf Schuler, Hann
Trier, Elisabeth Vary and Dorothee von Windheim. Works of younger,
less well-known artists are also presented. For some of them it
marked the beginning of their artistic career.
As a rule, the artists stage their exhibitions themselves.
This often involves considerable costs for them in terms of time
and money. As far as possible the artothek avoids exerting any
influence on the selection and presentation. It provides invitations,
press contacts, insurance and serves as an agent for prospective
buyers without charging fees. One small-scale object of each exhibition
is acquired by the artothek to complement its permanent collection
of art which can be borrowed. Unlike art galleries, the artothek
offers artists the opportunity to realise projects without having
to consider commercial aspects with the result that in the course
of time many unusual, bold presentations have been created.
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Rosa M. Hessling,
1990; photograph: Hubertus Birkner |
One of the early exhibitions in 1977, which, in
retrospect, was particularly impressive, presented works by C.O.
Paeffgen. The artist gave the exhibition room a poetic, playful
atmosphere using bizarre objects, some of them objets trouvés,
such as an enormous grey heart-shaped object involving cobble
stones on a grey ground, a tear made of metal fixed to a post
for street signs, pink straw objects on a wall with wire twisted
around them, and a number of works highly characteristic of the
artist - strongly contoured pictures based on photographs.
In early 1981 Cologne’s Neue Wilde –
the Mülheimer Freiheit – painted the walls and ceilings
of the artothek and turned the whole building into a gesamtkunstwerk.
Among the members of the group who had a studio in the Cologne
district of Mülheim were: Hans-Peter Adamski, Peter Bömmels,
Walter Dahn, Jiri Georg Dokoupil, Gerard Kever and Gerhard Naschberger.
Karel Rösel, a guest of the group, cut a larger- than-life
elephant into the plaster of the wall. The artists created a cryptic
web of vitriolic, critical and disrespectful comments on recent
art history. “Bad painting”, the critics wrote. The
exhibition, however, was a huge success and the art scene of the
following years was dominated by painting in a wild and rebellious
style.
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Erste Hilfe –
First Aid, 1986; photograph: Bernd Fox |
Astrid Klein’s photographic installation from
1982 which measured 7 metres in width and was displayed diagonally
in a room transgressed all architectural boundaries. It showed
the black shadows of dogs jumping in front of a wall – in
pursuit of prey or possibly in flight.
The figure of one of the dogs was taken up in a
very restrained manner on one of the walls at either end. This
exhibition, which was a spatial installation and at the same time
a photographic work, was of unforgettable suggestive power. On
the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the artothek in 1983 the
American sculptor James Reineking exhibited two massive floor
objects made of steel used in ship building alongside delicate
pen and watercolour drawings which were cut and furled. Despite
the contrasting nature of these objects there was a subtle correspondance
between them.
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Phil Slims, 1993;
photograph: Schmitz + Hartmann |
In 1985 Klaus vom Bruch presented his video installation
“Wir laufen nicht davon” – We are not running
away -, which had been exhibited a year earlier at the Biennale
di Venezia in the central domed hall. Two life-size human figures
executed in a very simple style held each other’s hands
separated by a column. Two monitors receiving material via aerials
were installed high up on the gallery and showed overlapping and
alternating sequences of pictures and sound, Charlie Chaplin’s
speech as the Great Dictator, computer icons, the head of the
artist behind an aerial in the form of a mask and re-cut tango
sequences which exerted a both enervating and fascinating attraction.
“Die Verteidigung der Freiheit” –
Defence of Liberty – was the title of an unusual spatial
installation from the same year. The artists Roland Anselm, Bernd
Fox, Erich Maas, Adi Meier-Grolman and Udo Sturm who at that time
worked together as the group “Erste Hilfe” placed
an austere installation consisting of a red picture, a ladder
and a pile of counterfeit gold bars with worn-down butchers’
knives in the light produced by sodium vacuum lamps which made
it impossible to distinguish colours. The situation aroused curiosity
with regard to the colour of the picture which could only be perceived
with the aid of an additional source of light such as a cigarette
lighter, but the strange light produced an unreal, nightmarish
atmosphere.
These examples are intended to illustrate the special
quality and at the same time the variety of exhibitions at the
artothek. In almost all cases artists have explored spatial relations
in a special way. The unusual and problematical architecture was
a challenge for many of them. The gallery makes it possible to
view exhibits from above so that the room is particularly suitable
for performances and other space-related works.
An exhibition by Jacob Altmeyer was completely restricted
to acoustic perception. There was really nothing to see. Video
installations with birdsong by Maria Vedder or whales’ songs
by Annebarbe Kau also exerted considerable attraction.
The artothek was filled with sand by Jochen Heufelder
and on another occasion with a huge pool by Heinz Kleiner-Klopries,
but less spectacular works were also exhibited at the artothek.
These include paintings by Stephan Baumkötter, Christiane
Fuchs, Raimund Girke, Signe Guttormsen, Rosa M. Hessling, Dorothee
Joachim, Raymund Kaiser, Ingo Meller, Peter Tollens, Günter
Umberg, Ulrich Wellmann and many others who inspired visitors
to explore colour.
The marvellous exhibition of colour painting by
the American Phil Sims on the occasion of the 20th anniversary
of the artothek in 1993 was overshadowed by austerity measures
and the threatened closure of the arthotek.
There was, however, as on previous occasions, an
overwhelming wave of support. Eleven years earlier, members of
the artists’ guild had demonstrated against the impending
closure by erecting a wall at the entrance to the artothek. And
now, once again, artists and ordinary citizens, museum staff and
gallery owners, journalists and art collectors, politicians and
civil servants fought for the survival of the artothek. Ruthilde
Bürgers, a committed supporter, mobilized her friends under
the motto “Rettet die artothek” – save the artothek
- and together with them she initiated the pressure group “Freunde
der artothek Köln” which has been devoted to supporting
the aims and objectives of the arthotek.
The video installation “To call unto those
who prey and beg” by the British artist Rick Buckley in
1995 was the first major project after the crisis. That year also
saw the integration of the artothek into the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum.
After thorough restoration works carried out by Birgit Hansen
and Stefan Ohlow the carefully redesigned exhibition room was
dominated by three synchronized projections. In one corner of
the room visitors could see a begging bear, one wall showed a
finger bidding welcome and on the ceiling there was a mouth telling
a fairy tale. “A great day for art and art lovers”,
wrote Amine Haase in the local paper Kölner Stadtanzeiger
on 26 October 1995.
Many people have supported the artothek so that
it now can celebrate its 25th anniversary. I should like to thank
everybody who has contributed to this success.
Christiane Dinges, 1998
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