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Yours, KOW

KOW ISSUE 1: Participatory Minimalism

, Franz Erhard Walther

Feb 27 – Mar 21, 2009

DeutschEnglish

KOW ISSUE 1 shows the 11-Meter-Bahn, one of the most prominent objects from Franz Erhard Walther’s 1. Workset – developed between 1963 and 1969 and a classic among the German post-war art – and portrays the history of its utilization. Walther proposed to no longer conceptualize art independently from its application by a public and assign its users co-authorship on the form and meaning of artworks. He became an early exponent of process-related and participatory art.

KOW ISSUE 1 zeigt mit der Elfmeterbahn von 1964 eines der prominentesten Objekte aus Franz Erhard Walthers 1. Werksatz - der ein Klassiker der deutschen Nachkriegskunst wurde - und zeichnet die Geschichte seiner Gebrauchsformen nach. Walther schlug damals vor, Kunst nicht unabhängig von ihrer Verwendung durch eine Öffentlichkeit zu denken und dieser eine Mitautorschaft an der Form und Bedeutung von Kunstwerken zuzusprechen. Er wurde ein früher Vertreter prozessualer und partizipatorischer Kunst.

Walther’s proposal is still a design to counter the habitual way of dealing with art, which is to seek for the aesthetic and the economic value of an art piece in its “out-standing” object quality or peculiarity, rather than in the social dimension of a “Werkgedanke” (Walther) or the possible consequences for our actions, our “Handlungsvorstellungen” (Walther) respectively.

In numerous, partly canonized, partly unorthodox, and previously unrevealed documents, we display the diverse forms of employment the 11-Meter-Bahn has led to in the last 43 years. How open and inviting does Walther’s proposal look today? How encouraging does it sound? The white, 11 meter long textile strap that two persons can tighten between their bodies, remains an ever unconcluded artwork that calls for our participation, not for our deference. In his 1. Workset, Walther presents symbolic models of action, which were concrete expressions of democratic experience, hardly 20 years after the end of fascism. Similar to the recently reappreciated Charlotte Posenenske, his Participatory Minimalismis increasingly regarded as a politicizable, societal-oriented alternative to American Minimal Art.

Concept and production: Alexander Koch, Nikolaus Oberhuber. Text and photos: Alexander Koch

Noch immer ist Walthers Vorschlag ein Gegenentwurf zum aktuellen Kunstgeschehen, das den ästhetischen wie auch den ökonomischen Wert eines Werkes in der Regel in dessen “herausragender” Objektqualität oder Sonderlichkeit sucht, statt in der sozialen Dimension eines “Werkgedankens” (Walther) oder gar in dessen möglichen Konsequenzen für unser Handeln respektive unsere “Handlungsvorstellungen” (Walther) . In zahlreichen teils kanonisierten, teils unorthodoxen und hier erstmals veröffentlichten Dokumenten zeigen wir unterschiedliche Gebrauchssituationen der Elfmeterbahn aus 43 Jahren. Wie offen und einladend ist Walthers Werk-Begriff geblieben? Wie aktuell kann er wieder sein?

Die weiße, 11 Meter lange Textilbahn ist in ihrem Lagerzustand aufgerollt. Zwei Personen können sie ausrollen und zwischen ihre Körper spannen. Die Stücke des 1.Werksatzes sind unabgeschlossene Kunstwerke, die an unsere Teilnahmefähigkeit, nicht an unsere Ehrerbietung appellieren. Sie stellen symbolische Handlungsmodelle vor, die konkreter Ausdruck der Demokratieerfahrung kaum 20 Jahre nach dem Ende des Faschismus in Deutschland sind und deren Partizipatorischer Minimalismus ähnlich wie bei der jüngst wieder rezipierten Charlotte Posenenske zunehmend als politisierbare, gesellschaftlich orientierte Alternative zur amerikanischen Minimal Art gesehen wird.

Konzept und Produktion: Alexander Koch, Nikolaus Oberhuber. Text und Fotos: Alexander Koch

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