Die Weissenhofer: la partition perdue & des objets trouvés
ARTISTS:
Matthias Beckmann (alias Carl) • Jörg Mandernach (alias Keith) • Uwe Schäfer (alias Bob)
Exhibition Duration: August 9 to August 31, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, August 8, 2014, at 7:30 PM
Since 2013, the Kunstverein Neukölln has been presenting various forms of artistic collaboration in a loose series. In August 2014, the artist collective "Die Weissenhofer" will be featured at kunstraum t27. Instead of a typical manifesto common among artist groups, they refer to their legend: Growing up on the Weissenhof in Wallistal, the brothers contributed to their meager family income by carving spoons and painting alpine motifs. Later, they sought their fortune in the New World, established the Weissenhofer Ranch, and evolved their home music into an early form of rhythm and blues. After achieving success as painters and ensuring their parents were well taken care of, they returned to the Old World.
In their exhibitions, which are based on a comprehensive concept and theme specifically developed for each venue, the Weissenhofer present not only individual artistic works in painting, drawing, and printmaking but primarily collective installations, videos, photographs, and objects. Key components of their events, openings, and action nights include performances, slide presentations, and live rock music performances. The continuous evolution of the artist legend across various media is a central theme for the group.
la partition perdue & des objets trouvés:
At times, traditional notions of the development lines of New Music are fundamentally altered by the discovery of unknown or thought-to-be-lost documents.
For a long time, an old, badly damaged paper roll went unnoticed until Bob Weissenhofer stumbled upon it while searching for scrap paper for painting. Covered with graphically complex, enigmatic signs, he showed it to his brothers Carl and Keith. Now, the carefully restored score, which turned out to be an early work by their great-uncle John Milton C. Weissenhofer Jr. (1897-1937), who died of typhus, will be presented to the public for the first time. It is at the center of an exhibition conceived by the artist collective "Die Weissenhofer." Musicological studies and records from the family chronicle suggest that John Milton's classmate Cage, also a student of Schönberg, must have been aware of this early work, and hidden quotes and paraphrases can also be found in the oeuvre of La Monte Young.
The Weissenhofer are particularly pleased that Berlin musicians have been engaged for the world premiere of the piece "Ad libitum - Vom Gesang der Dinge und Wesen" ("About the Chant of Things and Beings") on the occasion of the exhibition opening on August 8, 2014, at kunstraum t27.
The exhibition is complemented by explanatory texts, historical instruments, scores, drawings, and music-related objects from the family collection.
Opening Reception: Friday, August 8, 2014, at 7:30 PM World Premiere of the work "Ad libitum - Vom Gesang der Dinge und Wesen" (1921) by John Milton C. Weissenhofer Jr.
Performers: Tom Früchtl, Catherine Lorent, Carla Peters, Marcus Sendlinger, Heidi Sill, the Weissenhofer
Sunday, August 31, 2014, at 7:30 PM Closing Event with Artist Talk and Art Lottery Drawing