The Arteast 2000+ Pavilions is a large-scale installation for the exhibition Hello World: Revising a Collection at Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin (2018). This exhibition aims to critically rethink the collections of German museums as part of the broader Global Museum initiative. My installation consists of nine pavilions and graphic framings of manifestos that conceptually and spatially frame the work of various artist groups, including NSK, IRWIN, OHO, Exat 51, Nove Tendencije, Grupa 6, and Gorgona, among others. The exhibited works are part of Modernagalerija's Arteast 2000+ collection and were shown in the Eastern European section of the exhibition, curated by Zdenka Badovinac, entitled Sites of Sustainability: Pavilions, Manifestos, and Crypts. Developed in collaboration with the Moderna galerija, the pavilions are a translation of the following questions: How do we think about national collections today, in the aftermath of institutional critique and in light of the global dimensions that shape the world of art? How can the dominant narratives of art history be edited, framed as they are by national collections? Who is left out? The nine pavilions, together with the artworks exhibited, aim to contribute to the expansion of the canon from the perspective of Eastern European art by including neglected artistic positions from the region. The pavilion, in its mobile and ephemeral character, becomes a medium for spatializing those expanded artistic practices that operated not only in a physical location but also on a broader civic scale. The socialist ethos of society and collectivity, critical conversations, and non-conformist spaces that characterize the artists' work transpires into the unique architecture of their pavilions and the graphic design of the artists' manifestos. The pavilion creates an environment of nested mini-institutions that are simultaneously embedded within and outside of the host collection.
Concept and artistic direction: Azra Aksamija
Research and development: Azra Aksamija, Zdenka Badovinac, Ana Mizerit
Production: Azra Aksamija, Dijana Milenov (drawings); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, DE
Installation, 9 pavilions, manifesto design
Commissioned by the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, DE, in collaboration with Moderna galerija, Ljubljana, SI for for the umbrella exhibition Hello World. Revising a Collection at the Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin (2018) , section Sustainability: Pavilions, Manifestos, and Crypts, curated by Zdenka Badovinac (2018).
Materials: wood, gypsum boards, linoleum floor, paint, posters
Dimensions: NSK Pavilion: 3 x 3 x 2.5m; OHO Sint Gallery Pavilion: 4 x 2.5 x 2.5 m; OHO installation 8 x 1.2 x 4 m; Grupa 6 Pavilion: 2.5 x 3 x 2.5 m; Djordjevic Pavilion 5.2 x 2 x 2.5 m; Kozlowski Pavilion 3 x 1.2 x 2 m; Nove Tendencije Pavilion 3.3 x 4 x 2.5 m; Exat 51 Pavilion: 3 x 3 x 2.5 m; Gorgona Pavilion: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 m