Quiet Cue, Flughafenstrasse 38, Berlin, January 25 – 27, 2013
http://quietcue.blogspot.de
Quiet Cue is a small independent art and work space in Berlin’s Neuköln district where art shows or concerts take place from time to time. If it were not by chance and personal connections, I would not have stumbled across this space, but as chance was in my favor I would like to briefly share my impressions.
Vast Schemes was an three-day exhibition of a new artwork by Naomi Hennig. Hennig’s general interest lies in the realm of the social. Works refer to specific locations or phenomena and the historical connotations thereof, usually with a socially critical undertone. Her artistic practice is very much research based, which sometimes leads to output in the format of collaborative exhibition projects while at other times it leads to an installation artworks as has been the case with this show.
Vast Schemes related to the topic of highland clearances in Scottland, a fact that has been mentioned by Karl Marx in his writings as an example of the creation of an un-rooted labor force needed for the emerging industrial production. (Farmers have been forcibly removed from the agrarian landscape and ‘offered’ a new livelihood in the factories of Glasgow.) Hennig has traveled to the highlands and documented the ‘crime scene’ now, more than a hundred years later, in photography and video images. The resulting video, which consists of rather beautiful landscape shots is accompanied by a soundtrack where excerpts of Karl Marx’ writings related to the events that took place there are read in Gaelic language (the language of the original inhabitants). The empty landscapes leave the stories that happened there only up to the viewers imagination.
The second room of the exhibition space featured another video, this time created from re-cut found footage of old documentary films that show the transformation of Glasgow into an industrial city, revealing the utopian spirit of the times which, however, as we know today, has become outdated as industrialization has been replaced by de-industrialization.
I liked the fact how the exhibition pulled up a historical fact that has almost been forgotten today. On the other hand, I could imagine a stronger presentation format that would better support the underlying socially critical narrative.
I missed a link that would connect the historical facts to a current, contemporary, narrative that would allow the visitor to create an individualized relation with the imagery on display. Without this link, the question of what the displayed images mean for ‘me’, as well as any other visitor stayed open. The two projections on show were relating to the situation ‘before’ and ‘after’, however from today’s view, both of these situations have been merged into one past, without any clear relation to our current present.
I personally could see parallels with the collectivization of agriculture that has taken place in socialist economies, as well as with events happening in developing economies that are currently undergoing a phase of industrialization. The parallels are by far not simple, yet putting the highland clearances into a broader, more approachable context would be a useful approach to highlight the ‘history of the loosers’ (as opposed to victors) to which Hennig is referring.