Der offene Garten

An exhibition cooperation with the
Otto-Pankok-Museum Bad Bentheim-Gildehaus, the Kunsthalle Lingen,
and the Staedtische Gallery Nordhorn

13 June to 22 August 2010
Opening on 13 June 2010,
Welcome Johann Arends, mayor of the joint municipality of Neuenhaus.
Introduction: Gudrun Thiessen-Schneider.

Under the title "The Open Garden", the four exhibition houses explore the interactions between province and metropolis in very different ways. "The Open Garden" is the counterpart to the 'hortus conclusus', the enclosed and closed paradise garden of the Middle Ages.

At Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim we presented works by four former Neuenhausers: new paintings by Michael Bette (Berlin), documentaries by producer Uwe Dierks (BoomtownMedia, Berlin), "Het witte Kind", a commissioned composition by composer and pianist Hermann Kretzschmar (Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt) in co-production with HR2, Frankfurt, and an interview by Susanne Winnacker (chief dramaturg at the German National Theatre Weimar) with Michael Bette. In addition, we are showing "Helmbrecht Walk", a documentary in texts and images by the American-Hungarian artist Susan Silas (New York).

At the Otto Pankok Museum
Robert Häusser, the bog diary. Photographs. Robert Häusser is considered a classic of modern photography. The bog diary was created in 1984 in the county of Bentheim on the occasion of the awarding of the art prize of the city of Nordhorn. Opening on 13 June 2010, at 11 am by Claude W. Sui

At the Kunsthalle Lingen
Yael Bartana, Christoph Fink, Sandra Kranich, Victor Man, Rivane Neuenschwander, Panamarenko, Charlotte Posenenske In the sociological, political and social sense, the works deal with the metaphor of the place of transit, the transitory and change.

At the Städtische Gallery Nordhorn
Simone Aaberg Kærn, Stefan Demming, Falk Haberkorn, Volko Kamensky, Franka Kassner, Pia Lanzinger, Peter Piller, Corinna Schnitt, Christine Schulz  The starting point of the exhibition is the cliché of the so-called province as a place of stagnation and closure. The invited artists work with these notions or show counter-images to them: they tell of places of longing, of people from the small town and their manifold relationships to distant countries, they address the clash of different cultural experiences and forms of migration.

Leaflet on the joint project pdf

Press (GN) pdf

In the accompanying programme
25, 26, 27 June 2010, each at 8 pm at the Capitol Filmtheater Nordhorn the documentaries "Rhythm is it", "Friedensschlag" and "Trip to Asia" in the presence of producer Uwe Dierks and director Thomas Grube.

6 July 2010, at 8 pm at the Kunstverein: Hermann Kretzschmar: "Het witte Kind", commissioned composition for "Der offene Garten" in co-production with HR2, Frankfurt
(further performances on 7.7. at the Kunsthalle Lingen and on 8.7. at the Städtische Galerie Nordhorn).

30 July 2010, 19.30 Maria Vedder, Passagen. Examples from the work of the video artist. Maria Vedder is a former Nordhorn artist and professor of media art at the Berlin University of the Arts.

August 15, 2010, 11.30 a.m. Workshop discussion with Michael Bette and Susanne Winnacker.

A joint catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibitions.

The joint project was supported by: Emsländische Landschaft, Grafschafter Sparkassenstiftung, Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, City and Municipality of Neuenhaus, Foundation of Lower Saxony.