Vorhang (2019)
PVC and metal.
Vorhang in English curtain is a piece that I’ve created for an intervention at the Märkisches Museum in 2019. During their permanent exhibition Berlin Zeit Geschichte Kompakt, cultural workers that were employed by Märkisches Museum at that time saw the gaps that the permanent exhibition did not fill.
It displayed a rather homogenous idea of the city Berlin. The cultural workers wanted to diversify this exhibition through different perspectives coming from a plethora of communities in Berlin. Myself and others were invited to create interventions to critically examine the institution museum.
PS: Unbekannte Objekt Geschichten - Bewusstheit der (In)Transparenz
Transparency is important for every exhibition. It helps museum visitors to recognise Who is saying What about Whom and for what reasons.
Vorhang (“Curtain”) is a haptic installation intended to confront visitors with their ideas about museums.
Vorhang is a symbol. It blocks the supposedly free view of the exhibition space and draws attention to the fact that every exhibition is seen through certain veils. These veils stand for the bias and positionality of the exhibition organisers. The physical experience of moving through the curtain sharpens the visitors’ senses and leaves them with an awareness of the untold stories of objects.
Installation view PS: Unbekannte Objekt Geschichten in Märkisches Museum, September 2019
Afterwards, I got invited back to Märkisches Museum for a little video production where they filmed me examining one of the exhibition rooms and pointing out how a reflected curational practice is necessary to avoid replicating power dynamics. I talked about their room “Gegensätze”. In that room they have installed a large and lavish imperial barbershop in contrast to a dimly lit and rather small printed series of images showing how the majority of Berliners used to live around 1900: in overcrowded and precarious small one-room apartments.
