A hard Place - The Opening of our Exhibition at 500x Gallery in Dallas, Texas

The European congregation at the opening of "A hard Place" in front of a work by ScAle Architects

Last Saturday our group of European artists and curators had the great pleasure to celebrate the opening of our exhibition named „A hard Place“ (Link) at 500x Gallery (Link) in Dallas Texas. It was an incredible evening and after so many months of planning, writing, organising and last but not least producing our pieces of art, we were so glad about talking to our guests and receiving so many positive comments.

To all the many visitors who found their way to 500x Gallery: thank you so much for joining us in this wonderful occasion!

"A hard place" is an exhibition of international artists addressing and responding to Brutalist Architecture; a dominant post war architectural movement embodying concepts of utilitarianism and Utopian aspiration. Curated by Gundula Schmitz (Laura Mars Gallery) and Gary Farrelly.

Contributing Artists: Matias Bechtold (DE), Oisin Byrne (IRE/UK), Laure Catugier (DE/FR), Cunningham Architects (TX), Chris Dreier (DE), EVOL (DE), Gary Farrelly (IRE/BE), Dirk Krecker (DE), Pádraic E. Moore (IRE/BE), ScAle Architects (IT), Tannhäuser Tor: Alekos Hofstetter (DE) + Florian Göpfert (DE), Christine Weber (DE), Julia Zinnbauer (DE).

When: August 19 - September 24, 2017.
Opening reception Friday, August 19. 7-10 pm
Where: 500X Gallery, 500 Exposition Ave. Dallas TX 75226, U.S.A.

More Details and photos will be published soon!

Julia Zinnbauer: The "Dress for the car-friendly city" and the corresponding collage

a hard place - Invitation to our exhibition at 500x Gallery in Dallas, Texas

Photo: Chris Dreier, Berlin

"A hard place" is an exhibition of international artists addressing and responding to Brutalist Architecture; a dominant post war architectural movement embodying concepts of utilitarianism and Utopian aspiration. Curated by Gundula Schmitz (Laura Mars Gallery) and Gary Farrelly. 

Contributing Artists:
Matias Bechtold (DE), Oisin Byrne (IRE/UK), Laure Catugier (DE/FR), Cunningham Architects (TX), Chris Dreier (DE), EVOL (DE), Gary Farrelly (IRE/BE), Dirk Krecker (DE), Pádraic E. Moore (IRE/BE), ScAle Architects (IT), Tannhäuser Tor: Alekos Hofstetter (DE) + Florian Göpfert (DE), Christine Weber (DE), Julia Zinnbauer (DE).

When: August 19 -– September 24, 2017. 
Opening reception Friday, August 19. 7-10 pm 
Where: 500X Gallery, 500 Exposition Ave. Dallas TX 75226, U.S.A.

"A hard place" brings together work by artists and architects from Germany, Ireland, France and Italy as well as a piece by Dallas’s Cunningham Architects produced especially for the show. A unifying concern in the work is the legacy of post-war modernist architecture. The artists of a hard place employ highly divergent strategies across a wide variety of media to explore the theme. The exhibition includes video art, photography, drawing, painting, textiles, sculpture, sound recordings and the written word. 

In post WWII Europe new civic infrastructure such as housing, factories and administrative facilities had to be erected on an unprecedented scale. Commonly known as Brutalism, the style that emerged was characterized by repeated modular elements articulated and grouped together into a stark, unified whole. Cast concrete was used for its raw and unpretentious honesty and structural integrity. 

This new architecture constituted a forceful rejection of preceding political, social and economic thinking. The buildings symbolize the optimism of high modernism. Moreover, they might also be viewed as an affi rmation of mankind’s ability to create, improve and reshape the world via practical experimentation, scientific and technical knowledge and human cooperation.

Gary Farrelly, embroidery

Today, the progress orientated stance and towering utopic mission of post-war modernism is subject to much criticism. The remnants of the defunct modernist project are ever present in the form of neglected edifices that prevail upon our cities and towns. Without a living transformative ideological project to substantiate their presence it is not clear what our responsibility towards the buildings and the ideas they represent should be.
Some of the artists have a very emotional / euphoric relationship with architecture. They adopt a care-taking posture casting themselves as faithful guardians of modernism's legacy. Others take a cynical stance and consciously disavow the naivety and idealism of post-war archi-tecture. And there are those who stake out nuanced, idiosyncratic positions between these two poles. However, in the work of all participating artists in-depth research plays an eminent role. 

The city of Dallas, with all its skyscrapers, elevated roadways, hub airports and subterranean tunnels serves as the ideal venue for this exhibition. 

Text: Gary Farrelly

"A hard place" is made possible with the support of the following contributors:
Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, The Goethe Institute, UTD, CentralTrak, 500X, Laura Mars Gallery, RO2 Art, Lorenzo Hotel, Cunningham Architects, and Print Peppermint 

Julia Zinnbauer: filmstill of the shortfilm "STEADY SMILE MOVE", 2017

Das Museum für Architektur und Ingenieurkunst NRW macht mit seinem Online-Archiv das Wissen und die Erfahrung aus unzähligen Ausstellungen zugänglich

Seit Jahren gelingt es dem M:AI, dem Museum für Architektur und Ingenieurkunst NRW, das allgemeine Bewustsein für Architektur zu erweitern und zu stärken, und das weit über die Grenzen Nordrhein-Westfalens hinaus. Dabei spielen immer auch die Gebäude selbst eine große Rolle, in denen die Ausstellungen stattfinden, da das Museum ganz im Sinne der Moderne mobil ist und in ganz unterschiedlichen, sorgsam ausgewählten Häusern Station macht.

Ganz dem Form-follows-Function-Gedanken entsprechend, sind die jeweiligen Ausstellungen so konzipiert, dass man sie auf Reisen schicken kann, wie die modularen Würfel-Elemente der Ausstellung über Paul Schneider von Esleben im Jahr 2015 (Link).

Im dem eigens für die Ausstellung herausgegebenen Magazin stand damals auch ein Bericht über mich und meine Sicht auf Mode und Architektur (Link). Ganz besonders freue ich mich nun darüber, dass das Team des M:AI nun bei Launch des Online-Archivs eigens darauf hinweist.

Das M:AI teilt darüber hinaus folgendes mit: