Open House 2005
June 24 - July 7, 2005
Studio Friedrichstrasse, Siegen, Germany

participating artists:

Sabiene Autsch, Thomas Kellner, Ingo Schultze-Schnabl, Pilar Albajar & Antonio Altarriba, Vitoria, Spain, Meredith Allen, Brooklyn New York, USA, Lili Almog, New York City, USA, Alfons Alt, Marseilles, France, Marco Ambrosi, Verona, Italy, Justyna Badach, Philadelphia, USA , Vincent Cianni, Brooklyn New York, USA, Barbara Downs, Oldswinford, Great Britain, Claudia Faehrenkemper, Werne, Germany, Chrystel Garipuy, New York City, USA, Johannes Hepp, Munich, Germany, Antonia Klostermann & Michael Hinz, Osnabrueck, Germany, Jens Knigge, Berlin, Gemany, Véronique Kolber, Steinsel, Luxemburg, Astrid Kruse Jensen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Nathalie Latham, Paris, France, Elaine Ling, Ajax, Canada, Jennifer Long, Toronto, Canada, Fredrik Marsh, Columbus Ohio, USA, Sarianna, Metsaehuone, Goteborg, Sweden, A. Leo Nash, Oakland California, USA, Dan Nelken, New York City, USA, Ken Rosenthal, Tuscon Arizona, USA, Frank Rothe, Berlin, Germany, Luzia Simons, Stuttgart, Germany, Leslie Starobin, Needham Heights, Massachusettes, USA

"Open House" - this is the main theme under which the artistic ideas and events are bundled in Friedrichstrasse this year. In particular, these are three different forms of events, each with different content, themes and artistic expressions.
Sabiene Autsch will open her studio and give insights into her artistic work of the last year. This is strongly influenced by the interest in curatorial practices and exhibition productions on the one hand and in people and spaces on the other hand, what the artist herself amongst others also leads back to their research projects. Both aspects Sabiene Autsch could implement amongst others in a space project that she realized together with her fellow artist Florian Prinz (Berlin) ("Für Erwachsene und Jugend", 2004, "Berliner Zimmer", 2005). What is new here is the tendency towards a very clear and pointed imagery, which differs significantly from earlier works by the artist. In addition to large - format photographic works (eg. "Smile in Purple" or "She is a New Appearance"), the studio also presents serially presented drawings as well as intermedial groups of works (image / text, painting, objects) that invite the visitor to linger, to motivate reading, watching, smiling and thinking.
Thomas Kellner continues his project photographers: network selection 2005. To this end, 51 photographers have applied with 150 works. The aim of this international project is to build a network among colleagues in order to facilitate mutual support. A jury of experts from a journalist (Thomas Gerwers, PROFIFOTO), a gallerist (Thomas Poller, Galerie Poller, Frankfurt / M.) and an art historian (Alison Nordstrom, curator at George Eastman House Rochester / USA) have together with Thomas Kellner the to be exhibited work selected. The works that can be seen in Friedrichstrasse represent the diversity of photographic approaches: experimental works are just as represented as classically documenting works. Common to all, the very own handwriting, which is already recognizable in just one picture. Many of the invited photographers amongst others from France, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark and the USA will come to the opening after victories.
"Visiting" Friedrichstrasse is Ingo Schultze-Schnabl, who will use the front section of the Atelierhaus for the presentation of contemporary, large-format works designed especially for the rooms in the Friedrichstrasse and the Art Summer 2005: their design is an artistic reaction on form and proportion, on color and light in their environment. In terms of content, they grasp the functional history of their environment, i.e. the delivery and delivery of goods. In the end, the works also have artistic connections to the photographic works of Thomas Kellner in the neighboring studio, in that they likewise relate to reality in their pictorial medium, disassemble it, rearrange it and thus come to new ways of seeing and being creative. With new materials and techniques, the artist continues developments of the past years, in which his works have increasingly evolved away from painting and instead played a more significant role in connections to sculpture and drawing.
For quite some time, the artists in Friedrichstrasse have been trying to find new ways of conceiving and presenting art, i.e. to open the house for the production of art as well as for the conversation about art. The associated idea of the "Künstlerhaus", which has existed for years and has also been discussed several times with representatives of the city of Siegen and the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, seems to have become reality after two successful exhibitions last year. A central concern is to make the place a multi-layered, multi-faceted place, which is at the same time a laboratory as well as archive, workshop, collection and exhibition. Within the framework of the two-week exhibition period, the Künstlerhaus will appear in cooperation with the Museum für Gegenwartskunst and the research center "Media Upheavals" at the University. The plan is for a discussion forum to discuss new photographic approaches as well as theoretical and practical aspects of exhibiting, especially with regard to regional characteristics and structures. Invited are artists, scientists, exhibition organizers and museum managers, representatives of public institutions etc.