Timm Ulrichs. Works from 1960 to 2010
With a webcam, Timm Ulrichs’ studio is permanently online!
The Kunstverein Hannover and the Sprengel Museum Hannover present one of the most comprehensive retrospectives of conceptual artist Timm Ulrichs (b.1940). The double exhibition spans a range of early works from the 1960s to new productions which have been specially developed for this exhibition.
The belief that art and life are inseparable from each other is the starting point of Timm Ulrichs' multilayered work. Unmistakable characteristics of his work are the combination of lightness and humor with intellectual precision and analytical depth, as well as witty analysis of language, its limits and its logical misunderstandings.
The the presentation in the Kunstverein Hannover accentuates the diversity of Timm Ulrichs work: Starting with Ulrichs' beginnings with himself as the first living work of art, an entire room is dedicated to his self-portraits that describe the ego of the artist in sober objectivity. Among other things, his EEG, the CO2 concentration in his breath, his chest movement and his EKG are recorded.
The latest work of the double exhibition is a "Wolf in sheep's clothing - Sheep in wolf's clothing. A piece of transformation" (1995/2010) - and as usual for Timm Ulrichs, the work holds what the title promises: a stuffed wolf and a stuffed sheep, who have exchanged their skins, face each other and thus question the sense or lack thereof of a reversal of the biblical metaphor for an only seemingly peaceful person (Matthew 7:15).
The Sprengel Museum Hannover presents together in the exhibition installations and objects, including furniture and models, as well as graphics, photographs and videos. On the basis of the selected works, Timm Ulrichs' fundamental approach may be understood - to present everyday objects as works of art, to explore everyday experiences with an artistic sign, and in this way to link art and life.
An essential group of works, though often left in the background, are those models which Timm Ulrichs created for public works. They form the opening of the exhibition at the Sprengel Museum Hannover and point to Timm Ulrichs' postulate—to understand the artist as ‘Idea producer’.
The work "The first sitting chair (sitting down to rest after long standing)" (1970) presents a piece of furniture as a placeholder for humanity, changing its relationship to the surrounding things. The exhibition also includes documentation of Timm Ulrichs' performances and actions since the 1960s, including such spectacular actions such as "knife throwing-Portrait" (1978), in which the artist turns himself over to a knife thrower in the creation of his image!
The Room Gallery live on the net
During the exhibition, Timm Ulrichs' "room gallery" will be brought into the 21st Century:
with the live feed from a webcam, the studio – the center of Timm Ulrichs’ life – remains continuously online at www.kunstverein-hannover.de/live and
www.sprengel museum.de.
Exhibition Catalogue: Published by the Kunstverein Hannover and Sprengel Museum Hannover in German and English, 216 pages with numerous illustrations, hardcover, 28.5 x 22.5 cm
Hatje Cantz, ISBN 978-3-7757-2794-5, 28 €
The exhibition is generously supported by:
The State of Lower Saxony, Lower Saxony Savings Bank Foundation, Sparkasse Hannover, Foundation Culture Region Hannover, e.on in Hannover, Baumschule Gehlhaar, NDR Culture, Friends of the Kunstverein Hannover.
The Art Association is supported institutionally by the Cultural Office of the City of Hannover.
28 November 2010 to 13 February 2011
Kunstverein Hannover, Sophienstraße 2, 30159 Hannover, Tel (0511) 169 92 78–12
Sprengel Museum Hannover, Kurt-Schwitters-Platz, 30169 Hannover, Tel (0511) 168–4 38 75
