SERIELLE FORMATIONEN
April 30 to July 23, 2022
Sol LeWitt (1928-2007)
First Modular Structure, 1965
Charlotte Posenenske (1930-1985)
Reliefs Serie B, 1967/2020
Peter Roehr (1944-1968)
Objekt-Montage, 1966
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Photos © Patxi Bergé
Serielle Formationen
was the title of an exhibition the artist Peter Roehr and I organised for the Studio Gallery of the Goethe University in Frankfurt in the spring of 1967. Serielle Formationen is also the title of what is now, 55 years later, a “reminiscence” of sorts presented at Mehdi Chouakri Berlin newly established Archiv Charlotte Posenenske in Berlin.
Unlike the 1967 Frankfurt exhibition, which featured 62 works by 48 contemporary European and American artists, the current show at Chouakri revisits the theme of “serial formations” by focusing on only three artistic positions: Charlotte Posenenske, Sol LeWitt, and Peter Roehr. Fundamentally different in concept, all three illustrate the motifs and „catalysts“ of the now historic Frankfurt show.
At the time, Peter Roehr and I prefaced the exhibition catalog, which contained images for all participating artists and numerous statements and original quotations, by clarifying the exhibition motif: “All the similarities offered here should, in fact, highlight the differences.” And indeed, the range of serial work examples was broad, spanning Andre, Flavin, Judd, Kusama, Manzoni, Schoonhoven, Stella, Vasarely, or Warhol. The list included several names that are now world-renowned but were first introduced to a larger public in this 1967 show.
It makes sense that Peter Roehr, who based his fundamental artistic concept on an “uninterrupted, unvaried repetition of identical, preferably industrially produced elements,” was particularly interested in demonstrating i.e. making visible the specific and distinct essential differences. Despite all “seriality”, what could have been more con-spicuous than the artistic differences between Agnes Martin and Hans Haacke or Thomas Bayrle?
I was delighted by Mehdi Chouakri‘s suggestion to introduce the Archiv Charlotte Posenenske with works from her Series B (edged, colorfully sprayed steel sheets) in combination with an Objekt-Montage by her close friend Peter Roehr (from his group of so-called “black Panels” from 1966) and alongside Sol LeWitt‘s First Modular Structure (his final black and, at the same time, also first modular “sculpture” from 1965); they are further complemented by LeWitt‘s construction sketches and collegial correspondence with Charlotte Posenenske, exemplifying their mutual appreciation.
— Paul Maenz, Berlin 2022
° °
SERIELLE FORMATIONEN
April 30 to July 23, 2022
Sol LeWitt (1928-2007)
First Modular Structure, 1965
Charlotte Posenenske (1930-1985)
Reliefs Serie B, 1967/2020
Peter Roehr (1944-1968)
Objekt-Montage, 1966
° ° ° ° ° °
Serielle Formationen
was the title of an exhibition the artist Peter Roehr and I organised for the Studio Gallery of the Goethe University in Frankfurt in the spring of 1967. Serielle Formationen is also the title of what is now, 55 years later, a “reminiscence” of sorts presented at Mehdi Chouakri Berlin newly established Archiv Charlotte Posenenske in Berlin.
Unlike the 1967 Frankfurt exhibition, which featured 62 works by 48 contemporary European and American artists, the current show at Chouakri revisits the theme of “serial formations” by focusing on only three artistic positions: Charlotte Posenenske, Sol LeWitt, and Peter Roehr. Fundamentally different in concept, all three illustrate the motifs and „catalysts“ of the now historic Frankfurt show.
At the time, Peter Roehr and I prefaced the exhibition catalog, which contained images for all participating artists and numerous statements and original quotations, by clarifying the exhibition motif: “All the similarities offered here should, in fact, highlight the differences.” And indeed, the range of serial work examples was broad, spanning Andre, Flavin, Judd, Kusama, Manzoni, Schoonhoven, Stella, Vasarely, or Warhol. The list included several names that are now world-renowned but were first introduced to a larger public in this 1967 show.
It makes sense that Peter Roehr, who based his fundamental artistic concept on an “uninterrupted, unvaried repetition of identical, preferably industrially produced elements,” was particularly interested in demonstrating i.e. making visible the specific and distinct essential differences. Despite all “seriality”, what could have been more con-spicuous than the artistic differences between Agnes Martin and Hans Haacke or Thomas Bayrle?
I was delighted by Mehdi Chouakri‘s suggestion to introduce the Archiv Charlotte Posenenske with works from her Series B (edged, colorfully sprayed steel sheets) in combination with an Objekt-Montage by her close friend Peter Roehr (from his group of so-called “black Panels” from 1966) and alongside Sol LeWitt‘s First Modular Structure (his final black and, at the same time, also first modular “sculpture” from 1965); they are further complemented by LeWitt‘s construction sketches and collegial correspondence with Charlotte Posenenske, exemplifying their mutual appreciation.
— Paul Maenz, Berlin 2022
° °