The Archiv Charlotte Posenenske continues its three-part exhibition series Charlotte Posenenske B / C / D / DW / E – Schöne neue Plastik with Reliefs of the Series D and Series DW. Visitors of the Archive get the opportunity to experience the concept of Posenenskes series, as well as her artistic development.

The Square Tubes Series D

The Square Tubes Series D involve a set of six different elements – hollow bodies made of galvanized sheet steel: 1) the square tube, 2) the rectangular tube (semi-square), 3) the cubic tube, 4) the angled section (change of direction), 5) the transition section (change of crosssection) and 6) the T-section (branching off). These basic stereometrical elements are aligned to volumes and direction, and can be combined (screwed together) to form any manner of different configurations which, unlike customary sculptures, can essentially be continued, i.e. are never completed and thus mutable and can assume extensive architectural dimensions. The result is no longer a sculpture but an object. The concept envisages the curator or buyer assembling or converting the installation as he or she wishes, whereby the artist assigns part of her creative expertise to others who are then responsible for the assemblage. (“Change” and “participation” were key categories in the 1960s and 1970s protest movements.) The object can be configured in the following ways: standing, reclining, hanging, serial, systematic (as in 2007 at documenta 12, all six elements of the system) or at will (combinations of random or a random number of elements) – both indoors and outdoors. (Posenenske set up the weatherproof square tubes among others in the street and at an airport.) Since 1967 the elements have been produced in a factory as authorized reconstructions. “I make series because I do not want to make single pieces for individuals” (CP). The artist sought to rely on this reproducibility to avoid the claims to originality and exclusivity associated with one-offs and to undermine speculative market prices. The element, which never bears a signature, only differs from random goods purchased by dint of the certificate. They often have a different surface because they originate in different production runs or were exposed to weather. For the artist, changes of the surface (numbers jotted down by tradesmen, graffiti, fingerprints or weathering) counted as a welcome historical level, as critique of customary art’s claim to eternity, and in this regard she did not follow the precepts of Minimal Art. She wanted her art to be used and that we may see that it had been used. The production of the authorised reconstructions ends with the decease of the administrator of the estate.

The Square Tubes Series DW

Charlottes Posenenske’s Square Tubes Series DW (W = Wellpappe, the German word for corrugated card- board) of 1967 is a set consisting of four elements: 1) square tube, 2) rectangular tube (semi-square), 3) angle section (change of direction) and 4) transition section (change of cross-section). These stereometrical hollow volumes made of strong corrugated cardboard and which can be unfolded can, with the help of stiffening frames, be screwed together with plastic screws to form any manner of different configurations – architecturally extensive, space-consuming, technoid entities of ironic monumentality. Unlike conventional sculptures, they are essentially unfinished, meaning, they can be continued. The installations may be presented reclining, standing or even hanging (as at Frankfurt Central Railway Station in 1989, at Generali Foundation, Vienna in 2002 and at documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007). Hanging installations are additionally stiffened by steel frames the same size as the corrugated-cardboard frames. They hang from thin steel cables. Just as in literature context is an essential component enabling the interpretation of a text’s meaning, here it is the socially defined space outside the gallery that assumes this function. The artist saw the airport where she positioned her square tubes as such a social space, for example, because it represents the center of a global distribution network (of people and goods). The central railway station as junction in a distribution network must also be seen from this perspective, likewise a market hall (goods) or a major bank (money). The artist imagined the whole of society – on a highly abstract level – as a system of world-encompassing distribution networks whose junctions she considered to be the best possible exhibition spaces – not the tendentiously elitist gallery. Moreover, the concept envisages the curator or buyer positioning the installation according to his/her own criteria as well as extending or modifying it, meaning the artist relinquishes part of her creative authority. Others determine the final installation, the (here only temporary) “completion of the work”. The artist was among the first to emphasize participation as the democratic potential of art. Changeability and participation were guiding concepts of the protest movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Large formats, public sphere, cooperation and performance are aspects that were by no means new to the former stage designer. (At the event “Dies alles, Herzchen, wird einmal dir gehören” – “All this, darling, will one day belong to you” in Frankfurt/Main, organized by Paul Maenz and Peter Roehr in 1967, the installations were continually altered.) The square tubes have been produced in a factory like any random product since 1967 and are not signed. The certificate confirms that they are authorized reconstructions. Their production ends with the decease of the administrator of the estate.

– Dr. Burkhard Brunn