Mehdi Chouakri
Mehdi Chouakri

PAST ISSUES

DEUTSCHE AUSGABE | INTERNATIONAL EDITION

}
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020   #4
Editorial 
The fourth and at the same time the fall issue of JOURNAL is growing with a new section dedicated to exhibitions taking place in our home town Berlin – this time with a work by Lothar Hempel who is part of the exhibition Studio Berlin which is on view at the famous techno club Berghain. This miniature work, together with two other works by Hempel is hard to find but this will allow you to really discover the legendary former power station. In this issue JOURNAL features a well designed catalogue from McClelland Sculpture Park Melbourne with two works on paper by Bernd Ribbeck. The publication is in line with the experimental quality of graphic design that was developed at the Bauhaus in the 1920’s: plain, precise and avantgardistic.We also would like to share with you presentations of works in museums. The large installation Anthology de L’humour Noir by Saâdane Afif is being presented at the Centre Pompidou in Paris while Peter Roehr’s Film-Montagen are being projected at the Mumok in Vienna as part of a group show related to Repetition. Furthermore there is an exceptional new installation by Athena Vida at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.
Many of you might remember her as Gitte Schäfer, an artist we did support since the early 2000s, who meanwhile left Berlin for the mountains above Bern, Switzerland and in a personal process took over a new name that reflects her personality in a greater way. Athena – for me – is an exceptional figure in the contemporary art scene and a great artist.
„Vorwärts und nicht vergessen“ (Forward and do not forget) – this quote by Bertold Brecht may be be a good motto for JOURNAL. Never forget the past and go forward. Flashback is bringing up the third gallery exhibition from 1997 where Jens Haaning transformed the gallery into a fully functional travel agency. On the occasion of Sylvie Fleury’s exhibition „Shame“ we would like to share with you images from the shows the artist did for the gallery since its foundation in 1996. I may say that Sylvie has influenced the gallery and my view on art since we met in Venice in 1995 – 25 years ago. Thank you very much for reading!



– Mehdi Chouakri
Focus 
Mehdi Chouakri
On the occasion of the Rétrospective Prix Marcel Duchamp, the Centre Pompidou has invited the recipients of the last few years–among them Mathieu Mercier and Claude Closky–to show their original exhibitions again, in a scaled-down form. Saâdane Afif, who was awarded the prize in 2009, presents his installation Anthologie de l'humour noir, which comprises a wooden coffin in the shape of the Centre Pompidou, a row of metal cylinders, three posters, and seven poems/songs that are on display as wall texts. The title refers to the eponymous book by André Breton and comments satirically on the claim that only dead artists are to be found in museums.
The wooden coffin is at the centre of the exhibition; it was manufactured in Ghana in 2010, recreating the iconic building by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. Constructing elaborate coffins for burial has a long tradition in West Africa. The coffins are made of wood by very rudimentary means, without electrical tools, using only a saw, plane, putty, and paint. They take on a wide variety of forms, such as cars, houses, or animals. They are referred to as 'proverbial coffins' and represent either an essential aspect of the life of the deceased
(a shoemaker inside a shoe, a canoe for a fisherman, etc.) or objects and characters from proverbs that are part of local mythology. The coffins are intended to help the deceased pursue their profession and maintain social status as their souls merge with those of their ancestors. It was not until 1989 that this art form was shown in a Western museum in the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou, where around ten coffins were on display. Saâdane Afif, who had seen this exhibition at that time, eventually decided to travel to Ghana twenty years later to commission such a coffin. The specialist Kudjoe Affutu subsequently produced the replica of the Centre Pompidou in about ten weeks, until it was ready to be sent to Paris by air freight. Not only was Afif connected to Africa through the coffin construction, but also through his biography and that of the Centre Pompidou. In the artist's youth, the square in front of the Centre Pompidou was a vibrant meeting place where various artists, singers, and actors performed; its atmosphere was reminiscent of marketplaces in Africa.
The group show Accrochage 20 ans de Prix Marcel Duchamp runs from October 19, 2020 to January 4, 2021 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and shows works by all the award winners of the last 20 years. 
Printed Matter
Mehdi Chouakri
The group exhibition Haus Werk: The Bauhaus in contemporary art (November 24, 2019, to March 15, 2020) highlighted the influence that methods originating in the ideas of the Bauhaus had on the practice of contemporary artists from various parts of the world. The show was part of the official '100 Years of Bauhaus' anniversary programme and was organised by the McClelland Sculpture Park in Melbourne, Australia; it brought together various forms of contemporary art that are related to the beginnings of modernism. The project featured paintings and watercolours by Bernd Ribbeck, whose approach strongly references the Bauhaus, its protagonists, and broader context. His geometric works, for instance, echo modernist church architectures of the early 20th century as well as showing similarities
to the watercolours of Paul Klee.
Furthermore, Ribbeck deliberately leaves his art open to themes such as mysticism and theosophy, even where they are not explicitly part of his approach. Thus, some depictions call to mind the spiritual constructions by Hilma af Klint or Emma Kunz, thereby reflecting the artist's intense preoccupation with art history and its supposed peripheral scenes.
A richly illustrated catalogue on this international and genre-spanning project has now been published under the title Haus Werk. With its short text contributions, the publication traces the influence of the Bauhaus on contemporary art and, with reference to the participating artists, reveals clear parallels between the early 20th century and present day.
The Haus Werk catalogue is available at McClelland Sculpture Park via info@mcclellandgallery.com.
Bernd Ribbeck's solo exhibition with new paper works opens on November 7, 2020 at Mehdi Chouakri Fasanenplatz.
On view in Berlin

° ° °

Lothar Hempel, Reiter am Strand (Riders On The Beach), Watercolour and pencil on light cardboard, 2020

This and other drawings by Lothar Hempel can be seen until the end of December in the group exhibition Studio Berlin in the Berlin Club Berghain.
New 

° ° °

As part of the exhibition Parliament of Plants currently on view at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Athena Vida has created a new installation composed of a diverse range of botanical elements. The number three serves as the basis of the work: each side is 3.33 meters long, the plants are arranged on three levels, and for the most part, the colours comprise three colour families. The laws of nature are an essential component and driving force of the installation; the sunflower's inflorescences contain the golden ratio as well as the Fibonacci sequence, thus referring to the foundations of the world's makeup. The compilation of the work, which was created directly on-site in the museum, was preceded by Vida's extensive research into the properties, effects, and

meanings of plants. Thus the artist herself collected the blossoms, seeds, branches, and leaves on walks. Athena Vida, formerly known as Gitte Schäfer, lives in the mountains of the Swiss Simmental valley, where she can draw inspiration from her immediate surroundings. This work is fully in line with Vida's artistic practice in recent years. Principles of creation and cosmic influences are integral to her practice and distinguish the works as highly symbolic compositions. The installation Florastrale—a botanical environment—is thus characteristic of her ambition to bestow meaning and create narratives in today's world, which hardly conveys symbolic values.
The group show Parlament der Pflanzen with the new installation by Athena Vida will be on view until January 17, 2021 at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.
Spotlight
Mehdi Chouakri
The Mumok in Vienna is currently presenting the exhibition MISFITTING TOGETHER with Serial Formations of Pop Art, Minimal Art, and Conceptual Art. Peter Roehr, who was an artist based in Frankfurt, is considered to be a prominent figure of seriality in the 1960s. The 1967 exhibition Serial Formations, which the artist organised together with Paul Maenz, who was later to became a gallery owner, brought together renowned artists such as Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, and Charlotte Posenenske. It was a milestone in Minimal Art and also influenced the current exhibition in Vienna. 
Peter Roehr is represented in the Mumok with one of his most important works: Film Montages 1-3 (1965). Roehr, who had made seriality the leitmotif of his artistic work in the years before, and who arranged cheap materials such as adhesive or paper strips in formations, was faced with a major problem when it came to realising his film work: In the 1960s, he could hardly obtain film reels in sufficient quantity. Even for earlier works such as the typo-montages, Roehr, who
was always short on money, gained access to the IBM showroom to use the latest electronic typewriters for free. The problem was eventually solved when Paul Maenz, who by now was working in advertising in New York, supplied Roehr with cheap film material from overseas, which he had arranged to be smuggled by Lufthansa pilots in their cockpit. Roehr now had sufficient access to the material and was able to mechanically produce repetitions with film snippets without having to pay attention to the amount of film used. The three-part work premiered in 1967 at the performance evening 'Dies alles Herzchen wird einmal Dir gehören' (All this, sweetheart, will one day be yours) in Frankfurt am Main. It was there that Charlotte Posenenske also first showed her large-format corrugated cardboard elements from the Series DW, which are also currently on display at the Mumok. Subsequently, Peter Roehr's Film Montages were shown at various film festivals, and after his death—the artist passed away in 1968 already—Gerry Schum published them as a VHS version.
The Film-Montagen 1-3 by Peter Roehr and the Series DW by Charlotte Posenenske can be seen at the Mumok in Vienna until January 6, 2021.
Mid-November we will be opening an exhibition showing text works by Peter Roehr and Carl Andre at Mehdi Chouakri Mommsenstrasse.
Insert Sylvie Fleury at Mehdi Chouakri

° ° °

From left to right:
1. Moisturizing is the answer (1996)
2. Bedroom Ensemble (1997)
3. A 011/355 (1999)
4. Yes to All (2002)
5. Sylvie Fleury (2005)
6. High Heels on the Moon (2007)
7. Sylvie Fleury (2009)
8. Do Not Think Of The Color Blue For 30 Seconds (2012)
9. Shame (2020, Mommsenstrasse)
10. Shame (2020, Fasanenplatz)
Sylvie Fleurys solo show Shame will be on view until October 31, 2020 at Mehdi Chouakri Fasanenplatz and Mommsenstrasse.
In addition, works by Sylvie Fleury are currently shown in group exhibitions at Muzeum Susch, Kunstmuseum Winterthur and Kunsthalle Bern.
Flashback 
Mehdi Chouakri
Following exhibitions by Sylvie Fleury and Claude Closky, the Danish artist Jens Haaning had the opportunity to exhibit at the Gipsstraße gallery in Berlin in 1997. Instead of applying a classic exhibition concept, Haaning decided to convert the entire gallery into a travel agency. As a result, the gallerist's desk was placed in the exhibition space, and the shelves were filled with travel catalogues. Visitors and potential buyers now had two options: 1. Book a trip via the gallery and embark on it, as in an ordinary travel agency. 2. Book the trip and pay for it without embarking on it; in exchange, they’d receive a signed certificate from the artist. The gallerist indeed sold trips as far as to the Philippines, and some 'artworks' were also purchased.
Toward the end of the exhibition, the furnishings of the 'travel agency' became art for sale as well.
With Travel Agency, Haaning explored retail's concentration on a single business segment by interlinking the two entirely different business areas of art and travel brokerage. In the past, stores had mostly been places of consumption for everyday needs, where, like in a corner store, different products and services could be purchased. This changed, however, with the advent of supermarkets and retail chains. As a result, the diversity of supply disappeared in many stores resulting in Haaning's creation of this unique exhibition.
Mehdi Chouakri

Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

Fasanenplatz 
Fasanenstrasse 61, 10719 Berlin
Mommsenstrasse 
Bleibtreustrasse 41, 10623 Berlin
galerie@mehdi-chouakri.com
Tel. +49 30 28391153
Fax. +49 30 28391154
Imprint:

Publisher:
Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin
Text:
Daniel Pfau
All rights reserved to the artists and Mehdi Chouakri Gallery

PAST ISSUES

DEUTSCHE AUSGABE | INTERNATIONAL EDITION

}
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020   #4
Editorial 
The fourth and at the same time the fall issue of JOURNAL is growing with a new section dedicated to exhibitions taking place in our home town Berlin – this time with a work by Lothar Hempel who is part of the exhibition Studio Berlin which is on view at the famous techno club Berghain. This miniature work, together with two other works by Hempel is hard to find but this will allow you to really discover the legendary former power station. In this issue JOURNAL features a well designed catalogue from McClelland Sculpture Park Melbourne with two works on paper by Bernd Ribbeck. The publication is in line with the experimental quality of graphic design that was developed at the Bauhaus in the 1920’s: plain, precise and avantgardistic.We also would like to share with you presentations of works in museums. The large installation Anthology de L’humour Noir by Saâdane Afif is being presented at the Centre Pompidou in Paris while Peter Roehr’s Film-Montagen are being projected at the Mumok in Vienna as part of a group show related to Repetition. Furthermore there is an exceptional new installation by Athena Vida at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.
Many of you might remember her as Gitte Schäfer, an artist we did support since the early 2000s, who meanwhile left Berlin for the mountains above Bern, Switzerland and in a personal process took over a new name that reflects her personality in a greater way. Athena – for me – is an exceptional figure in the contemporary art scene and a great artist.
„Vorwärts und nicht vergessen“ (Forward and do not forget) – this quote by Bertold Brecht may be be a good motto for JOURNAL. Never forget the past and go forward. Flashback is bringing up the third gallery exhibition from 1997 where Jens Haaning transformed the gallery into a fully functional travel agency. On the occasion of Sylvie Fleury’s exhibition „Shame“ we would like to share with you images from the shows the artist did for the gallery since its foundation in 1996. I may say that Sylvie has influenced the gallery and my view on art since we met in Venice in 1995 – 25 years ago. Thank you very much for reading!



– Mehdi Chouakri
Focus 
Mehdi Chouakri
On the occasion of the Rétrospective Prix Marcel Duchamp, the Centre Pompidou has invited the recipients of the last few years–among them Mathieu Mercier and Claude Closky–to show their original exhibitions again, in a scaled-down form. Saâdane Afif, who was awarded the prize in 2009, presents his installation Anthologie de l'humour noir, which comprises a wooden coffin in the shape of the Centre Pompidou, a row of metal cylinders, three posters, and seven poems/songs that are on display as wall texts. The title refers to the eponymous book by André Breton and comments satirically on the claim that only dead artists are to be found in museums.
The wooden coffin is at the centre of the exhibition; it was manufactured in Ghana in 2010, recreating the iconic building by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. Constructing elaborate coffins for burial has a long tradition in West Africa. The coffins are made of wood by very rudimentary means, without electrical tools, using only a saw, plane, putty, and paint. They take on a wide variety of forms, such as cars, houses, or animals. They are referred to as 'proverbial coffins' and represent either an essential aspect of the life of the deceased
(a shoemaker inside a shoe, a canoe for a fisherman, etc.) or objects and characters from proverbs that are part of local mythology. The coffins are intended to help the deceased pursue their profession and maintain social status as their souls merge with those of their ancestors. It was not until 1989 that this art form was shown in a Western museum in the exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou, where around ten coffins were on display. Saâdane Afif, who had seen this exhibition at that time, eventually decided to travel to Ghana twenty years later to commission such a coffin. The specialist Kudjoe Affutu subsequently produced the replica of the Centre Pompidou in about ten weeks, until it was ready to be sent to Paris by air freight. Not only was Afif connected to Africa through the coffin construction, but also through his biography and that of the Centre Pompidou. In the artist's youth, the square in front of the Centre Pompidou was a vibrant meeting place where various artists, singers, and actors performed; its atmosphere was reminiscent of marketplaces in Africa.
The group show Accrochage 20 ans de Prix Marcel Duchamp runs from October 19, 2020 to January 4, 2021 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and shows works by all the award winners of the last 20 years. 
Printed Matter
Mehdi Chouakri
The group exhibition Haus Werk: The Bauhaus in contemporary art (November 24, 2019, to March 15, 2020) highlighted the influence that methods originating in the ideas of the Bauhaus had on the practice of contemporary artists from various parts of the world. The show was part of the official '100 Years of Bauhaus' anniversary programme and was organised by the McClelland Sculpture Park in Melbourne, Australia; it brought together various forms of contemporary art that are related to the beginnings of modernism. The project featured paintings and watercolours by Bernd Ribbeck, whose approach strongly references the Bauhaus, its protagonists, and broader context. His geometric works, for instance, echo modernist church architectures of the early 20th century as well as showing similarities
to the watercolours of Paul Klee.
Furthermore, Ribbeck deliberately leaves his art open to themes such as mysticism and theosophy, even where they are not explicitly part of his approach. Thus, some depictions call to mind the spiritual constructions by Hilma af Klint or Emma Kunz, thereby reflecting the artist's intense preoccupation with art history and its supposed peripheral scenes.
A richly illustrated catalogue on this international and genre-spanning project has now been published under the title Haus Werk. With its short text contributions, the publication traces the influence of the Bauhaus on contemporary art and, with reference to the participating artists, reveals clear parallels between the early 20th century and present day.
The Haus Werk catalogue is available at McClelland Sculpture Park via info@mcclellandgallery.com.
Bernd Ribbeck's solo exhibition with new paper works opens on November 7, 2020 at Mehdi Chouakri Fasanenplatz.
On view in Berlin
Lothar Hempel, Reiter am Strand (Riders On The Beach), Watercolour and pencil on light cardboard, 2020

This and other drawings by Lothar Hempel can be seen until the end of December in the group exhibition Studio Berlin in the Berlin Club Berghain.
New 

As part of the exhibition Parliament of Plants currently on view at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Athena Vida has created a new installation composed of a diverse range of botanical elements. The number three serves as the basis of the work: each side is 3.33 meters long, the plants are arranged on three levels, and for the most part, the colours comprise three colour families. The laws of nature are an essential component and driving force of the installation; the sunflower's inflorescences contain the golden ratio as well as the Fibonacci sequence, thus referring to the foundations of the world's makeup. The compilation of the work, which was created directly on-site in the museum, was preceded by Vida's extensive research into the properties, effects, and

meanings of plants. Thus the artist herself collected the blossoms, seeds, branches, and leaves on walks. Athena Vida, formerly known as Gitte Schäfer, lives in the mountains of the Swiss Simmental valley, where she can draw inspiration from her immediate surroundings. This work is fully in line with Vida's artistic practice in recent years. Principles of creation and cosmic influences are integral to her practice and distinguish the works as highly symbolic compositions. The installation Florastrale—a botanical environment—is thus characteristic of her ambition to bestow meaning and create narratives in today's world, which hardly conveys symbolic values.
The group show Parlament der Pflanzen with the new installation by Athena Vida will be on view until January 17, 2021 at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.
Spotlight
Mehdi Chouakri
The Mumok in Vienna is currently presenting the exhibition MISFITTING TOGETHER with Serial Formations of Pop Art, Minimal Art, and Conceptual Art. Peter Roehr, who was an artist based in Frankfurt, is considered to be a prominent figure of seriality in the 1960s. The 1967 exhibition Serial Formations, which the artist organised together with Paul Maenz, who was later to became a gallery owner, brought together renowned artists such as Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, and Charlotte Posenenske. It was a milestone in Minimal Art and also influenced the current exhibition in Vienna. 
Peter Roehr is represented in the Mumok with one of his most important works: Film Montages 1-3 (1965). Roehr, who had made seriality the leitmotif of his artistic work in the years before, and who arranged cheap materials such as adhesive or paper strips in formations, was faced with a major problem when it came to realising his film work: In the 1960s, he could hardly obtain film reels in sufficient quantity. Even for earlier works such as the typo-montages, Roehr, who
was always short on money, gained access to the IBM showroom to use the latest electronic typewriters for free. The problem was eventually solved when Paul Maenz, who by now was working in advertising in New York, supplied Roehr with cheap film material from overseas, which he had arranged to be smuggled by Lufthansa pilots in their cockpit. Roehr now had sufficient access to the material and was able to mechanically produce repetitions with film snippets without having to pay attention to the amount of film used. The three-part work premiered in 1967 at the performance evening 'Dies alles Herzchen wird einmal Dir gehören' (All this, sweetheart, will one day be yours) in Frankfurt am Main. It was there that Charlotte Posenenske also first showed her large-format corrugated cardboard elements from the Series DW, which are also currently on display at the Mumok. Subsequently, Peter Roehr's Film Montages were shown at various film festivals, and after his death—the artist passed away in 1968 already—Gerry Schum published them as a VHS version.
The Film-Montagen 1-3 by Peter Roehr and the Series DW by Charlotte Posenenske can be seen at the Mumok in Vienna until January 6, 2021.
Mid-November we will be opening an exhibition showing text works by Peter Roehr and Carl Andre at Mehdi Chouakri Mommsenstrasse.
Insert Sylvie Fleury at Mehdi Chouakri
From left to right:
1. Moisturizing is the answer (1996)
2. Bedroom Ensemble (1997)
3. A 011/355 (1999)
4. Yes to All (2002)
5. Sylvie Fleury (2005)
6. High Heels on the Moon (2007)
7. Sylvie Fleury (2009)
8. Do Not Think Of The Color Blue For 30 Seconds (2012)
9. Shame (2020, Mommsenstrasse)
10. Shame (2020, Fasanenplatz)
Sylvie Fleurys solo show Shame will be on view until October 31, 2020 at Mehdi Chouakri Fasanenplatz and Mommsenstrasse.
In addition, works by Sylvie Fleury are currently shown in group exhibitions at Muzeum Susch, Kunstmuseum Winterthur and Kunsthalle Bern.
Flashback 
Mehdi Chouakri
Following exhibitions by Sylvie Fleury and Claude Closky, the Danish artist Jens Haaning had the opportunity to exhibit at the Gipsstraße gallery in Berlin in 1997. Instead of applying a classic exhibition concept, Haaning decided to convert the entire gallery into a travel agency. As a result, the gallerist's desk was placed in the exhibition space, and the shelves were filled with travel catalogues. Visitors and potential buyers now had two options: 1. Book a trip via the gallery and embark on it, as in an ordinary travel agency. 2. Book the trip and pay for it without embarking on it; in exchange, they’d receive a signed certificate from the artist. The gallerist indeed sold trips as far as to the Philippines, and some 'artworks' were also purchased.
Toward the end of the exhibition, the furnishings of the 'travel agency' became art for sale as well.
With Travel Agency, Haaning explored retail's concentration on a single business segment by interlinking the two entirely different business areas of art and travel brokerage. In the past, stores had mostly been places of consumption for everyday needs, where, like in a corner store, different products and services could be purchased. This changed, however, with the advent of supermarkets and retail chains. As a result, the diversity of supply disappeared in many stores resulting in Haaning's creation of this unique exhibition.

Galerie Mehdi Chouakri

Fasanenplatz 
Fasanenstrasse 61, 10719 Berlin
Mommsenstrasse 
Bleibtreustrasse 41, 10623 Berlin
galerie@mehdi-chouakri.com
Tel. +49 30 28391153
Fax. +49 30 28391154
Imprint:

Publisher:
Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin
Text:
Daniel Pfau
All rights reserved to the artists and Mehdi Chouakri Gallery