First Proposal Draft

Golden Parachutes and artist/curator Mira O’Brien are excited to be working together for the first time on a collaborative project. Golden Parachutes, a project space, and Mira O’Brien are both based in Kreuzberg, and through this initiative wish to enhance the local cultural dialogue by working with a select group of locally based international artists on an exhibition that engages with public space. The pre-selected artists include: Alexis Knowlton (American living in Neukolln), Veronica Lehner (Columbian living in Freidrichshain) and Mira O’Brien (American living in Kreuzberg). 2-3 more artists have yet to be invited.

The exhibition will be comprised of three components: outdoor site-specific installation work, a gallery exhibition, and a publication.

A site will be selected that is within walking distance from Golden Parachutes. This site should be a territory of open space, a public space without a program, and ultimately an outdoor workshop. Each artist will conceive of a site-specific artwork, in keeping with her own artistic practice. The artists selected already have set a precedent in their practice for site-specific work. Each artist will be challenged to produce a new piece for this exhibition that is specifically located in the chosen site. With several artists working simultaneously with one confined space, the potential for overlap and collaboration seems imminent. The sudden burst of activity located in a site that was previously quiet is sure to attract curiosity, and hopefully dialogue with passerbyers.

An exhibition will take place in Golden Parachutes, showcasing the documentation and evidence of the work produced on site. The gallery exhibition will serve as a key for what is taking place outside. Sometimes the primary artwork will be located outdoors on site. Other times the primary artwork will be the documentation, such as photography or video, shown in the gallery. But the goal is to activate the ambiguity between documentation and site-specific installation, between public and private space.

In order to facilitate the movement between site and gallery, a guide will be published. This guide will serve simultaneously as a map and as an exhibition catalogue. A route connecting the gallery and site will encourage visitors to walk between to the locations. A detailed map of the site will describe where artistic activity took place, and where artworks or remnants of artworks can be found. Some artworks might be sculptural and easy to identify, and others might be subtle interventions or remnants of a performance or action. Each artist will have the opportunity to create a map of her project, which can be interpreted literally or artistically. In the tradition of the Situationist International, a group of artists and thinkers that used map-making as a form of expression; the publication will be functional work of art. The maps will not only provide information in regards to location and direction, but will suggest ways of experiencing and interacting with space.

The themes inherent in this project contribute to an ongoing dialogue in Berlin regarding art in public space, and the more general use and definition of public space. Institutions, such as the Berlin Biennial (Kunst Werke) and the Skulpturenpark Zentrum, have fostered this dialogue that is so critical to Berlin. We would like to add our own unique perspective to this dialogue; a perspective that is at once local and specific to Kreuzberg, as well as international given the backgrounds of the participants. By expanding our exhibition beyond the private and sometimes intimidating confines of the gallery, we hope to engage a wider audience and initiate participation within the local Kreuzberg community.