Starting
with the opening on February 7th 2014 the whole project is supposed
to be accompanyied by a series of exhibitions that will take place in
the office and in the Lapidarium of the Alte Berliner
Garnisonfriedhof as an ongoing process and a space for meeting,
exchange, observation and commemoration. The visitors will be invited
to leave their notes, impressions and experiences upon visiting the
exhibition and the cemetery in written or any other form (drawing,
photograph, etc.). These will be collected and put into an special
archive. The curatorial reference of the ARE has been to reinterpret
the project of 4. berlin biennale in 2006 curated by Maurizio
Cattellan, Massimiliano Gioni and Ali Subbotnik. At the 4. berlin
biennale „of mice and men“ that analysed human condition, it was
among others an audio installation by Susan Philipsz installed on the
cemetery territory.This time referring to the human condition during
the World War I artist Peggy Sylopp has develped a sound installation
for the cemetery on the outside and we are currently in the process
of requesting the Lautarchiv of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
to supprt the project idea and to lend us for the exhibition the
pieces of the recordings of Georgian prisoners that are in its
storage. These audio recordings date back to 1914-1918. And record
the speech: anecdotes, Georgian love songs, Immeretian and
Mingrelian songs, and narrations spoken by Georgian prisoners when
they were in captivity in German camps. Exact details on the conditions as to how, for
which purposes the recordings were made or what happened to the
prisoners afterwards are not known they are under research. It is one of the aims of the
exhibition and of the project to present to public and to discuss, as
well as to allow the visitors to analyze and re-think history,
to commemorate. If the installation helps to promote further research on the subject or to find out more about the
prisoners - their further destiny and the details of their detention
it would be all the better for all involved. These recordings
are supposed to be played on loop inside the exhibition space. These audio materials are
unique and to our knowledge never presented in public before. The
cycle of exhibitions curated by the ARE in cooperation with Alte
Berliner Garnisonfriedhof is supposed to be opened on Feb. 7, 2014.
The
title of the exhibition Die Geschichten von Molla Nasredin is a draft
title. Maybe we still change it. However this title suggests the
absurdity of the story narrated or forced to narrate by the prisoners
in camps whose recordings are in the Lautarchiv. Its absourd, out of
sync character corresponds to the absourdity of war and the human
condition in it. Molla Nasredin stories are humorous fable-like
stories that used to be intended for kids, yet since they're not of
Georgian but of Turkish origin and the Turks were invaders in
Georgia, these stories are not particularly popular now. Kids, school
pupils from upper classes and teaching/education are the focus of
this project: further in the year it intends to organize an
exchange between Georgian and German secondary schools. It was also
supposedly the intention of the interrogaters and those on the German
part who prepared and conducted the speaking / singing sessions with
Georgian prisoners in the First World War in
German camps to use the materials for the purposes of (among others) teaching
of the Georgian language.
We
are very thankful to HU Lautarchiv and particularly to Sarah Grossert
for the insightful conversation on the subject. We would also like to mention that due to the nature of the subject discussed some of the dates or planned events could be rescheduled. We will let you know in advance if that happens, but we hope it will all take place as planned.
ARE/Artistic
Research Encounters
Participating
artists:
Zasd
Peggy
Sylopp
Dieter
Appelt
