TIRELESS WORKERS

from the top: Klara Hobza “From Cologne to Bonn” (2011). Courtesy Galerie Soy Capitän // Guido van der Werve, "Nummer dertien, Effugio A: Chamomile, Russia's National Flower or Running to Rachmaninoff" (2010)" // Isabelle Giovacchini “about:blank” (from 2008) // Moritz Frei "Divide et impera" (2011-13) // courtesy the artists // photos by insitu

They say the devil finds work for idle hands. Leisure, unproductiveness and extensive pondering contradict the modern belief in efficiency and optimisation. Only within the sphere of creative productions – specifically literature, music, theatre, film and visual arts – there exists a legitimation of (temporary) faineance for the sake of brilliant results and unique genius. On the other hand, however, the arts originate from a tradition of hard labour and craft, which still influences the appreciation of contemporary artists. "Episode 4: Tireless Workers", the current group show at the relatively new Berlin-based project-space insitu, discusses these clichés and phenomena by showcasing possibilities of approaching the production of art with seemingly senseless and repetitive manual labour.

SHOW COVER HIDE. SHRINE

from the top: (1) Thomas Böing "Ohne Titel", 1988 ; (2) Hermann Abrell "Ohne Titel", 1973 ; (3) Rudolf de Cringis "Painting #99.03" and "Painting #99.04", 1999 ; (4) Thomas Rentmeister "Ohne Titel", 1988 ; (5) installation view Michael Toenges "Ohne Titel", 2001 // courtesy Kolumba Köln; photos by artfridge

How the juxtaposition of contemporary art and art from early Christianity can turn into an experience of both dissonance and harmonious contemplation is regularly shown at Kolumba, the museum of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne. Originally a parish in the medieval centre of Cologne, St. Kolumba was established as the Cologne Diocese Museum in 1853 and bombed into pieces in World War II. The architect Peter Zumthor renewed the building in 2007 and enclosed the remaining fragments and the Gottfried Böhm-chapel “Madonna in the Ruins” (1949) with perforated walls and a plain and minimalist architecture. Sixteen exhibition rooms, each kept in reduced materiality, vary mostly on the incoming daylight. Their seventh exhibition "show cover hide. Shrine", which is praised to be "an exhibition on the aesthetics of the invisible", is the first show that respects the minimalist architecture by reflecting its subtle and meditative opulence.

INTERVIEW: JÜRGEN DEHM

from the top: (1) installation view 'Time To Recollect' at Stadthausgalerie Münster; (2+3) Ruchama Noorda (Civic Virtue) "Babtisterium"; (4) Sil Krol "Hexagonal Platform"; courtesy the artists, photos by artfridge

Münster, a classic mid-sized German student city, started to form in the end of the 8th century. While city planners have been reconstructing the old city-scape and tried to erase the sight of WW2's destruction, history has left its traces. With this in mind, the current group exhibition "Time To Recollect", including the artist collective CIVIC VIRTUE and Sil Krol, discusses questions on the the writing and the perception of history through the example of its location at Stadthausgalerie Münster. The two curators Suzie Hermán and Jürgen Dehm, who are both participating the curatorial scholarship program followup at Schloss Ringenberg, were invited to assemble contemporary German and Dutch positions to put a spotlight on the individual construction of history. We spoke to Jürgen Dehm about the exhibition's approach to history, religion and its relation to the city of Münster.