Symposium Michaela Melián. Red Threads
21 May, 3 pm
In German
Free admission
Programme
15:00
Welcome: Kathrin Becker (KINDL)
15:30
Mit der Straßenkarte von Rio Berlin durchwandern – ein Spaziergang [Walking through Berlin with the Rio street map - a foray]
Lecture by Nadja Abt (Artist and author, Berlin and Lisbon) + Q&A
16:30
Panel discussion: Karin Harrasser (Media and cultural scientist, Linz), Michaela Melián (Artist and musician, Munich and Hamburg) and Angelika Richter (Art historian and curator, Berlin), moderated by Jörg Heiser (Art critic, curator and musician, Berlin) + Q&A
17:30
Surazo. Monika and Hans Ertl: A German History in Bolivia, book presentation by Karin Harrasser + Q&A
19:00
Concert Michaela Melián with Elen Harutyunyan and Ruth May
Followed by DJ Thomas Meinecke in Babette's Garden
In her visual and acoustic collages, Michaela Melián (* 1956 in Munich) asks questions about the social, about memory, language, and identity. Her drawings, objects, multimedia installations, and audio works point to a complex network of historical facts and their traces in the present day. Melián contrasts the history of places and people with phenomena of everyday culture and specially composed music, and thus invents a form of commemorative culture that surfaces stories that have been absent, omitted, or buried. The focus of the solo exhibition at the KINDL is a newly developed installation on the legends surrounding the guerrilla Tamara Bunke, aka Tania, between Havana and Berlin.
Nadja Abt (b. Vladimirovich) is an artist and writer, living in Berlin and Lisbon. Abt studied Literature and Art History at Freie Universität Berlin as well as Fine Arts at Universität der Künste Berlin and the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires. From 2015 till 2018 she lived in São Paulo, Brazil. Between 2018 and 2020 she was as an editor for the art magazine Texte zur Kunst. In her artistic work, she constructs feminist narratives that reference the world of literature and film. She is part of the artist collective Michelle Volta. Recent exhibitions and performances include Kunsthalle Freeport, Porto (Solo Show, 2021); Galeria Diferença, Lisbon (Solo Show, 2021); Galerie Kirchgasse, Steckborn (2021), HUA International, Beijing (2021); Bärenzwinger, Berlin (2021); KW – Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2021); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2019); Casa Triângulo, São Paulo (2018) and Pivô, São Paulo (2017).
Karin Harrasser is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Art and Design Linz and Vice Rector for Research there. After studying history and German language and literature, she received her doctorate in 2005 with a dissertation on the narratives of digital cultures at the University of Vienna. This was followed by a research assistant position at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and various guest professorships in Germany and Colombia. Afterwards habilitation at the Humboldt University in Berlin on Prostheses. Figures of wounded modernity. In addition to her academic activities, she has been involved in various artistic-curatorial projects, e.g. at Kampnagel Hamburg, Tanzquartier Wien or with MAPA Teatro and the Colombian Truth Commission in Bogotá. Together with Elisabeth Timm she is editor-in-chief of Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften. Her research currently focuses on asymmetrical cultural transfers between Europe and South America and the relationship between globalization and contemporary history.
Elen Harutyunyan (*1978 in Yerevan), studied at the Komitas State Conservatory under Prof. A. Brutyan. She attended master classes for viola and chamber music under Yuri Bashmet, Andrey Dogadin, and Kim Kashkashian. Harutyunyan was selected as solo violist and principal viola of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia while she was still a student. Since 2003 she has been a violist in the Philharmonie der Nationen under Justus Frantz and in the KlassikPhilharmonie Hamburg under Robert Stehli, as well as in the David Quartet.
Jörg Heiser (*1968 in Rheydt, lives in Berlin) is an art critic, university lecturer, curator, and musician. At the Berlin University of the Arts he is dean of the Department of Fine Arts and executive director of the Institute for Art in Context. For twenty years he worked as an editor for the magazine Frieze. He writes for Art-Agenda and Republik.ch, among other publications. His books include Plötzlich diese Übersicht: Was gute zeitgenössische Kunst ausmacht (2007), Doppelleben Kunst und Popmusik (2018), and most recently Freiheit ist kein Bild (2021). The second album by the band La Stampa, of which he is a member, was released in 2018 by Vinyl Factory in London. Since 2004 he has curated numerous group exhibitions, including Romantic Conceptualism (2007–8, Kunsthalle Nürnberg and BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, catalogue), co-curated the Busan Biennale in South Korea (catalogue) with Cristina Ricupero and Gahee Park, and with Ricupero he is currently planning the group exhibition Ernsthaft? Albernheit und Enthusiasmus in der Kunst (Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, starting in November 2022, catalogue).
Ruth May (*1974 in Hamburg) is an artist and musician. In addition to her visual work, which includes drawings, collages, textile pictures, and objects, May designs costumes, album covers, and posters for her fellow artists. As a violinist May works with various bands and performance groups, including Kleiber, Rocko Schamoni, Carsten Erobique Meyer, Kante, Michaela Melián, Veranda Music, Chamberlab, Sophia Kennedy, Cow, Patrick S Zimmer, Showcase Beat Le Mot, and Hajusom. She studied at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg.
Thomas Meinecke (*1955 in Hamburg, lives in Munich) is a German writer, musician, and DJ. Since 1980 he has been a musician and lyricist for the band Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (F.S.K.). Since 2008 he has organised the series Plattenspieler at the HAU theatre in Berlin. From 1985 to 2021 he was a radio DJ on the show Zündfunk Nachtmix (BR 2). From 1978 to 1986 he was co-publisher and editor of the avant-garde magazine Mode & Verzweiflung. In the 1980s he wrote columns for Die Zeit, and since 1986 he has published short stories and numerous novels, most recently the novel Selbst (2016). His best-known novels also include Musik (2004), Hellblau (2001), and Tomboy (1998). His literary work has received several awards, including the Berliner Literaturpreis (2020), the Ricarda Huch Poetry Lectureship (2019), and the Karl-Sczuka-Preis für Hörspiel als Radiokunst (2008).
Angelika Richter, who grew up in East Germany and began her career in West Germany, is an art historian and cultural studies scholar and curator. In addition to contemporary art, her focuses include gender research in cultural studies, art and culture in Eastern Europe (especially East Germany), and the history of performance and media art. She has been rector of the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin since 2021.