37 Rooms, Group Show Berlin: Digital Archive Station Rose

37 rooms Berlin Auguststrasse

group show 1992

//: notes

- 37 Räume (37 rooms) was a group exhibition in Auguststrasse, Berlin, 07.92, parallel to Documenta Kassel, where we contributed together with Yoko Ono, among others (see slide-show below). Curated by Gabi Horn and Bea Stammer.

Artworks:

* bubble jet print out "Public Brain Session" (1x1m)

* Lichtkasten/ neon shop window display "art production Nr. 7" (24x30x10cm)

* videotape "aus dem digitalen archiv ´92"

Station Rose made the only digital contribution to the exhibition.

Station Rose - Elisa Rose and Gary Danner - were a nose length ahead, the then pessimistic attitude towards new technologies anyway, as well as the positivistic attitude. They experimented, performed and interacted, a long time before crossover and club culture became mainstream.
Already one year later we could ask Station Rose again for a further statement to Berlin - this time it was about the articulation of art in the context of the social and the urban: In the renewal and change of the Berlin art and gallery landscape, after the wall came down, the idea for the exhibition „37 Räume" (37 rooms) was born by Kunst-Werke Berlin e.V., which had already moved into an abandoned factory in Auguststrasse in 1990. 37 Räume was presented parallel to documenta 9, mid of June 1992, as an articulation of ideas and concepts to the current art happening in the city which was already marked by beginning changes. In the still unsettled ownership structure of the former Spandauer suburb of Berlin Mitte, in the ruinous charm of Auguststrasse, 37 curators declared empty-standing apartments and trade areas - shops, dwellings, hotel rooms, a school - to art spaces one week long. A daring enterprise, as residents were threatened with possible ejection caused by the proximity to the future area of government administration as well as the expected building boom, something the quarter, formerly shaped strongly by Jewish lifestyle, had to see already once.
Art concepts and artists had to prove sufficient sensitivity at this place, in order not to get into suspicion to decoy speculators. The exhibition and representation system in the contemporary art should be reflected by investigations, field research and social concepts... Gabriele Horn & Bea Stammer

"... The opening was started with a visit from Yoko Ono, who at the same time had a show in Berlin and put down two small boxes with the inscription: 'Box of Smile', boxes lined with mirror glass that reflected the viewer's face when looking in. Yoko Ono sympathized with our idea of MISS-ING and demanded a stronger feeling and hearing for artists, which was to be proven 4 years later at Documenta 10 by Catherine David.

Elisa and Gary also got into this happening mood with a lightbox: "from 360 million years until now". The light box showed the visualization of computer data in a surface texture. It represented the connection of a complex computer automatism with the creative intuition of the human being in real time. It was the only contribution which was largely to be settled in the field of science and aesthetics, and in which the medium computer played a role and which gave an idea that science, Technology and the arts will move closer together again in the 1990s. ... "

Gabriele Horn & Bea Stammer

"... Auftakt der Eröffnung war ein Besuch von Yoko Ono, die zeitgleich eine Show in Berlin hatte und zwei kleine Boxen abstellte mit der Aufschrift: 'Box of Smile', mit Spiegelglas ausgekleidete Schachteln, die beim Hineinsehen das Gesicht des Betrachters spiegelten. Yoko Ono sympatisierte mit unserer Idee von MISS-ING und forderte ein stärkeres Gespür und Gehör für Künstlerinnen, was sich 4 Jahre später auf der Documenta 10 durch Catherine David bewahrheiten sollte.

Auch Elisa und Gary kamen eigens in diese Happening-Stimmung mit einem Leuchtkasten: "von 360 millionen jahren bis jetzt". Der Leuchtkasten zeigte die Visualisierung von Computerdaten in einer Oberflächentextur. Er stellte die Verbindung eines komplexen Computerautomatismus mit der kreativen Intuition des Menschen in Realzeit dar. Es war der einzige Beitrag, der weitestgehend im Bereich Wissenschaft und Ästhetik anzusiedeln war, und in dem das Medium Computer eine Rolle spielte und der erahnen ließ, daß Wissenschaft, Technik und Künste in den 90 er Jahren wieder enger zueinander rücken werden. ..."

Gabriele Horn & Bea Stammer