KMA Benches
Thilo Reich’s KMA Benches expose forgotten remnants of Berlin’s history that lay underfoot during daily life in the city. The benches are created by combining 1950’s flagstones from GDR-era East Berlin with refurbished worksite timber. After grinding and polishing the flagstones – still an everyday element of pedestrian life in Berlin – a colorful composition of various rocks and debris is revealed. This peculiar terrazzo is composed of rubble from various eras of the city's ruins that has been processed into the generic building material. The glossy flagstones are then placed in timber slots and trays designed specifically to the measurements of these interchangeable flagstone elements, one stabilizing the other. The resultant stark design hovers between utilitarian object and design piece that subtly exposes traces of the ever-evolving history of Berlin.
Exhibition “The Way Things Run (Der Lauf der Dinge) Part III: Wage” at PS120 Gallery
Exhibiting artists: Julieta Aranda, Anna-Sophie Berger, Lou Cantor, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Claire Fontaine, Isabella Fürnkäs, Mariana Hahn, Alicja Kwade, Fred Lonidier, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Mickael Marman, Ahmet Ogut, Gina Proenza, Thilo Reich, Analia Saban, Katharina Sieverding, Eric Winkler, He Xiangyu
The third and final iteration of The Way Things Run investigates art’s ability to speculate labor politics. Through artworks – be they images, object, or immaterial experiences – artists may effectively narrate histories of labor, informed and shaped by social and geopolitical factors in local, regional or national contexts. At the same time, as capitalist society’s prime producer of symbolic value, the complex concept and industry of “art” is itself embroiled in a range of deeply problematic labor processes, unfolding as art is made, displayed, exchanged and speculated. The Way Things Run III sets out to examine how artists – in an attempt to discuss the essential political importance of work and its effect on bodies, places, institutions, and societies – insist on the work of art as a critical and viable space for such a discussion, expanding or subverting its function while acknowledging its inherent implication in value-generation.
Der dritte und letzte Teil von The Way Things Run untersucht die Fähigkeit der Kunst, Arbeitspolitik zu beeinflussen. Durch Kunstwerke — seien es Bilder, Objekte oder immaterielle Erfahrungen – können Künstler effektiv von Geschichten der „Arbeit“ erzählen, die durch soziale und geopolitische Faktoren in lokalen, regionalen oder nationalen Kontexten bestimmt und geprägt sind. Gleichzeitig ist der komplexe Begriff und die Industrie der „Kunst“ als Hauptproduzent der kapitalistischen Gesellschaft für symbolische Werte selbst in eine Reihe von zutiefst problematischen Arbeitsprozessen verstrickt, die sich entfalten kann, wenn Kunst geschaffen, ausgestellt, ausgetauscht und spekuliert wird. The Way Things Run III untersucht, wie kritische und lebensfähige Räume für eine solche Diskussion auf dem Kunstmarkt geschaffen werden.
