Who we are

Face to Face and Side by Side #12

This video uses an AI-generated voice.

The twelfth edition of the series “Face to Face and Side by Side” focuses on the central question of the different characteristics, faces and attitudes that make up a person or an institution such as the Kunsthalle. In this juxtaposition, a work by the Scandinavian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset (Michael Elmgreen, *1961 and Ingar Dragset, *1969) from the Haubrok Collection meets several works from the Kunsthalle Bielefeld’s current collection exhibition. Who are we? What makes us or something special? How do we recognize the specific characteristics of a person or an institution like the Kunsthalle?

In the work “Found Identity” (2009) by Elmgreen & Dragset, the focus is on an everyday object: a wallet which contains personal objects and memorabilia that seem to give us clues to the identity of the owner. But can a person be characterised solely by these found objects?

The collection of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld is constantly being expanded through acquisitions and has a focus on the art of the the twentieth and 21st century, which is presented in changing exhibition constellations. So what characterizes the museum when the Kunsthalle is constantly changing through changing works and perceptions of different people? And do individual works of art shape, form and define the essence of an institution?

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the haubrok foundation.

The Exhibition Series has been organised in cooperation with the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1288 “Practices of Comparing. Ordering and Changing the World”, Bielefeld University, Germany, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Logo. It reads SFB 1288 in black, sans-serif lettering, with a smaller text underneath: Practices of comparison.

Face to Face
and Side by Side

The series “Face to Face and Side by Side” focuses on a work from the collection of Kunsthalle Bielefeld that addresses central issues in juxtaposition with a selected external work. The focus is always on a concentrated comparison of the selected works.

Gallerie

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Foto: Philipp Ottendörfer
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Lost Identity, 2009 Maße // 10.5 cm x 8.0 cm x 2.0 cm, Leather wallet, mixed media Photo Credits: Ludger Paffrath for the haubrok foundation, Berlin 2023