Exhibition information

Anja Bohnhof, Thomas Florschuetz, Franka Hörnschemeyer
Anino Kannisto, Tanya Poole
 
The exhibition’s title is taken from the work of the same name by Tanya Poole: a large-scale ink wash painting depicting a bird’s nest from the collection of the Albany Natural History Museum in South Africa. As is so often the case with Poole, she masterfully translates her tiny motif into a realistic, monumental image that appears to float above the space in the exhibition, its scale allowing the viewer to appreciate the detailed structures. At the same time, a subtle visual effect emerges that goes beyond mere admiration and imitation – and provides an apt association with the exhibition venue.

For the title sets the tone for the entire exhibition. Like a protective nest, the gallery space lies on the upper floor of a small factory in the courtyard at Krummacher Straße 36. On the lower floor, in the courtyard and in the adjacent residential building housing the old ice cream parlour (‘Mimi e Rosa solo Vino’), the restoration of the historic building fabric is progressing with great care. We are currently at a stage that repeatedly appears unfinished and raw – a state of becoming that directly shapes visitors’ perceptions and their dialogue with the artworks. The construction process reveals the extremes of change: demolition and upheaval, gutting and discovery, slow reconstruction and the search for form.

The exhibition responds directly to this unique situation: the works not only explore the materials and processes of construction, but also reflect the desire for open space and a place of refuge, retreat and growth. The m Gallery ‘nests’ amidst a historic ensemble undergoing change.

The works in the exhibition
Every element of the exhibition demonstrates how structure, protection, stability or life can be provided in a thoroughly precarious world – a world in which emerging things must be ‘hatched’, wrested from the vagaries of circumstance, or protected from decay, demolition and the passage of time.

Tanya Poole, the France-based artist, with her name giving work Building Materials (Nest) from 2019 comments on the selection of works: “I like the juxtaposition of the works. Building materials as labour, nature as a building material, women’s labour. Nest-building and construction as a genetic instinct and, at the same time, as a form of female strength, as in the portrait of Sufiya Bibi. The photograph of the children Little Angels with the reflection of the forest also fits perfectly into this selection.”

“Building Materials” – the materials of construction – are literally the plasterboard panels that Franka Hörnschemeyer used for her work GK UA, 2003–23, a material she has explored throughout her long-standing artistic practice; one might summarise her as a building archaeologist. In her nearly 17-hour audio work GKF (Plasterboard Fire Protection), we hear her voice reciting terms gathered from architectural plans.

The windows painted by the artist Caroline von Grone as part of the Himmelsleiter (Jacob's ladder) project were created shortly before the buildings were finally demolished. Between 2011 and 2012, she documented through her paintings the process of the disappearance of this post-war housing estate in Kiel. The series offers glimpses into ghostly, gutted houses, as well as their appropriation by graffiti or the unchecked growth of nature. In contrast are the colourful windows of the series Palermokirschen (2009) – images of the play of light and shadow that capture the cheerful mood of spring.

In the untitled black-and-white photograph untitled (SBM) 12, 2022, from Thomas Florschuetz’s series "Sítio Burle Marx", an architectural pergola structure with a cascading waterfall intertwines with the leaf structures of tropical plants. The landscape architect’s 80-hectare garden combines an overwhelming collection of plants with relics of demolished houses from Rio de Janeiro. Florschuetz’s series brings together two genres central to his work: plants and architecture.

Aino Kannisto’s Little Angels gaze mischievously out of a window in which a forest is reflected, following visitors with their gaze. The photograph is taken from the series Children Pictures (2015–16), which explores the imaginative world of children and depicts their playful constructions and role-playing as the creation of imagined worlds.

And finally, the radiant, powerful portrait of Sufiya Bibi, created by Anja Bohnhof as part of her project Krishak – Yield of Time (2017–2018). It depicts an Indian woman carrying a freshly harvested bale of rice hay with ease under her arm. Hidden from view by the backdrop installed for the photograph, she stands barefoot and firmly rooted in her world – an archaic agricultural landscape that has so far resisted any transformation.


Background information
For many people, building sites are unsettling – a necessary nuisance. Yet they also lay the foundation for something new. At Krummacherstraße 36 in Duisburg close to the Lehmbruck Msueum it’s still ‘work in progress’ – with plenty of uncertainties and surprises. For this reason, there are currently no regular opening hours.

However, visits are welcome by prior appointment via email to mail@galerie-m.com or by telephone on 0203 39224886.

The gallery’s activities continue as usual in collaboration with artists, estates, museums, companies and collectors.