The graduates and masterstudents at the Kunsthochschule Kassel are presenting their graduate exhibition EXAMEN, unique in Germany, at the documenta Halle. The exhibition brings together final projects from the departments of Visual Arts, Visual Communication, Product Design, and Art History and Aesthetics. The works cover a broad conceptual and creative spectrum, ranging from painting and sculpture, film and performance, to innovative products and multimedia installations.
This year’s graduate exhibition, curated by Philipp Lange, bears the title EXAMEN 24 – The Plant through the Asphalt. The poetic subtitle is not only reminiscent of the many hurdles to be overcome in the course of one’s studies, but also refers to the time in which we are living. Wars, climate change, and the intensifying political situation in Germany as well as worldwide convey the feeling that the earth is becoming increasingly uninhabitable. But even on seemingly hermetically closed surfaces, covered with concrete, even on polluted and devastated terrain, fissures appear from which new life can sprout. The plant that breaks through the asphalt symbolizes the inner driving force, creating hope for a positive future.
In their works, the graduates and master students thematize social conditions, personal experiences, or collective events. They create spaces of encounter, of learning, of contemplation, and of sense perception. The roughly 50 positions burst forth in full bloom, individually and independent of the categories assigned to them, with each work asserting itself in its own coherent, sometimes surprising place in the documenta Halle. And despite this independence, the works are found in immediate vicinity to one another, thus forming a collective whole. Even a plant that breaks through the asphalt is part of a living and above all changeable ecosystem, and so EXAMEN 24 can be understood as a snapshot in time: a short pause to bloom before moving on – with the promise of a tomorrow full of opportunity, the will to accept and to come together in care and concern.
Philipp Lange (b. 1992) is a curator, art historian, and cultural manager. After studying art history, communication design, and curatorial studies in Berlin, Paris, Halle/Saale, and Frankfurt am Main he was a curatorial fellow at the Goethe Institut and curator-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. He has created numerous exhibitions, including at Spoiler, Mouches Volantes, Galerie Met, and for the UdK Berlin. He has also served as assistant curator at the Brücke Museum and Schinkel Pavillon as well as curatorial assistant at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. He regularly writes texts for exhibitions, catalogs, and art magazines. Since 2024 he has also been the director of KW Freunde e.V.
The cdw Foundation supports EXAMEN, and together with the Kunsthochschule sponsors the award given as part of the exhibition.
Curator of EXAMEN 2024:
Philipp Lange
Dates:
December 11-15
Opening and award ceremony:
December 11, 6:00 p.m.
From 9 p.m. DJ-Sets by GEMINI and Schlimme Musik
Opening hours:
Th, Fr, Sa: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. / Su: 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Location:
documenta-Halle
Du-Ry-Straße 1
34117 Kassel
EXHIBITION TOURS
Curatorial tour
Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
documenta-Halle (meeting point main entrance)
In this tour Philipp Lange, the curator of EXAMEN 24, provides deep insights into the exhibition project. This focus here is on his curatorial approach and the idea behind the title of the exhibition, The Plant through the Asphalt.
Public exhibition tours
Thursday, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
documenta-Halle (meeting point main entrance)
In this tour graduates or students in Art History and Aesthetics will lead you through the exhibition. Each day there will be 2-4 graduates integrated in the tour to talk about their own works.
Public exhibition tour in English
Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
documenta-Halle (meeting point main entrance)
In this tour, one of the graduates or a student from the degree program in Art History and Aesthetics will guide you through the exhibition. They will be joined by 2–4 graduates who will talk about their own work.
PERFORMANCE / READING / SAUNA SESSION
Ohne Titel [Room 7]
Dance-performance
Wednesday, 8:00 p.m.; Friday, 6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 6:00 p.m.
documenta-Halle (Große Halle)
Dance-performance by Louisa Jacobs (graduate of the Visual Arts program, Florian Slotawa class). Performers: Yeonji Han and Charlotte Böttger.
Vor dem Vergessen [Before Forgetting]
Reading
Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
documenta-Halle (Seitenlichthalle)
In her final project Vor dem Vergessen [Before Forgetting] Ivonne Kramer treats her own family history, using drawing and painting to rework visual motifs and original texts. This resulted in a book in which she deals with the traces of the past and looks at the extent of their influence over us, even to the present day. The artist views the history of her ancestors as exemplary for the history and stories of countless other families.
Alles fließt / Panta rhei – Sauna session with infusion
Sauna session
Saturday, 2:00–6:00 p.m.
Sunday, 2:00–6:00 p.m. (FLINTA only)
Infusion times 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m.
Side entrance to the documenta-Halle / in front of the cafeteria
The sauna is open for all visitors on Saturday, albeit with a maximum capacity of 6 persons. On Sunday the sauna is exclusively reserved for FLINTA persons. Registration and more information by e-mail to c.bluhme[at]gmx.de or on site.
Charlotte Bluhme studied Product Design at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Her final thesis deals with Estonian, Finnish, and German sauna culture.
TALKS
Queer-feminist Approaches to Contemporary Exhibition Practice
Thursday, 3:00 p.m.
documenta-Halle (Seitenlichthalle)
In conversation with Philipp Lange, Constantin Hartenstein and Sylvia Sadzinski provide insights into their work on queer-feminist topics and their curatorial-theoretical and artistic research. By drawing on examples from selected projects–including from their joint work–the talk will allow for a deeper reflection on the curatorial ideas that also form the basis for EXAMEN24.
Constantin Hartenstein is an artist living and working in Berlin. He studied at the UdK Berlin and the HBK Braunschweig. Since 2019 he has been Artistic Associate and member of the Academic Senate at the UdK Berlin. Hartenstein works as an artist at the intersection of technology, queerness, and the human body. His multimedia works, including sculptures, drawings, prints, performances, and installations, question social norms, identity, and the commercialization of queer aesthetics. They have been exhibited internationally, including at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Göteborg Biennale, and the Berlinische Galerie.
Sylvia Sadzinski works at the intersection of contemporary art, curatorial practice, and queer-feminist theory. Since 2019 she has been co-director of the feminist exhibition space alpha nova & galerie futura in Berlin, which has been in existence since 1986. Since 2015 she has been teaching at art schools and universities, currently at the University of the Arts in Berlin and at the Node Center for Curatorial Studies. She is currently doing her doctorate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna on queer infrastructures of the curatorial.
Invited and moderated by Philipp Lange, curator of EXAMEN 24.
Lass mich für dich und mich da sein. [Let me be there for you and me.]
Friday, 3:00–4:30 p.m.
documenta-Halle (Seitenlichthalle)
Not a day can pass that we don’t hear about some catastrophe. War, natural disasters, genocide, elections. This makes me wonder, am I there for those dearest to me? Are they there for me? Am I there for me? Together with the audience I would like to find a way to answer these questions. Together to find a way to survive. Together to find a way to be there for you and for me.
Violet Nderaisho is an activist born in Kenya and living in Kassel. Her interests lie in decolonial, Black, queer, and feminist politics, as well as in commitment to justice, healing, joy, and care.
WORKSHOPS
Pflanzine– Dem Heft beim Wachsen zusehen [Watching the Zine Grow]
Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
documenta-Halle (Große Halle)
The workshop Pflanzine is all about the almost incidental organic emergence of creative work in groups. This will include a variety of exercises in which we both write and draw in order to produce a zine from the collected works at the end. There will be a table for the duration of the exhibition where participants can create their own zines. A two-hour guided workshop tutorial will take place on Thursday.
Georgina Mae Mowwe studied illustration and comics and works as an illustrator, tattoo artist, and workshop leader.
Modelling clay workshop with Yannick Stark and Max Holicki
Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
documenta-Halle
Come to our intergalactic workshop for young earthlings and create your own alien from modeling clay! Tell us all about your alien and we will work together to transform it into a digital 3D model–maybe it will even show up in the pilot episode of Knetball! The workshop lasts as long as there’s clay–so grab your space gear and be there!
The modeling will happen with animated filmmakers Max Holicki and Yannick Stark, who have been putting on workshops for years as research for their series concept Knetball.
PARTY
Examen Party
Saturday, starting at 10:00 p.m.
Tofufabrik, Wolfhager Straße 39A, 34117 Kassel
Entrance: 10€ regular / 5€ for graduates
Line-up:
10:00 p.m. Inesco
11:00 p.m. Tempo Tony
12:30 a.m. GEMINI b2b boidoll
2:30 a.m. SCHLIMME MUSIK