2019 closes as one of the most successful years for the HMKV - preview of 2020 programm

Review of a very successful year 2019

With three major international exhibitions on highly topical and relevant topics – Computer Grrrls, The Alt-Right Complex and the current exhibition Artists & Agents – 2019 was an extremely successful year for Hartware MedienKunstVerein. HMKV director Dr Inke Arns draws a positive balance:

“I am very pleased that our exhibitions in 2019 were so well attended! One visitor even described the Alt-Right Complex as a ‘real-time exhibition’ - because literally not a day went by without a news report on those topics that the artist address in the exhibition. Our exhibitions are closely perceived in Germany - and also internationally. With its work, the HMKV is putting Dortmund on the map of contemporary (media) art.”  

The international group exhibition Computer Grrrls (October 27, 2018 - February 24, 2019) focused on the complex relationship between gender and technology - and on the question of how the marginalization of women in computer technology has come about. After receiving a large number of visitors until the end of February 2019 at HMKV at the Dortmunder U and from March to July at La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, the Computer Grrrls' international journey continued: At the end of July 2019, the exhibition was opened at MU artspace in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where it remained on view until early October 2019.

The Alt-Right-Complex - On Right-Wing Populism Online (March 30 - September 22, 2019) will be recorded as one of the best-visited and most sensational exhibitions in the history of HMKV. The international group exhibition focused – as the first exhibition world-wide – on the phenomena of right-wing populism and terrorism and online radicalisation. In addition to a global dimension of the issue, the exhibition also focused on the local dimension in Dortmund. The large number of visitors was also reflected in the demand for the accompanying publication: the exhibition magazine, with its extensive glossary on right-wing terminology, is already in its second edition.

Finally, on October 25, 2019, Artists & Agents - Performance Art and Secret Services was opened in the presence of many participating artists: The exhibition focuses on the surveillance of performance artists by the secret services - and their complex interaction: “The exhibition's focus almost seamlessly connects with The Alt-Right Complex, because it shows that many methods of defaming and disseminating ‘fake news’, as we see them today with the New Right, were already being used by secret services during the Cold War, “ says Inke Arns. Due to the great interest shown by the public and the press, the duration of the exhibition was extended until 19 April 2020.

As a platform for the communication of media art, HMKV was co-organiser in 2019 of the first edition of the culture hackathon Coding da Vinci in Westphalia/Ruhr Area. Using the open data provided by the participating cultural institutions from the region, creative artists together with programmers, designers and game developers have developed digital applications and projects for cultural mediation, which will remain available under open licenses after the hackathon (see codingdavinci.de). The projects were presented at the award ceremony on 6 December at the Dortmunder U – and the four best projects were awarded by an expert jury and the audience.

 

Highlights in 2020

The first project in 2020 - the community project Faţadă/Facade - invites visitors to celebrate the diversity of the city of Dortmund: Building on the collaborative neighborhood project of the same name, a project on Roma architectural culture by Workshop Mallinckrodtstraße, the exhibition at the HMKV from May 16 to September 20 will focus on the positive representation of Roma cultures in Dortmund's urban space. “Faţadă/Facade brings the Dortmund’s northern quarter into the Dortmund U,” says Inke Arns. Accompanied by a programme of workshops and workshops, the core of the Faţadă/Facade project is to raise awareness for institutional racism. A redesign of the vertical space at the Dortmunder U, inspired by Roma building forms, will also be realized during the summer of 2020.

From 2020 the HMKV – together with the Ludwig Forum Aachen – will realise one of the 15 projects nationwide funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation's Digital Fund. The four-year research project investigates the significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for curatorial work and is entitled Training the Archive.

HMKV director Inke Arns will also curate the flagship exhibition at the European Capital of Culture 2020 Rijeka: The Sea is Glowing (24 April - 12 July 2020, Exportdrvo, Rijeka, Croatia) is an international group exhibition that looks at new invisible economies connected to the sea – in the ocean, like deep sea mining, at the sea shore, like offshore tax havens, and on the sea, like ultra-libertarian sea-steading start-ups. All of these activities are part of new economies that involve new kinds of labour (like care work), logistics, or new kinds of capital circulation (like freeports).

The HMKV welcomes the new year with a relaunch of its website www.hmkv.de, which went live last week. Art lovers will find all information on HMKV exhibitions, current events and publications from the HMKV Bookshop on the redesigned user-friendly site.

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Dates 2020 at a glance

Exhibitions

Artists & Agents - Performance Art and Secret Services

HMKV (Hartware MedienKunstVerein) in the Dortmund U

26 October 2019 - 19 April 2020 (extended)

An exhibition by HMKV in cooperation with the University of Zurich, curated by

Inke Arns, Sylvia Sasse and Kata Krasznahorkai.

 

Faţadă / Facade

HMKV (Hartware MedienKunstVerein) at the Dortmunder U

16 May - 20 September 2020 (opening 15 May 2020)

Exhibition and workshop, place of discourse and design of the vertical space at the Dortmunder U

A project by HMKV (Hartware MedienKunstVerein), Interkultur Ruhr and Werkstatt Mallinckrodtstraße

 

With art by the team from Werkstatt Mallinckrodtstraße

Curatorial support: Inke Arns (HMKV) and Fabian Saavedra-Lara (Interkultur Ruhr)

Partner of the project: Djelem Djelem - Dortmund Festival for Roma Cultures, VMDO e.V.

and much more

 

HMKV Video of the Month

HMKV (Hartware MedienKunstVerein) at the Dortmunder U

In the series HMKV Video of the Month, the HMKV presents current video works by international video artists for the duration of one month each – selected by Inke Arns.

January 2020: Maya Schweizer: L’Etoile de Mer (The Sea Star, 2019)

February 2020: Magdalena von Rudy: AIR (2014-2018)

 

 

Events

Film Screening: Laura Poitras: Citizenfour (USA 2015, in English with German subtitles)

innogy Forum / U cinema, ground floor

Thursday, 30 January 2020, 19:00

In the framework of the exhibition Artists & Agents the HMKV is showing the documentary by Laura Poitras about the US whistleblower, which won an Oscar for best documentary film.

 

Public guided tours

Sundays and public holidays: 16:00, duration approx. 45 min. Admission is free.

 

Family Sunday

On each first Sunday of the month at 15:00, HMKV offers a free kids‘ tour of the exhibition Artists & Agents. Our kids‘ tours are suitable for the whole family. No registration needed. Just come by! Duration ca. 30 min. Meeting point at the entrance of the exhibition. Admission is free.

Kids’ Paper Chase: We also offer a children's paper chase for all young visitors of our exhibition, available at the HMKV reception at any time.

Special guided tours on date of choice

For groups of up to 25 persons (60€)
Registration and further information at: info@hmkv.de
Individual booking is possible at any time. Also available in English. Please register at least 7 days in advance.

 

Further projects and events in 2020 will be announced at www.hmkv.de.