The Neue National Gallerie: Jannis Kounellis

Yesterday we went to the neue nationalgalerie and saw an exhibit by Jannis Kounellis that we had seen a flyer for at a cafe: www.smb.museum. It was a very strange exhibit- mostly a labyrinth of 10 ft high iron walls (partially rusted- a sign before the exhibit said "Danger: The walls of the labyrinth may be dirty") and as you wandered through you would find certain artifacts- an egg, a bit of cotton with a fly on it, bags of coal seated in a circle of chairs, empty coffeee bean sacks that had been strewn together to make a blanket, rolled up raincoats (maybe) with knives poking out of them. Very bizarre.

As most of the "artifacts" had to do with civilization and necessary materials in particular I took it to mean something along the lines that man often lives in poverty- spending his whole life to gain access to the materials that make life possible- food, coal, blankets- the bare necessities. Man spends more and more time trying to find these things until eventually he finds himself in a maze- unable to escape his search for the materials necessary to satisfy his basic needs. As for what this indicates, I can only think one of two things: 1) that art is a luxury those in poverty can't afford or 2) this struggle is in and of itself an artform- it is basic and human in nature and something that needn't go unrepresented. It's hard to tell which. Carlos seemed to think- more or less- that the exhibit expressed how 3rd world countries are exploited for their resources (many of the artifacts were obviously from argentina or other historically exploited countries). At any rate, very interesting. Some more photos are located here: http://www.smb.museum/smb/presse/image_list.php?id_gruppe=109&lang=de&n=3


More photos of Berlin art exhibitions here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everythingandrobots/sets/72157604101893228/