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COEXISTENCE
MOMENTUM’s Final Exhibition at the Kunstquartier Bethanien
together with Yeoul Son
Curated by Rachel Rits-Volloch
Produced by Emilio Rapanà
OPENING:
14 December 2024
4:00 – 9:00pm
EXHIBITION:
15 – 22 December 2024
4:00 – 7:00pm & by appointment
@ MOMENTUM
Kunstquartier Bethanien, rm 134
Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin
COEXISTENCE is the exhibition wrapping-up MOMENTUM’s tenure at the Kunstquartier Bethanien. To bid goodbye to our home of 14 years, MOMENTUM is proud to invite eminent Maltese artist Norbert Francis Attard to make a new site-specific installation for our space. Forming the latest work in his ongoing Coexistence Series, RED vs BLUE refers to the political and philosophical divisions fracturing our contemporary world. Drawing on the quote by the esteemed English philosopher Bertrand Russell – “It’s coexistence or no existence.” – this statement encapsulates the essence of the Coexistence Series, highlighting the critical need for dialogue and understanding in a world marked by division.
In dialogue with Norbert Attard’s monumental new work addressing ideological issues on a global scale, the site-specific installation DATA vs DATA, by Malta-based Korean media artist Yeoul Son, measures the temperature at the local level of the Kunstquartier Bethanien. Extrapolating the literal to the social and political, Yeoul Son takes the temperature of Berlin during its cultural climate crisis. At a time when serious storms are brewing in Berlin’s sociopolitical climate – when recent elections have proven Berlin to be an island floating in a sea of far-right sentiment, and when the visual and performing arts being eviscerated by diverting funds in aid of a war nobody wants, it is high time to take a better measure of the increasingly fraught climate around us.
COEXISTENCE takes place two weeks before MOMENTUM loses our home of 14 years in the Kunstquartier Bethanien. We wrap-up our program in this space by inviting Norbert Francis Attard to wrap-up our space. This exhibition bears witness to the end of an era – both for MOMENTUM’s home in the Kunstquartier Bethanien, and if the current political climate persists, for Berlin’s unique standing as the capitol of art and culture. In this context, and particularly in a city where coexistence has so catastrophically failed in the past, the notion of coexistence takes on a far too ironic tone. And yet coexistence is what we all need most, if there is to be any hope for the future. COEXISTENCE is not only the title of this exhibition, it is, and must remain, our fervent hope.
MOMENTUM MOVES!
An Outraged Goodbye to the Kunstquartier Bethanien
The Kunstquartier Bethanien has been the home of MOMENTUM ever since we first launched in Berlin in January 2011. For 14 years MOMENTUM has been an integral part of the identity and mission of the Kunstquartier Bethanien as a dedicated art center. During our tenure in the Bethanien, MOMENTUM has realised more than 300 Exhibitions, Artist and Curator Residencies, Video Art in Public Space Initiatives, Performances, Talks and Education Programming. We have consistently been an asset to the cultural program of the Kunstquartier Bethanien, bringing diverse new audiences into the building, while maintaining a strong network of loyal visitors, exceptional artists and partner institutions in Berlin and abroad. For all these reasons, MOMENTUM is OUTRAGED that, after 14 years at the Kunstquartier Bethanien, we have been informed that our contract will not be renewed without any explanation given, and with an utter refusal to communicate. Nor are we the only ones to be treated with such callous disregard by the GSE gGmbH, the company managing the Kunstquartier Bethanien. On behalf of all those being hassled and unfairly evicted in all the properties under GSE management, we condemn the GSE for blatantly contravening its mandate to safeguard premises to support socio-cultural initiatives.
Sadly, we are far from alone. Our move out of our home of 14 years in the Kunstquartier Bethanien takes place at a critical juncture in Berlin’s very identity as the art capitol of Europe; at a time when idiotically short-sited political decisions are threatening to eviscerate the art and culture scene in Berlin; when budgets for visual and performing arts institutions are being radically cut; when artists are being evicted from their studios; when they are being silenced and penalized for voicing political dissent; when so many of the support structures for the arts – which had made Berlin so unique and built-up this city’s reputation as a cultural mecca – are being de-funded. MOMENTUM stands together with Berlin’s vast art and culture communities in protest against the utter evisceration of the visual and performing arts.
So by necessity, as of January 2025, MOMENTUM MOVES! We will celebrate our 15th Anniversary in 2025 by focusing on the worldwide in our name, MOMENTUM Worldwide. This Global Platform for Time-based Art goes global, with projects in development in Australia, China, Malta, and beyond. And for our loyal community of Berliners, we will continue to make exciting pop-up exhibitions and events closer to home. December 2024 marks the end of our era at the Kunstquartier Bethanien. But we look forward to bigger and better things to come as MOMENTUM turns 15 next year!
