Künstlergespräch in der Pogo Bar, KUNST-WERKE Berlin

Philipp Gufler
I Wanna Give You Devotion

14. Februar 19, 21 Uhr
Ort: Pogo Bar in den KW, Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin
Bitte melden Sie sich im Voraus unter pogobar@kw-berlin.de an.



Quilt #05 (Wolfgang M. Faust), Siebdruck auf Stoff, 2014, Berlin, Courtesy BQ

„Jäcki möchte kein Eindringling im Archiv sein.
– Alles nachfühlen, nicht nur recherchieren.
– Kann ich so lange bleiben, bis ich alles durchlebt habe?“
(Aus: Philipp Gufler: Indirekte Berührung, BQ Berlin 2017)


Einige geschichtsbegeisterte Lesben und Schwule gründeten im April 1999 das selbstorganisierte Archiv forum homosexualität münchen e.V. Seitdem arbeiten sie daran, aktuelle kulturelle und wissenschaftliche Beiträge und Erkenntnisse zu Alltag, Kultur und Geschichte von Lesben, Schwulen, Transsexuellen und Bisexuellen zu fördern, zu sammeln und für weitere Forschungen und die breitere Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen.

Philipp Gufler ist seit 2013 Mitglied des Archivs und realisierte 2014 die Videoinstallation und das gleichnamige Künstlerbuch Projektion auf die Krise (Gauweilereien in München), in denen er sich mit den 1980er Jahren und dem AIDS-Maßnahmenkatalog der damaligen bayerischen Staatsregierung auseinandersetzt.

Das Künstlerbuch I Wanna Give You Devotion entstand parallel zur gleichnamigen Installation von Philipp Gufler in München 2017. Dafür hat Gufler 29 Künstler*innen und Kollektive eingeladen, die Postersammlung von forum homosexualität münchen e.V. zu befragen, zu erweitern und zu aktualisieren. Diese neuen Poster wurden gemeinsam mit historischen Postern der Sammlung präsentiert, wodurch ein dichtes Geflecht aus aktuellem und historischem Material entstanden ist.

Seither sind im Rahmen seiner Forschung im forum homosexualität münchen e.V. weitere Arbeiten entstanden wie die Siebdruck-Serie Quilt oder die temporäre Bar Bei Cosy 2017 in Zusammenarbeit mit Richard John Jones im Rongwrong in Amsterdam.

Philipp Gufler wird bei I Wanna Give You Devotion aus seinem Künstlerbuch Indirekte Berührung (2017) lesen; in einem Gespräch mit Léon Kruijswijk (Curatorial Fellow der KW) liefert er zudem einen vertiefenden Einblick in seine künstlerische Recherche.

Die Veranstaltung findet in Kooperation mit BQ, Berlin statt. Am 28. Februar um 20 Uhr wird der Film Projektion auf die Krise (Gauweilereien in München) von Philipp Gufler parallel zur bereits laufenden Einzelausstellung King Louis II im Projektraum von BQ (QBBQ’s) in der Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 15 präsentiert. Die Ausstellung läuft bis zum 16. März 2019.

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Philipp Gufler
I Wanna Give You Devotion

14 February 19, 9 pm
Venue: Pogo Bar, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin
RSVP: pogobar@kw-berlin.de

“Jäcki does not want to be an intruder at the archive.
– To empathize with everything, not just to do research.
– Can I stay until I have lived through all of it as well?“
(From: Philipp Gufler. Indirect Contact. BQ Berlin: 2017)

In April 1999, a collective of lesbians and gays with a passion for history founded the self-organized archive forum homosexualität münchen e.V. Ever since the members have been working to promote and collect current cultural and scientific contributions and findings on the everyday life, culture and history of lesbians, gays, transsexuals and bisexuals to make them accessible for further research, but also for a wider public.

Philipp Gufler has been a member of the archive since 2013. He created the video installation and artist book Projektionen auf die Krise (Gauweilereien in München) in 2014, in which he deals with the measures of the 1980s Bavarian state government regarding AIDS.

In 2017 in Munich Gufler created the installation and the eponymous book I Wanna Give You Devotion. He invited 29 artists and collectives to question, expand and update the poster collection of the forum homosexualität münchen e.V. These new posters were exhibited along with historical posters from the collection, creating a dense network of contemporary and historical material.

The artist continued to produce works evolving from his research in the forum homosexualität münchen e.V., such as the silkscreen series Quilt or the temporary bar Bei Cosy, created in collaboration with Richard John Jones at Rongwrong, in Amsterdam in 2017.

During I Wanna Give you Devotion, Gufler will read from his artist book Indirect Contact (2017, German title: Indirekte Berührung). Moreover, a conversation between him and Léon Kruijswijk (curatorial fellow, KW) will provide a deeper insight into Gufler´s artistic research.

The event is organized in collaboration with BQ, Berlin. On 28 February at 20h, Gufler’s work Projektion auf die Krise (Gauweilereien in München) will be screened in the framework of the solo exhibition King Louis II in BQ’s project space QBBQ’s in the Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 15, which is on show until 16 March 2019.

King Louis II

29. January - 16. March 2019

Thursday, 28.02.2019, 8–10 pm

Film Screening

„Ritual of Farewell“, 2011

„Projektion auf die Krise (Gauweilereien in München)", 2014

„Becoming-Rabe“, 2016

by Philipp Gufler

Dramatis Personae
Ludwig II: the last Bavarian King; heavily in debt
Prince Paul: Ludwig’s aide-de-camp, and lover
Rabe Perplexum: an artist; wearing feathers
Peter Gauweiler: an angry, fearful man
Ben d'Armagnac: an artist; standing inside a large glass box
David: a statue, who has no lines; is only fallen in love with
Louis: a cat

Setting
A neighborhood bar, a quiet place you eventually forget the name of, as your first visit recedes in your memory, indistinguishable from the hundreds of times you've returned, drank, and drank to forget more than just the name of the bar. Lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors in ornate gilt frames, the tight space doesn't let you stray far from your own image. As you walk behind the row of bar stools with their patrons, there you are in the glass, looking over your own shoulder. Sometimes there are film screenings in the basement, the only time that the familiar scene is interrupted, when the regulars are again reminded of the name of the place: "Is this Reflections?" the newcomers ask as they enter the doorway, their skeptical expressions doubled in the mirror. Before anyone answers (and no one ever does) you've already entered, as if you've always known that this was the place. There's no sign on the front, but you can always find Reflections if you really need to.

The stage is empty except for Ludwig the King. He lingers over a glass, perhaps designing another extravagant castle in his imagination, or working out the details of his still unfinished Herrenchiemsee Palace. After bankrupting the royal purse and the monarchy tout court, he was declared insane and deposed by his ministers. Now an emigré living in a little German enclave in Chicago, he goes by Louis, but most of the regulars at the bar call him Lou. No wonder he recognizes himself more in the face of the cat, with whom he shares the feeling of being somehow irreconcilably different from his fellow drinkers, than in the reflection in the mirror.

Across the surface of these mirrors gauzy images transpire. Something familiar is queerly figured, a spectral face blending with our own. A bit like magic, we see other lives which rendered ours visible, and through our life something of theirs appears. In this little bar we see a distant transfer of Louis XIV’s Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, or Ludwig II's copy of it at Herrenchiemsee. The light of the sun reflected off the moon shimmering at the bottom of a glass; a Louis, a Ludwig, a Lou. Don’t think of it as a decline, but a transference of desires no less urgent or refined. Perhaps this bar is just as much a fantasy as the castle of Linderhof. Reflections is a real place, but you've never been there; I used to go there, but now I can't remember.

Becket Flannery, 2019


QBBQ's
Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 15
10178 Berlin
Tue - Sat 12 - 18 h

Fotos: Roman März