Mannheim Chair.
Sieben Tonspuren für die Kunsthalle Mannheim, 2015/2016
Audio sculpture
Wood, fabric, steel, sound system

 

The audio sculpture Mannheim Chair was developed for the sound installation 7 Tonspuren für die Kunsthalle Mannheim in the Old Library of the Kunsthalle. The compact object, which swings from the ceiling, unfolds a sculptural presence in the room with its timeless language of form and material, concentrated entirely on its serving function. As an autonomous object, the Mannheim Chair, which is produced in a limited edition, can be understood as a display format and equipped with different sound sources.

Sieben Tonspuren für die Kunsthalle Mannheim

Otto Dix, Die Witwe, 1925
Director Friedrich Hartlaub shows the painting „The Widow“ by Otto Dix in the exhibition The New Objectivity in 1925. The painting attracts great public attention and it can be acquired for the Kunsthalle’s collection. In 1937 it is confiscated from the Kunsthalle and shown at the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Its whereabouts have remained unknown ever since. (12:55 min.)

Jankel Adler, Zwei Mädchen, 1927
The painting „Two Girls“ by Jankel is acquired for the Kunsthalle in 1930. From the outset, this purchase is heavily criticised in Mannheim’s National Socialist press. Director Hartlaub wants to exchange the painting with Adler for another one, but in 1933 it is shown in the first Feme exhibition in a German museum, the so-called Cultural Bolshevik Exhibition in the Mannheim Kunsthalle, and is later confiscated. The painting is now privately owned abroad. (12:40 min.)

Edith Dettmann, Straße bei Gerresheim, 1925
Director Friedrich Hartlaub buys the painting „Straße bei Gerresheim“ from the Düsseldorf painter Edith Dettmann in 1928 and shows it in the groundbreaking exhibition „Die neue Sachlichkeit“ at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. The painting was confiscated in 1937 and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day. In the course of research for the Mannheim Chair, a black-and-white image of the painting was found. (17:50 min.)

Milly Steger, Weiblicher Kopf, 1920
The sculptor Milly Steger is the most famous German sculptress in the 1920s and 1930s, her name is mentioned in the same breath as Barlach and Lehmbruck. The Kunsthalle owns several works by her, and in 1937 some of her works are confiscated from the Kunsthalle, but in the same year one of her sculptures is prominently featured in the first Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich. (17:10 min.)

Kunsthaus Mannheim, 1920-1933
Until 1937, the art dealer Herbert Tannenbaum brings many now world-famous works of art and artists to Mannheim with his Kunsthaus Mannheim. Through him, the Kunsthalle is able to acquire many important works for its collection at an early stage. His childhood friend, the Mannheim businessman Wilhem Landmann, is one of the most important art collectors of his time. Both had to emigrate in 1937. Tannenbaum reached New York via Amsterdam and was later able to restart his gallery there, while Landmann succeeded in bringing his collection from Mannheim via Holland to Toronto. Many of his works are exhibited today at the MoMa in New York and other major museums. Decades later, Landmann donates a bronze sculpture by Milly Steger to the Kunsthalle Mannheim. (14:50 min.)

Hans Tombrock, Eulenspiegel III, 1929
During the 1920s there were 70,000 homeless people in Germany. The artist Hans Tombrock, who comes from a proletarian background, has to work as a child and receives no schooling. He politicises himself and becomes a convinced vagabond. Tombrock travels through Europe and sells his paintings. With other vagabond artists he organises exhibitions and a magazine. Branded as a vagrant, he has to flee from the National Socialists and later works with Bertold Brecht in Sweden. The Kunsthalle owns a print by him. (15:00 min.)

Abgabe von Kunst aus öffentlichem Eigentum
Under the subject „Disposal of art from public ownership“, the discussion is depicted that has not quietened down since the sales of two paintings by Andy Warhol from public ownership in NRW. Museums are increasingly under pressure to make up for public debts by selling off works of art. (9:40 min.)