Vielheit [Multiplicity] Stories from the postmigrant society

From 18 June to 24 September, #kunstmeranmeranoarte will be presenting the exhibition Vielheit [Multiplicity]. Stories from the postmigrant society, curated by Jörn Schafaff with artworks by #baniabidi, #solcalero, #clementcogitore, #pradipdas, #nicolodegiorgis, #barbaragamper, #nadirahusain, #pinarorenci, #willemderooij, #ecaterinastefanescu, #rirkrittiravanija, Haegue Yang and Želimir Žilnik.

In many places, not only in Europe but elsewhere in the world, the social reality of today is postmigrant – i.e. one characterised by #people of different origins living together, with those of different cultural, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds sharing everyday life. Nevertheless, this multiplicity is often not reflected in the media or political discourse. The exhibition Vielheit, by contrast, invites visitors to explore the complexity of postmigrant societies via personal narratives and general observations. How do preferences, habits, perceptions and relationships change in our increasingly multiform world? Where and how does what is new become visible? What demands arise from this – for individuals, for social groups, for society as a whole? The artistic contributions to the exhibition invite visitors to reflect on multiplicity both as a space for possibilities, but also as a challenge.

South Tyrol, for example, is a migration destination for #people from other regions of Italy, from other European states and from other continents. They all bring with them their experiences, their knowledge, their ideas, their aesthetics and ways of life. Against this background, the artist Barbara Gamper, herself from Meran/o, created the 2023 work linguistic landscapes (how do we come together in our differences?). Using a questionnaire and a workshop, she addressed topics such as belonging, participation, the future and the power of language with school students from Meran/o. The result is a two-part banner on which the thoughts of the young #people are condensed into a “word cloud”. The new installation by Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanijas, untitled 2023 (neighbours), was also created for the exhibition: several screens show #people of different origins talking about their beginnings in Meran/o, their current lives and their wishes for the future. The wooden platform on which the screens stand reflects Tiravanija’s own migratory experience: it has the same dimensions as the room in which the-then 19-year-old Tiravanija first lived after he arrived in Canada from Thailand to study.

Želimir Žilnik’s short film Inventur Metzstraße 11, made in 1975, also lets those affected speak for themselves: the Serbian filmmaker asked the residents of a Munich apartment building to introduce themselves in front of the camera. The result was a sober yet touching insight into the life situations of so-called guest workers – for example, from Greece, Turkey and Italy – in what was at the time West Germany.

This look back at the 20^th century reminds us that migration is by no means a new topic. Historically, migration is not even the exception; what appears unusual is, instead, the condition of being sedentary. Instead of continuing to differentiate between the “established” and the “newcomers” as regards questions of living together, it would therefore seem to make more sense to focus on the changes in our living environment as a common concern. Vielheit [mulitiplicity] is a helpful term for this: it denotes a large quantity of something that is within itself disparate – in other words, a diversity that, despite all differences, still wants to be thought of as together. Migration researcher Mark Terkessidis also uses it in this sense in his reflections on postmigrant society. For him, today’s society is “a bundle of differences”, of which migration is only one factor among many. On the one hand, it is a matter of always thinking of all these differences (class, gender, sexual orientation, education, religion, etc.) together; on the other, it is a question of understanding migration as a dynamic process that affects all areas of society. More generally, it is about plurality in all its facets as the basis of social coexistence.

Last but not least, plurality is evident in those places emerging in postmigrant societies. Nicolò Degiorgis’ 2014 book, Hidden Islam, shows photographs of Muslim prayer spaces in northern Italy. The photos were taken in the course of several years of research during which Degiorgis also recorded the often racially tinged public discussions about these new postmigrant places. Examples of his research are the numerous photos, newspaper articles and documents from Case Study TV31020 (2009-2013), arranged by the artist (who lives in Bozen/Bolzano) as a wall installation for the exhibition. In her 2022 video The Song, the artist Bani Abidi, who grew up in Pakistan, accompanies an elderly man upon his arrival in Berlin. Using instruments made from household objects, he tries to make the silence of his new flat bearable in memory of the background noise that characterised his place of origin, a metropolis in the global south. Paris-born Nadira Husain, on the other hand, creates transcultural mental places with paintings such as An Elephant in Front of the Window, Kulfi (2022), in which motifs of classical Indian painting and elements of European comic culture combine with questions of queerness and feminist empowerment.

A third theme of the exhibition concerns how we deal with notions of identity and cultural stereotypes. Bouquet IX (2012) by the Dutch artist Willem de Rooij is a magnificent bunch of flowers whose blossoms all have one criterion in common: their white colour. In terms of their form, however, they are very different; in addition, most of the flowers are not originally native to Europe. The sculpture can thus be seen as a reflection on the tension between abstract concepts such as sameness and difference and on the socio-historical connotations of the colour white. Sol Calero’s Escultura Salsera II (2014) is a sculpture of bricks, base and fabric that looks like a salsa dancer: shifting between abstraction and figuration, the brightly coloured work by the artist, who grew up in Venezuela, seems to be a symbol of Latin American culture, but above all asks what it takes to make such assumptions.

Using a Vielheit [multiplicity] of documentary and poetic approaches, the artistic contributions to the exhibition explore social and cultural change beyond simple conceptions of belonging. The focus is not least on what migration researcher Regina Römhild has called “heterotopic moments of conviviality”, the many small events of successful togetherness that run counter to the populist stigmatisation of migration and its consequences.

Programme

As an integral part of the project, the programme of mediation and events invites us to discuss the future of social coexistence in the region together with artists, academics and activists. On the opening day, #barbaragamper invites visitors to a “somatic intervention”. Following the screening of her film Gurbet Is A Home Now (2021), the  #pinarorenci will discuss the significance of architecture, housing and urban development in a postmigrant society with migration researcher Erol Yildiz. On a total of four Thursdays in June and July, #kunstmeranmeranoarte invites you to “Haircuts With Attitude”, a fictitious hairdressing salon with an actual programme in Meran/o’s city centre. Over drinks and music, artist Filippo Contatore will cut his guests’ hair and talk to them about questions of cultural identity. Guests include migration researcher Claudia Lintner and the art critic and author Rosalyn D’Mello. The programme also includes the screening of Manuela Boezio’s and Federico Scienza’s new documentary film “Heutzutage – 12 Geschichten [Nowadays – 12 Stories]” (2023) about postmigrant coexistence in South Tyrol. A workshop with young #people will explore the question of what coexistence between personal ideas of identity and group membership might look like. On the last weekend of the exhibition, #kunstmeranmeranoarte invites you to attend an anti-racism workshop with Fouzia Kinyanjui and Ivo Passler from Human Rights Initiatives. The finissage will this year include a Kunsthaus Clubbing event, with DJ Kandeesha rocking the walls of the Kunsthaus with her selection of “Musica Disorientale” in the Transcultural Sunday Lounge.

Vielheit [Multiplicity]

Stories from the postmigrant society

Curated by:                                        Jörn Schafaff

Artists:                                                #baniabidi, #solcalero, #clementcogitore, #pradipdas, #nicolodegiorgis, #barbaragamper, #nadirahusain, #pinarorenci, #willemderooij, #ecaterinastefanescu, #rirkrittiravanija, Haegue Yang and Želimir Žilnik

Exhibition duration:                            18.06.-24.09.2023

Opening:                                            17.06.2023, 4 pm

Venue:                                               #kunstmeranmeranoarte | Lauben 163, 39012 Meran

In Zusammenarbeti mit:

Opening hours:                                  Tuesday-Saturday: 10-6. Sundays and holidays: 11-6

Information:                                        info@kunstmeranoarte.org | www.kunstmeranoarte.org