New Scenario – Beyond the White Cube

As the documentary appearance or reproduction of a work of art becomes more and more important due to the increasing possibilities of digital dissemination, there is also a shift towards exhibitions that are developed for online reception. The formerly physical, walkable but locally bound exhibition space becomes the production site, and the formerly general documentation will be developed into a digital, non-walkable but globally accessible exhibition. Thus, if one shifts the location of the exhibition into the digital space in which (at least for the time being) flat pictures are the predominant actors, and turns the physical space into the production site for these pictures, then the production of the exhibition changes in such a way that the artwork has to be staged for the extended view through a camera (or other recording medium). The curator becomes an (image) producer or director who has to conceive and control this view of the artwork to be exhibited in a specific setting and a structure and narration for its digital presentation. […]

The presentation will introduce the artistic and curatorial approach of New Scenario and a selection of former exhibition projects.

 

Biography

New Scenario is an ongoing artistic and curatorial project by the visual artists Paul Barsch and Tilman Hornig, which since 2015 has conceived and realized several online exhibitions with international artists in narrative, (off)site-specific, non-white-cube settings, that overcome the conventional exhibition space in order to explore and redefine new presentation formats in the post-digital age. Their most recognized exhibition project BODY HOLES, which took place in all human body orifices, was part of the 9th Berlin Biennale. In 2021, they released the group exhibition CHERNOBYL PAPERS, which was produced in the contaminated exclusion zone around the ruined reactor.

 

Projects

CRASH (2015), JURASSIC PAINT (2015), BODY HOLES (2016), RESIDENCY (2017), HOPE (2017), CAMERON NICHOLE IS CHLOE SEVIGNY IS BRUCE NAUMAN (2018), WHITEOUT (2019), CHERNOBYL PAPERS (2021), STRESSTEST (2023)