Intersection

Colorful, humorous, radically contemporary - this is how the age-old medium of woodcut can be. To accompany the exhibition “Kirchner Woodcuts” at the Kunsthalle Bremen, HfK students under the artistic direction of Gabriela Jolowicz are exploring woodcuts and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the celebrated star of Expressionism. A selection of their experimental approaches will be presented in the Kupferstichkabinett's new study room until April 21, 2025 under the title “Schnittmenge”. The works bring Kirchner's visual world into the here and now, reinterpreting it and mixing it with the everyday world of a young generation.

Were there any guidelines for the students? “Not from the Kunsthalle,” emphasizes Gabriela Jolowicz, ”but I did set a theme. Kirchner was never in Bremen, so the students had to imagine that he would come to Bremen today. Who would he have met, where would he have gone? The students captured the atmosphere in 'neighborhood' pubs that they like to go to and depicted everyday situations in the cityscape, for example in the harbor, resulting in very different works. In the background was always the very intensive study of Kirchner and woodcut art, whereby we also did a lot of research in digital archives, for example at MoMA (New York) or Städl (Frankfurt/Main), and looked through books that I had brought with me on the subject.”

In another course, students approached Kirchner's woodcut art from a different perspective. Jolowicz: “One of Kirchner's patrons, Gustav Schiefler, published books with all his prints, but not the pictures, but descriptions of the pictures, which are very reduced and totally charming. For example, it just says: 'A group of four people sitting around a table in a café. In the corner of the room, which forms the background, a chimney protrudes at a right angle. Or: 'In the foreground on the sidewalk two ladies meeting. Beyond a bed in a park lies a man, behind him bushes. Somehow concrete and then again not. Wonderfully right in between. The students made woodcuts of the descriptions, mostly without knowing the original.”

Were the students able to respond to the literary visualization strategy of the past with their own contemporary visual language? “They tried it out, then looked at what they liked, talked about it and experimented further. Each for themselves, but also reflecting on what Kirchner had done and what the commissions were doing. This is how students searched for and found their own handwriting,” says Jolowicz.

The detailed interview with Gabriela Jolowicz can be read here

It is also not far from the “Intersection” project to the “Interface”, the hands-on space in the Kirchner exhibition: In this open studio, visitors can look over the shoulders of students cutting wood every two weeks on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 5 pm until March 9, 2025. They can also try out woodcutting for themselves. The exact dates can be found in the Kunsthallen calendar.