Memory spaces, 2023
Drawing, Archive, Sound
Exhibition in the Kulturbunker Stuttgart.
Drawing with earth, archive, photographs, sound.
Opening on November 15 at 7:30 pm, 2023 in the Kulturbunker, introduction by Peter Schmidt.
The exhibition not only refers to memories and stories that have to do with the Deaconess Bunker. The place itself becomes a kind of memory, history and story space. Materials collected by the artist can be seen as an archive in their own right. Archive boxes, specially made for the exhibition in the bunker, are used to store photographs, documents and notes that the artist has collected over the years. Much of it is from archives that Barbara Karsch-Chaïeb has researched herself. Some of the photographs are taken from the boxes and are presented. The archive can be visited by personal appointment, archive boxes are opened to look at the content and talk about them. The archive is an open archive and is constantly growing.
When you are in the archive, you can hear a voice. Marta Schmid is the only contemporary witness (so far) to talk about her work as a paediatric nurse during the Second World War (from the Motherhouse Archive, Evangelical Deaconess Institution Stuttgart).
In a second exhibition space, another sound installation intertwines with a drawing on the floor with earth pigments.
Two voices (Ina Karsch, musician & Palina Vereti, opera singer) alternate and read texts – one about the history of Cahokia in Illinois (USA), in between short informative texts on topics related to earth and nature. The drawing with earth connects places and people of the world. Earth – a memory repository of cultural and geological history. Earth, which provides us with substances and materials for our lives. Earth, the basis of human nutrition and our climate.
A white flag emphasises human dignity without judging current events; it is intended to inspire reflection and get people talking.
New stories and earth pigments are constantly being added, the ground drawing is expanded in other places with other earths, as are the sound installations.
Memory spaces, Barbara Karsch-Chaïeb.
The exhibition in the Kulturbunker Stuttgart was on display from 17 to 29 November 2023. Photo: Drawing with earth and rock pigments, Photo Credits Ulrike Reichart.
Image rights VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, Barbara Karsch-Chaïeb.
