Time Machine Malthus

The collection was not intended as such at the beginning» as is the case with most collec­tions. It was about engaging with and surrounding oneself with the unknown, the incom­prehen­­­­sible. It was about the fascination of imagination and bring­ing this fascination into one s own home, surround­ing oneself with it, in order to remain aware of the constant stimulus of life. The collector has brought in the depths of the uncon­scious, of philosophy, of painting technique, and he has brought the wild and bustling Berlin into his own contemplative four walls. Let s go on a ­search for traces of this collection and follow different, complementary (in)reliable narrators. These narrators may be collectors, gallery owners, authors or viewers but the stories remain. Stories of oneday exhibitions for Danish pretenders to the throne, followed by a feast, or pictures that were just about ready for the exhibition but never made it into the exhibition catalogue because of the deadline. Stories of paintings that disappear into museums for years after being bought for one s own home, and stories of glittering parties after openings, before openings, just like that. ( ) The metaphysical of art is timeless and precisely therefore a time machine, whereas individual works of art are not. They are always an expression of a time, whether they want to be or not, and therefore also tell a contemporary story. A history of ­origin, an exhibition history, a collection history, a price history. This collection also tells a contem­porary story. If one wants to follow another unre­liable narrator, this collection tells of a Berlin of the 90s and 00s in which so much was possible because there were large spaces for little money. The collection also tells us about backyard galleries, improvised project spaces that later became institutions and about Club Berlin , which brought together parties with art, techno with politics.« Katharina HajekArtists:John Baldessari, Carol Bove, Louise Bourgeois, Marc Bradford, Nathalie Djurberg, Marlene Dumas, Marcel Eichner, Günther Förg, Theaster Gates, Adrian Ghenie, Nan Goldin, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jenny Holzer, Thomas Houseago, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Sherrie Levine, Jonathan Meese, Gabriele Orozco, Rymond Pettibon, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Janne Räisänen, Anselm Reyle, Jason Rhoades, Daniel Richter, Gerhard Richter, Gregor Schneider, Dana Schutz, Cindy Sherman, Dash Snow, Philip Taaffe, Tal R, Kara Walker, Wawrzyniec Tokarski, David Weiss & Peter Fischli, Rachel Whiteread, Marlon Wobst