Originals, 2013

The text by Sebastian Cichocki describes an “Earth Museum in the Suburbs”, where a young boy named S.R. (Robert Smithson) collects natural objects according to his own system. The story takes place towards the end of World War II, which for the young boy is happening »as if on another planet«. Antje Majewski presents four sections of collections within her own Museum in the Garage. Each section has its origin in a different type of museum. Common to these objects is that their value cannot be translated into one of merchandise: they are priceless. Their value stems from their relationship to constructions of memory and history. They consist of shells, snails, bones and stones, old clay pots and shards, and small animal figurines made out of plastic. All remain connected to the human hands that held them and whose shadows they still carry.

ORIGINALS
Objects from the Museum of Prehistoric Thira in Santorini, Greece. This museum shows relics and objects belonging to one of the first European cultures on the island of Santorini. The objects are placed on pedestals, numbered and described. They seem to be everyday objects, like vessels and pots – but some strange balls and stones remain mysterious. Who made these objects, who drank from them, what did these balls serve for? We don’t know – even less, since the small numbers on Antje Majewski’s paintings are not connected to explana-tory labels. Still, the jugs have amusing, carefree forms that give us the feeling of sharing the same humor with these people across the millennia. While there is no possibility for »studium«, they are capable of creating a »punctum« of connection.

Text:
Sebastian Cichocki: L.A.S.T.L.E.A.K. (I love Istanbul and Istanbul loves me)
Sebastian Cichocki: L.A.S.T.L.E.A.K. (In the mud)
Sebastian Cichocki: The museum of peripheries and other lost documents (A set of possible scenarios for Y.)

Exhibitions:
The Museum in the Garage (with Sebastian Cichocki), Galeria Pola Magnetyczne, Warsaw, PL, 2014
To Paint is to Love Again, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin, DE, 2013

Catalogues:
Berlinische Galerie, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Neue Nationalgalerie (Ed.), Painting Forever!, Druckverlag Kettler, Berlin, 2013
Antje Majewski, The Museum in the Garage, neugerriemschneider 2013