Deichtorhallen

Streamlines

04 Dec 2015 - 13 Mar 2016

Bouchra Khalili
The Constellations, Fig. 6 (Detail)
From the series »The Constellations Series«. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Polaris, Paris
STREAMLINES
Oceans, Global Trade and Migration
4 December 2015 − 13 March 2016

Fifteen artistic projects on waterways, flight, the port and international trade are the focus of the exhibition »Streamlines«, which will be presented at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg from December 4, 2015, to March 13, 2016. Assembled by the internationally renowned curator Koyo Kouoh from Dakar, the exhibition in the Hall for Contemporary Art will mainly feature site-specific works that deal with the historical background and the current and prospective situation of Hamburg as a »gateway to the world«. The thematic emphasis of the presentation is the »oceans as the sixth continent«, thus examining the seaways across which global flows of commodities have been channeled since the 19th century, whose control is still of great economic and political significance today. Some of the participating artists have been featured at documenta, including Kader Attia, Ulrike Ottinger and Alfredo Jaar.

The exhibition »Streamlines« focuses on the metaphor of the oceans in order to examine the cultural effects of the global stream of goods and trade from the South to the North. In a broader sense, the show initiates a reflection on the issue of how oceans are used, how social, political and economic inequalities can be visualized through the seas, and how one can understand the status of invisible borders and the notion of property in relation to the oceans. How should we interpret migratory flows? Who enacts and applies laws for this all-encompassing and strange territory? The exhibition addresses the streams of communication and information, of people and goods.

»Streamlines« is an invitation to contemporary artists from various areas around the world that have a strong historical trading link to the port of Hamburg as a place where cargoes from these regions -including Asia, Latin America, Africa and of course also Europe - are unloaded.

The viewers’ experiences of this exhibition are intended to be guided by the key terms »Action«, »Consumption«, »Confrontation«, »Reconfrontation«, »Participation« and »Narrative«. These offer levels on which to present the challenges of history, politics or the environment, which the artworks highlight through humanistic and aesthetic interpretations.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Kader Attia, Mark Boulos, Peter Buggenhout, Ken Bugul, Godfried Donkor, Theo Eshetu, Joana Hadjithomas, Alfredo Jaar, Khalil Joreige, Bouchra Khalili, Abdoulaye Konaté, Otobong Nkanga, Arin Rungjang, Thomas Rentmeister, Ulrike Ottinger and Wendelien van Oldenborgh.

The exhibition »Streamlines« is funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation
 

Tags: Kader Attia, Mark Boulos, Peter Buggenhout, Theo Eshetu, Alfredo Jaar, Bouchra Khalili, Abdoulaye Konaté, Otobong Nkanga, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Ulrike Ottinger, Thomas Rentmeister, Arin Rungjang