Unfortunately, overnight stays are not allowed. Nevertheless, Johannes Gottwald has stretched a colorful, striped hammock in the room that he is currently using and enlivening. “This is my summer camp,” says the artist from Herrmannsdorf and smiles.
So although not a real hostel, it is “La Garaash” kind of an artist-in-residence program. The Kunstverein Ebersberg has set it up, creative people of all kinds can use the parking space in the pedestrian zone of the district town for four weeks at a time. They can and should show themselves and their work there, including work in progress. Even at night, when nobody is there, you can see how the contents of the garage are changing: a door made of glass and steel from the Bergmeister art forge makes it possible.
Light painting before the start of the project: In an inconspicuous garage on the edge of the shopping center, the Kunstverein Ebersberg wants to reduce fears of contact.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
The garage became a branch of the art association in 2021 in the course of the Arkadien Festival, whose makers had invited Anja Uhlig and her legendary “Klo-häuschen” from Munich to Ebersberg. The space on the edge of the shopping center functioned as a mini art gallery: works by around 60 artists were on display, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures and miniature objects. Of course, the background was also the pandemic, which made it necessary to show art above all in the open air.
But those responsible liked the branch of the Kunstverein near its rooms in the monastery building yard so much that the idea is now being revived. “It’s always about reducing fears of contact, about reaching people outside of our gallery,” explains Luci Ott, who oversees the project together with Manuel Strauss and Andreas Mitterer. It is important to the team that “La Garaasch” should not be a rigidly conceived exhibition, but an interactive space. “One where something is created. Where you sort of stumble across the artists and their work,” says Ott. The Kunstverein Ebersberg would like to offer a new interface between contemporary art and society. In this respect, the place with its brisk through traffic is ideal.
The team and its first guest: Andi Mitterer, Marcel Kovarik, Manuel Strauss and Luci Ott.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
The first round of La Garaasch runs from April to October and is divided into six slots, with the aim of showing the greatest possible variety of artistic positions. The project is funded by the Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn and supported, among others, by Otter-Wamsler GmbH, owner of the garage. The invited artists start their work on site in the middle of the month, after two weeks there is a midissage, after which the interior design continues to metamorphose. A successor will move in in the middle of the month, and he will each be left with a small piece of his own creative work. An impulse, an idea passed on.
Sophia Mainka loves alienated everyday objects.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Johannes Gottwald, the current Garaasch resident, finds a small spray-painted heart on the wall, it comes from graffiti artist Marcel Kovarik, who was the first to embellish the unadorned garage. There is also an alienated car mirror on the floor: Gottwald’s predecessor Sophia Mainka placed various manipulated everyday objects as stumbling blocks in the old town passage.
Between Kovarik and Mainka, however, the Garaasch was temporarily deserted: with Maria Kulykivska, a Ukrainian, the project was to become a political statement. The artist has already had to flee twice, first from Crimea and then from Kyiv. Although the young mother is safe in May, she is desperately trying to save her husband and her works from their bombed-out homeland. There is no time for Ebersberg. However, Kulykivska comes to the midissage and shows a performance for which she was once arrested in St. Petersburg: Like a dead soldier covered with the Ukrainian flag, she lies on the ground in front of the Garaash. Except that in this case the body under the yellow-blue fabric moves minimally. “There was something very depressing about the passers-by hurrying by,” says Ott. “People don’t even notice the dead anymore.”
The Ukrainian artist Maria Kulikovska lies down under a flag – like a fallen soldier.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
One thing is clear: many pass by without noticing the artistically decorated garage. But some also react with astonishment: “You get a lot of confused looks,” says Ott. “And next time, curiosity might win, then they look in or sometimes even ask.” Then there would be talks, mostly with positive reactions. “It’s good that you’re doing this!” says a grandmother with a pram while Gottwald paints the walls of the garage. Ott even knows of two men who have offered to help. “Let’s see if they come back again.”
Johannes Gottwald, who is celebrating midissage this Friday evening, has already spent quite a bit of time in the Garaasch. “In the evenings, the atmosphere is more relaxed and interest increases,” he says, sitting in his colorful hammock. The sculptor from Herrmannsdorf has titled his project “From Camp Life – Neo-Romantic Observations in Barbaric Times”, it is about the major current issues. About climate change, energy crisis, migration and discrimination regarding sexual orientation. Gottwald is a kind of gentle activist, at this moment he’s philosophizing about where we all stand – “mostly in between”.
Johannes Gottwald rehearses camp life in the garage.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
A metal sculpture made of large letters sits enthroned on the roof of the garage like a weathercock, reading “footprint” and “energy transition”. Gottwald sprayed messages on the floor in the form of footprints, “Health” is there, for example. At the center of his work, however, are countless terms related to the topic of “storage”, which he writes in bright colors on the walls of the garage – which is usually a storage space itself. Campfires, raw material depots, makeshift camps, camp detention, cabin fever, weapons depots, sieges – Gottwald’s fundus seems inexhaustible.
The remarkable thing about it: there are an incredible number of associations and references, almost like a mind map. The artist also gives this a pictorial expression, giving each word a line that begins and ends on the suspension of the hammock. This creates a colorful web to explore but is also very aesthetically pleasing. Gottwald himself is curious as to where exactly his summer camp will develop. But one thing is certain: he has a lot to say and to ask, so a visit is always worthwhile.
Incidentally, instead of a catalogue, there will be a film about “La Garaasch” at the end, here Valentin Winhart documents Marcel Kovarik’s visit.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
“La Garaasch” is an experiment, an attempt to bring contemporary art to men and women in different ways. And the first conclusion of the team is: “Going out is definitely worth striving for!” According to Ott, how well the audience address works depends very much on how much the respective guest is present in the room. “The first few months have clearly shown that.” In this respect, in the event of a possible repetition, care will be taken to acquire artists who like to work interactively and, above all, have the opportunity to be on site often. “Of course, it would be ideal if we could provide accommodation, as is usually the case with residences,” says Ott. Because a hammock is nice, but not a real summer camp.
“La Garaasch”, branch of the Ebersberger Kunstverein in the Altstadtpassage, midissage with Johannes Gottwald this Friday, July 29, at 7 p.m. From August 15 to September 14: Anja Uhlig; from September 15th to October 14th: class of Schirin Kretschmann from the art academy in Munich.