Pause: Tobias Spichtig
Die Matratzen

19.–23.01.22

KW has invited the artist Tobias Spichtig (b.1982, CH) as part of Pause Series to present his installation Die Matratzen. As the name suggests, the exhibition consists of various second-hand and different-sized mattresses laid out across the entire floor of KW’s main hall. They are covered with used bed sheets from the personal networks of the artist as well as the curator, functioning both as a support mechanism and as catalysts for stories. As such they are evocative of moments of intimacy. The gravel and color of the bed sheets make the installation resemble an abstract painting, which will be made to change dramatically the more the visitors engage with them. Die Matratzen will last for five days and, every evening, the audience is encouraged to gather on the eponymous mattresses to listen to readings of the various authors Spichtig has invited. Among those are Rosa Aiello, Eric D. Clark, Calla Henkel, Karl Holmqvist, Pablo Larios, Ariane Müller, Tomás Nervi, Theresa Patzschke, Kristian Vistrup-Madsen, and Pippin Wigglesworth-Weider. Like a bedtime story of sorts, Spichtig uses the readings to transform the room, giving the massive installation a more intimate setting.

Tobias Spichtig’s practice deals with objects whose presence in our consumerist society is ubiquitous, albeit disavowed at times. Ranging from fridges to second-hand furniture or other vestiges of everyday life, these artefacts can also include materials and motifs recycled from advertising, fashion, art, or music. The objects he chooses often implicate intimate narratives that stem from their immediate connection to his social network but also from references to pop culture. Spichtig’s work encompasses paintings, sculptures, installations, and performances that come together into a dramaturgy of constellations in the exhibition space.

Curator: Krist Gruijthuijsen
Curatorial assistant: Linda Franken

Exhibition Leaflet (PDF)

Opening hours
19 January 22, 7–10 pm
20 January 22, 11 am–7 pm
21 January 22, 11 am–6 pm
22 January 22, 11 am–7 pm
23 January 22, 11 am–3 pm

Readings
The purchase of a ticket entitles you to attend all readings of the evening. Admission begins 30 minutes before the start of the event.

Wednesday, 19 January 22
Karl Holmqvist, 9 pm

As part of the Opening
Thursday, 20 January 22
Rosa Aiello, 9 pm
Pablo Larios, 9:45 pm

Friday, 21 January 22
Theresa Patzschke, 8 pm
Ariane Müller, 8:45 pm
Calla Henkel, 9:30 pm

Saturday, 22 January 22
Eric D. Clark, 9 pm
Kristian Vistrup Madsen, 9:45 pm

Sunday, 23 January 22
Tomás Nervi, 5 pm
Pippin Wigglesworth-Weider, 5:45 pm
Elisa R. Linn, 6:30 pm

Tobias Spichtig, Die Matratzen, 2022. Installation view of the exhibition Pause: Tobias Spichtig Die Matratzen at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2022. Courtesy the artist and Jan Kaps, Cologne; Photo: Tobias Spichtig

Part of project: Pause series

The Pause series of KW Institute for Contemporary Art allowed for an ephemeral yet deep engagement with a single artwork in order to draw and question relationships between the past, present, and future. A Pause acted as a punctuation of KW’s regular program by presenting an artwork for a short period of time in between exhibition cycles, working with this state of in-between. Pause projects were predominantly commissioned or reworked pieces that shifted between or even merged the disciplines of performance, installation, video, and sonic work.

Overview
2017–2024

Pause: Billy Bultheel & James Richards
Workers in Song
7–9 June 24

Pause: The Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group
25/27 August 23

Pause: Alexis Blake
Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve

27–29 January 23
Pause: Lydia Ourahmane
sync
1–2 October 22

Pause: Michele Rizzo
REACHING
1–3 October 21

Pause: Archivio Conz Collection
Broken Sounds / Remote Music—Prepared Pianos
16–19 January 20

Pause: Every Ocean Hughes
Help the Dead
24–25 August 19

Pause: Emma Hedditch
+49 30 243459-53
18–19 May 19

Pause: Jimmy Robert (After Ian White)
Joie noire
19–20 January 19

Pause: Evelyn Taocheng Wang
What is he afraid of?
27–30 September 18

Pause: AA Bronson
Garten der Lüste
26–29 April 18