Into Me / Out Of Me

Opening: 25.11.2006, 17 - 21 h

The exhibition Into Me / Out Of Me is co-organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, MoMA affiliate, New York. The exhibition received wide recognition when on view at P.S.1 from June 25 to September 25, 2006. Spanning over forty years and featuring an international group of artists, Into Me / Out of Me is a group exhibition about the imagined, descriptive, and performative act of the passing into, through, and out of the human body.

In designing the exhibition and selecting the exhibits, Klaus Biesenbach received valuable support from Susan Sontag, whose suggestions he took up in realizing the show.

The exhibition highlights the literal and metaphorical ways that humans interact with each other, themselves, and material matter. The focus is on three primordial and radical relationships between the internal and the external: metabolism (eating, drinking, excreting...), reproduction (intercourse, birth...), and violence (shooting, impaling, perforation...).

These complex vital exchanges are illuminated through mythological confrontations, ritualized practices, and self-explorations. The physicality, permeability and fragility of the body has been explored to represent the human condition in contemporary life and art over the past forty years.

The 137 international participating artists in the exhibition are Marina Abramović, Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Kenneth Anger, Janine Antoni, Nobuyoshi Araki, Knut Åsdam, Matthew Barney, Otmar Bauer, Lynda Benglis, Anna Berndtson, Joseph Beuys, Nayland Blake, Keith Boadwee, John Bock, Liz Bougatsos, Louise Bourgeois, Leigh Bowery, Robert Boyd, Stan Brakhage, Günter Brus, Chris Burden, Jeff Burton, Paolo Canevari, Patty Chang, Jake und Dinos Chapman, Judy Chicago, Larry Clark, Mat Collishaw, Martin Creed, Gregory Crewdson, Henry Darger, Wim Delvoye, Walter De Maria, Jen DeNike, Rineke Dijkstra, Nathalie Djurberg, Cheryl Donegan, Marcel Dzama, Keith Edmier, Nezaket Ekici, Elmgreen & Dragset, VALIE EXPORT, Bob Flanagan und Sheree Rose, Andrea Fraser, Tom Friedman, Regina José Galindo, General Idea, Jean Genet, Gilbert & George, Robert Gober, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Douglas Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Mona Hatoum, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Thomas Hirschhorn, Damien Hirst, Carsten Höller, Jenny Holzer, Jonathan Horowitz, Peter Hujar, Mustafa Hulusi, Alfredo Jaar, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Kurt Kren, Elke Krystufek, Shigeko Kubota, Bruce LaBruce, Sigalit Landau, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Maria Lassnig, Manfred Leve, Lee Lozano, Teresa Margolles, Monica Majoli, Piero Manzoni, Robert Mapplethorpe, Gordon Matta-Clark, Paul McCarthy, Adam McEwen, Ryan McGinley, Alex McQuilkin, Ana Mendieta, John Miller, Frank Moore, James Morrison, Otto Mühl, Vik Muniz, Tracy Nakayama, Bruce Nauman, Trine Lise Nedreaas, Hermann Nitsch, Catherine Opie, Orlan, Tony Oursler, Gina Pane, Mike Parr, Raymond Pettibon, Jack Pierson, LA Raeven, Reynold Reynolds und Patrick Jolley, Pipilotti Rist, Alexis Rockman, Ugo Rondinone, Aura Rosenberg, Aïda Ruilova, Fumie Sasabuchi, Christoph Schlingensief, Gundula Schulze El Dowy, Carolee Schneemann, Gregor Schneider, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Santiago Sierra, Katharina Sieverding, Lorna Simpson, Barbara Smith, Kiki Smith, Smith/Stewart, Elizabeth Stephens und Annie Sprinkle, Tony Tasset, Paul Thek, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Ulay, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Lawrence Weiner, Hannah Wilke, Sue Williams, David Wojnarowicz, Chen Zhen, and Andrea Zittel.

Curated by Klaus Biesenbach

A fully illustrated publication by KW and P.S.1 in German and English (approx. 300 pages, 250 colour illustrations, 24 x 30 cm, paperback, design by Studio Signum) will be available early 2007.

The exhibition Into Me / Out Of Me is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes / German Federal Cultural Foundation.

The realization of the project takes place with the friendly support of Dornbracht Culture Projects and the Friends of KW Institute for Contemporary Art.

Special thanks to Rosa and Gilberto Sandretto

Thanks to Celine and Heiner Bastian

This exhibition contains art that fundamentally questions the physical and psychological condition of the human existence. On view are some of the most challenging visualisations of the last decades.

Entrance to the exhibition is restricted to viewers over the age of 18.