Pause: Tobias Spichtig
Die Matratzen
19 – 23 January 22
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
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
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
The Pause series serves as a platform to disrupt the regular program of KW by presenting singular artworks for a short period of time that create connections between the past, present, and future.
Generously supported by Contemporary Fine Arts, Jan Kaps and Galerie Bernhard.
With generous support by swiss arts coucil Pro Helvetia.
Tickets Exhibition
Tickets Readings
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
7–9 June 24
Pause: The Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group
25/27 August 23
Pause: Alexis Blake
27–29 January 23
Pause: Lydia Ourahmane
sync
1–2 October 22
Pause: Michele Rizzo
1–3 October 21
Pause: Archivio Conz Collection
Broken Sounds / Remote Music—Prepared Pianos
16–19 January 20
Pause: Every Ocean Hughes
24–25 August 19
Pause: Emma Hedditch
18–19 May 19
Pause: Jimmy Robert (After Ian White)
19–20 January 19
Pause: Evelyn Taocheng Wang
27–30 September 18
Pause: AA Bronson
26–29 April 18
Pause: Ericka Beckman
18–21 January 18
Pause: Margaret Honda
18–20 August 17
Pause: Anthony McCall
27–30 April 17