UCL Discovery

Abstract

Publication Hanne Darboven: Correspondence, 1967-1975, Cologne: Walther König forthcoming in spring 2013 (co-edited by Petra Lange-Berndt, Susanne Liebelt and Dietmar Rübel with an essay, glossary and index in German and English by Petra Lange-Berndt and Dietmar Rübel) Exhibition: 2013 Exhibition at Artists Space, New York; we are currently negotiating with possible venues in Germany. In 1966, Hanne Darboven relocated from Hamburg to New York. It was in Manhattan where she developed the famous artistic strategies for the years to come, namely to focus on daily "writings" that chronicle existence and evoke the passage of time. But what has not been stressed enough: Darboven’s pivotal role to a large extent was developed by exchanging letters with family members, other artists and friends, for instance her mother and sisters, Carl Andre, Mel Bochner, John Baldessari, or Sol Lewitt, Kasper König, Germano Celant, Leo Castelli or Maria Goodman. After Darboven returned to her home and artist house in Hamburg-Harburg in 1968, she went on to exchange messages with her peers who continued to travel the world. This edition will trace the emergence of this unparalleled discourse network. Examples from the correspondence of 1967–75 that the artist had assembled before her death and were up to this point not accessible will be made public by a facsimile, a large box containing eleven booklets: In over 700 letters consisting of more than 1000 single objects one will be able to trace the development of Darboven's way of working. The importance of this enormous bundle of papers cannot be underestimated since Darboven copied each letter she had been sending by hand forming an archive that documents both sides of the communication. Circulating between two continents, some of these letters are quickly written notes, others are elaborately designed and sometimes come with objets trouvés or artworks. In this project, we understand "correspondence" not only in the literal sense, but also as conceptual strategy, pointing to exchanges between members of an art community searching for similarities and elective affinities. At the same time, the letters point to the differentiation of the western art system since the end of the 1960s: The establishment of identity through memory, how mathematics and a digital culture of counting infuse everyday life, and the dematerialisation and globalisation of art open up a vast panorama, which has artistic and societal importance. These documents do not display a form of writing that simply confirms existing knowledge. Rather, they open up new possibilities, including wonder and dissent. And they are not only about Manhattan—the spaces of Hanne Darboven's home in Hamburg-Harburg, the Burgberg, were equally important for her development as an artist. We would like to understand this unique artist's house as laboratory of space, time, and things that enabled the artist to mix conceptual with everyday practices. Presented for the first time to an American audience, the exhibition at Artists Space, New York, will feature Darboven’s correspondence as integral part of her artistic strategy, showcasing letters, notes, artist’s books and everyday objects together with early conceptual works on paper, large-scale installations and sound work, as well as works by Darboven’s influential circle of friends. We will stress the materiality of communication: In the age of digital media, it is the curatorial aim to communicate to the audience the joy of writing by hand and the encounter with such documents. Following Bruno Latour, we would like to point out the agency not only of people but also of things—postcards, pieces of paper, envelops, or letterheads, drawings, a beer coaster, and photographs.