Show me!: Public restoration of collection works- Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart | 04.11.2024-30.03.2025

From 4 November 2024, Hamburger Bahnhof will be presenting the educational series “Show me!: public restorations of collection works” will enable visitors to learn more about the artworks and works in the museum’s collection during their visit to the exhibition. Key works from the collection of Bruce Nauman and Rachel Whiteread will be publicly restored over a period of one year.

Image above: Bruce Nauman, Room with My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care, 1984 (2010 realisiert), Stoff, Dämmplatten, Stahl, Lampen mit gelben Licht, 594 x 1216 x 1452 cm, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Foto: Roman März

Conservation issues in dealing with contemporary materials from industrial and everyday culture, artistic concepts and the communication of media-historical content form the basis of the three-part series “Show us!”.

The public restorations in the exhibition space will kick off with Bruce Nauman’s site-specific installation in the Rieckhallen from November 2024, followed by Rachel Whiteread’s work in the current collection exhibition from January 2025. The series will conclude with the restoration of a media artwork in the second half of 2025. Guided tours and discussions with experts will accompany the restoration of the respective works.

4. November 2024 – 30. November 2024
Bruce Nauman, “Room with my soul left out. Room that doesn’t care”, 1984/2010, Rieckhallen, Halle 5

In 2010, Bruce Nauman installed four black corridors in the former industrial hall, which converge in a cross shape and are only illuminated by pale light. Standing on a grid in the centre of the installation, visitors look up into a shaft and down into an abyss. For some, entering the corridors may be unpleasant, even oppressive, evoking isolation and fear.

Bruce Nauman’s work, which has been installed in Hall 5 of the Rieckhallen since 2010, has seen numerous signs of wear through interactive use by visitors. In addition to dry surface cleaning of the insulating panels, the conservation care measures for restoring the presentation capability include classic conservation work steps such as consolidation, inlaying and colour reintegration of imperfections.

13. January2025 – 30. March2025
Rachel Whiteread, “o.T. (Matratze)”, 1991, Westflügel, 1. OG

The rubber-cast mattress by Rachel Whiteread was created during the economic downturn from 1990 to 1991 and is currently part of the collection presentation “Nationalgalerie. A Collection for the 21st Century” on art in Berlin after 1989. Like many other pieces of furniture and household objects, mattresses lying around were part of the common street scene in large cities such as London. For Whiteread, they are sculptural forms, commentaries on growing social injustice.

Whiteread’s rubber floor sculpture in the Hamburger Bahnhof has a surface soiled by dust and signs of wear and tear due to the work’s long and varied exhibition history. The formerly clear, cool and pure colour effect of the artwork has given way to a diffuse greying. The surface is cleaned in consultation with the artist. The dirt is removed using a specially developed method and specially adapted materials. The measures will take place while the exhibition is open and can be observed by visitors at close range.

WHEN?

Opening: Monday, 04. November 2024

Exhibition dates: Monday, 04. November 2024 – Sunday, 30. March2025

WHERE?

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Invalidenstraße 50
10557 Berlin