Das Thomas Behling zugeloste Bild vor und nach der Kunstverbesserung, nun mit dem Titel "In a moment without any reflection, finally and for ever." (78 x 78 cm)
First ART ENHANCEMENT in the KOSMOS
A mixed group of students from the University of Potsdam and professional artists are coming together in Potsdam to view and take away discarded artworks on stretcher frames, with the aim of improving them. This art, which has been declared rubbish, consists of a collection by Ruppe Koselleck of stretcher frames – picked up from bulky waste, retrieved from bushes or simply left lying around somewhere – featuring art from Bielefeld, Potsdam, Münster, Jena, Cologne and Berlin. There is a bit of everything – genuine paintings in gilded decorative wooden frames, DIY store prints, school watercolours, and even shrink-wrapped and already discarded art from IKEA. Koselleck believes: “For if we cannot improve the world, then at least we can improve art!”
To this end, he has invited art students and freelance visual artists, who are meeting twice for the opening of this exhibition project: the first time on 24 April to be allocated one of the artworks by lot, and the second time on Thursday 9 April to view the artworks they have improved in the meantime.
In this way, Koselleck takes a step in the right direction: for a long time, artists believed they had to be part of a self-proclaimed mission to improve the world, and in doing so they fleeced society – mentally, through incomprehensibility and disorienting ambiguity, but also physically, since every honest worker is forced to carry an artist on their shoulders. The consequences of decades of misguided development weigh heavily: where taxpayers once went about their work in factories, there are now studios.
Even if Koselleck’s project is, for the time being, merely a step in the right direction – after all, he has not yet entirely freed himself from the impulse to improve – he will surely be followed by more resolute artists who are capable of reflecting on nothing at all.
artists:
Sena Nisa Aydinli * Thomas Behling * Marlene Behnert * Judith Beyer * Susanne von Bülow * Frederik Foert * Karla Fritsche * Eva Früh * Ilka Habrich * Jolina Hartmann * Dirk Martin Heinzelmann * Stephan Homann * Julia Hoppen * Paul Juricke * Ruppe Koselleck * Katarina Kremnetz * Antonia Low * Petra Lüning * Adrian Maier * Candia Neumann * Julieta Palombi * Thomas Prautsch * Rebecca Sert * Anton Ruhl * Oliver Schmidt * Florian Schulz * Lena Skaya * Myrijam Stoetzer * Annabella Wegmann Florez * Sarah Wewer
Part 2, IMPROVED
9 April 2025 – 7 pm
The artists will bring the improved artworks back with them.
The exhibition runs until 3 May 2026.
KOSMOS / Rechenzentrum
Dortustraße 46
14467 Potsdam
Germany
Opening hours
Daily 11am–6pm
Free admission