Freischwimmen

Just dive in! Without water, but with the same ease, visitors can drift through the exhibi­tion Freischwimmen. Headfirst into Art!  Whether with or against the current is up to you: Unusual juxta­po­si­tions and forms of presen­ta­tion, a variety of spatial experi­ences and mediation options invite you to discover art from different perspec­tives in analog and/or digital spaces. You can swim through the exhibi­tion in a variety of playful, creative, inter­ac­tive and highly indivi­dual ways. Swim with us!

Inexpe­ri­enced swimmers or those looking for a sporting challenge will not be left alone as they drift through the exhibi­tion. A wide range of offerings navigate you through works by inter­na­tio­nally renowned artists, opening up ever new perspec­tives and themes. As an agile museum constantly striving for an innova­tive variety of formats and methods, this exhibi­tion was conceived for the first time by a cross-depart­mental team and with the support of a student advisory board from the Max-Born-Gymnasium in Backnang for the Digital Studio. Everyone who dares to take the plunge in the exhibi­tion can also get their personal “confident swimmer badge” from us!

Arriving

With a dynamic interplay of orien­ta­tion and disori­en­ta­tion, Jeppe Hein’s mirrored labyrinth invites you to arrive and throw precon­ceived expec­ta­tions overboard. The artist Nairy Baghra­mian, on the other hand, lets us gaze into the distance: Her sculpture, reminis­cent of a large duffel bag, embodies a longing for adventure rather than the modern luxury that charac­te­rizes the cruise industry to this day. A hint of the nostalgic freedom promised by endless summers on the water runs through Robert Lebeck’s and Heinrich Heidersberger’s photo­graphs of Wolfsburg in the 1960s and 70s. In the video instal­la­tion by the GCC collec­tive, indivi­dual objects suddenly “awaken” in a seemingly lifeless city palace. In a tongue-in-cheek manner, Janette Laverrière’s surrea­list furniture, modeled on an eye and an eyebrow, invites you to arrive and stay for a while.

Immersing

James Turrell’s light instal­la­tion Moenkopi allows you to immerse yourself in atmos­pheric worlds of color: Spatial and temporal bounda­ries blur, depths shift, and with them your own position in the midst of light. Like Turrell, the Studio Digital combines digital art with digital techno­logy and knowledge: For the first time, works from the collec­tion merge with the virtual design and the digital and inter­ac­tive offerings of the Studio Digital. Diving into this hybrid cosmos opens up new, unique possi­bi­li­ties for intuitive, playful, and creative immersion in the indivi­dual themes and content of the works.

Emerging

The way back to the surface leads through an instal­la­tion by Tobias Rehberger that brings to life the interplay between archi­tec­ture, people, environ­ment, and social inter­ac­tion. Shortly before the large “leisure lawn,” the room brightens up as Ólafur Elíasson cast his colorful shadows. At the nearby kiosk, a snake-headed man offers his products for sale. Numerous faces gaze at the visitors from a large wall, drawing them into the thick of the crowd. Here, people and works of art from different decades, media, and styles come together in the form of portraits. But how does the indivi­dual image change in inter­ac­tion with the others? How and where do new connec­tions arise? But before you sit down on the lawn and make yourself comfor­table, be sure to take a selfie to become part of this lively arrangement!

Curato­rial team:

Elena Engelbrechter, Ute Lefarth-Polland, Veronika Mehlhart, Elena Pinkwart, Susan Rosenbaum