Haymatlos
Julia Voss
On a Bosphorus boat tour, Karin Kneffel sees a house on a steep hill in Istanbul, surrounded by cedar, cypress, and pine trees. The house arouses her curiosity. The structure of the crimson house resembles a pagoda, that seems to float in woodland hills, shining from afar. A rectangular building is attached to its anterior, resembling a shoe box, however the artist can’t see this from the boat. Only a couple of weeks later, when she goes there again, walking up that hill from the narrow serpentine alley, could she see all of its architecture. In fact, the structure comprises one beam, one side of which leans on the hill, the other reaching out towards the sky: it is connected to the pagoda with six supporting pillars.
Its architect is Bruno Taut and the building, like the shell of a snail, tells us the story of its creator. When National Socialists gained power in January 1933 in Germany, Taut decided to leave the country. He resigned from his post at Berlin Technical University a couple of weeks before receiving the memo stating that he was fired from the university. With his partner Erica Wittich he first went to France via Switzerland. They arrived at Marseille Port, took the ship to Japan via Naples, Athens, and Vladivostok. Taut spent three years in Japan. The stone house he lived in in Takasaki felt like “the world of aesthetic perfection.” 1
With his leftist standing, under constant surveillance by the Japanese secret police, and without receiving new commissions, Taut accepted a job offer from Istanbul. He started teaching at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Architecture, in Istanbul in 1936, also served as the head of the department; after a short while he was assigned as the director of the Construction Department of the Ministry of National Education at the initiative of the Ministry’s administrator Cevat Dursunoğlu. In two years’ time, until his passing, over twenty building projects had been commissioned to him, including the catafalque of President Atatürk. Taut lived a little while in the house named after him. The building, he wrote, reminded him of the “dovecote” of Noah’s Ark. In this architecture, Taut merges two traditions, which were most important to him in his work: the functional and simple style of
KARIN KNEFFEL
d. 1957, Marl, Almanya | Germany | Deutschland
KİŞİSEL SERGİLER | SOLO EXHIBITIONS | EINZELAUSSTELLUNGEN
2020
Haymatlos, Dirimart, İstanbul | Istanbul
• Karin Kneffel Re/construction, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin
2019
• STILL, Kunsthalle Bremen
• STILL, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
2018
Private Viewing, Gagosian, New York
2017
• Bild im Bild, Kunstmuseum Bonn Bild im Bild, Kinderakademie Fulda, Kunstmuseum Bonn işbirliğiyle | in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Bonn
• Karin Kneffel zu Gast im David-Hansemann-Haus, Sammlung Droege, Düsseldorf | Dusseldorf
2016
Gagosian, Los Angeles
• Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münih | Munich | München
• Cologne Fine Art Prize, Köln | Cologne
2015
Fallstudien, Arbeiten auf Papier, Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Köln | Cologne
• Kunsthalle Bremerhaven
• Kunstmuseum Bremerhaven links, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin
2014
• La ventana y el espejo, Window and Mirror, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Gas Natural Fenosa, La Coruña Galeria Senda, Barselona | Barcelona Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barselona | Barcelona
2013
• Butter never crossed my mind, Galerie Schönewald und Beuse, Düsseldorf | Dusseldorf Dirimart, İstanbul | Istanbul
2012
Gagosian, New York
• Galerie Fred Jahn, Münih | Munich | München
2010
Kunsthalle Tübingen
2009
• House on the Edge of Town, Museum Haus Esters, Kunstmuseen Krefeld
2008
• Looking Glass, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Stuttgart
• Städtische Galerie, Offenburg Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Köln | Cologne
2007
• Arbeiten auf Papier // Prints, Edition Staeck, Heidelberg Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
2006
• Seduction and Distance, Ulmer Museum, Ulm
• Sinclair-Haus Altana Kulturforum, Bad Homburg Mönchehaus-Museum, Goslar Christine König Galerie, Viyana | Vienna | Wien
2005
• Galerie Manus Presse, Stuttgart Galería Vanguardia, Bilbao
2004
• Galeria Senda, Barselona | Barcelona
• Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York
2003
• Haus Fürstenberg, Galerie Schönewald, Xanten
2002
Galerie Christine König, Viyana | Vienna | Wien
2001
• Le Case d’Arte, Galerie Pasquale Leccese, Milano | Milan | Mailand
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zürih | Zurich | Zürich
Kunsthalle in Emden
1999
Museum Jean de La Fontaine, Chateau-Thierry
Castello di Rivara, Torino | Turin
1998
• Galerie Jouse Seguin, Paris
Galerie Johnen und Schöttle, Münih | Munich | München
1997
• Accademia Tedesca Villa Massimo, Roma | Rome | Rom
• Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münih | Munich | München
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zürih | Zurich | Zürich
1996
• Forum Kunst Rottweil
• Le Case d’Arte, Galerie Pasquale Leccese, Milano | Milan | Mailand
1995
• The Corridor, H, Th. Fridjonsson, Reykjavík
• Galerie Schönewald und Beuse, Krefeld
1994
• Kunstverein Bremerhaven
• Galerie Wanda Reiff, Amsterdam
• Kunstverein Heilbronn
Galerie Jousse Seguin, Paris
• Kunstverein Lingen
• Het Kruithuis, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
1993
• Galeria Senda, Barselona | Barcelona
• Art Cologne, Einzelkoje bei Galerie Sophia Ungers, Köln | Cologne
1992
• Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am Main
• Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Paris
Galerie Tabea Langenkamp, Düsseldorf | Dusseldorf
Art Cologne, Förderkoje der Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am Main
1991
Galerie Sophia Ungers, Köln | Cologne
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münih | Munich | München
1990
• Galerie Schütz, Frankfurt am Main
Dr. A. H. Murken, Gütersloh
1989
• Galerie Tabea Langenkamp, Düsseldorf | Dusseldorf
• Galerie Sophia Ungers, Köln | Cologne
1988
• Raum 404, Heidelberg
1984
Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münih | Munich | München