Alfredo Jaar (Kindness) of (Strangers)

As of Saturday, December 5, Alfredo Jaar will be showing his installation (Kindness) of (Strangers) in the gallery‘s Corner Space.

Alfredo Jaar’s new work (Kindness) of (Strangers) confronts visitors with a large-scale complex arrangement of neon arrows which, under their seemingly confusing lay-out, replicate a very familiar phenomenon. It illustrates the movement of people, from South to North. A small adjunctive chart acts as key and reveals that the arrows correspond to the main travel routes of migrants in 2015. The scale and complexity of these movements highlight the extraordinary journey of migrants fleeing war and persecution. These movements across Europe reveal the extent of the current crisis and the perpetual flux of migrants’ escape routes, where they encounter both kindness and its contrary. It also reveals the origin of their journey, and their destination. In this chaotic map, we are all strangers looking for kindness.

(Kindness) of (Strangers) has been specially produced for Berlin’s Herbstsalon that this year focusses on the highly current subject of escape. Parallel to Jaar’s presentation of (Kindness) of (Strangers) in the Corner Space of Galerie Thomas Schulte, a second edition is installed at the Maxim Gorki Theater.

Alfredo Jaar’s work has been shown extensively around the world. He has participated in the Biennales of Venice (1986; 2007; 2009; 2013), São Paulo (1985; 1987; 2010), Sydney (1990), Istanbul (1995), and Johannesburg (1997), as well as in the documenta in Kassel (1987; 2002). Important solo exhibitions include The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1992), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1992), the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1997), as well as Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2005), and the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lausanne (2007). The latest retrospectives were organised in 2012 in Berlin by the Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, in 2014 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, and in 2015 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Marseille.