Christiaan Tonnis – Screening Montez 2009-14

Christiaan Tonnis – Screening Montez 2009-14
Opening: Saturday, June 15, 2019 from 14:00 - 20:00 o'clock

The exhibition shows the time-capsule-designed block of videos about exhibition preparations and vernissages of Lola Montez and the family from the year 2009 until 2014 at its first location at the Breite Gasse 24 (at that time I had an easy three-minute-walk to Montez ... the limed walls, the smell of turpentine and the strange light from sun threads, which were sparingly visible from above through the roof beams, reminded me of a farm in Tyrol. If there have been very large overview shows and every available square meter had to be filled, i.e. the entrance area with the lounge, the long corridor, the large hall, the upper floor and also the vaulted cellar with the ghostly rooms and nested corridors, Mirek has always compiled an eccentric 1,800 ° panorama for 1,300 m²) and the later exile with stations in Weimar, Leipzig, Hamburg and other cities, which finally ended in front of the fences of the Honsellbridge under reconstruction and which we, so to speak still in an intermediate realm, used for our four vernissages. The unconditional will of the family, even in the most ardent heat and clinking cold to put exhibitions on stand and endure was unprecedented. Even if the location was still in the shell, no problem, the artworks were simply hung on the fences. Against the African sun plus desert wind, there were umbrellas that Eva Moll brought with her as part of her installation. Against the cold, wood billets were thrown into an (empty) oil drum and set on fire. Nikolaus Nessler brought soup and a gas cooker. Everyone was wearing gloves and was wrapped in thick clothes. We bravely worked our way through the seasons, even though it was snowing on the open record player and you could roast fried eggs on my camera.