A curatorial annual programme that takes place under the sign of ghosting may seem paradoxical, for ghosting is understood as the unexplained breaking off of contact, conversations and ongoing relationships. GHOSTING, however, seeks to make this ghost-like disappearance visible. Transferring the phenomenon from online cultures into the exhibition space means not only taking a closer look at the various media and material layers of art that point to what is supposedly absent, but above all focusing on the factor of time. Ghosts of the past are part of our present: By upsetting prevailing notions of time, they bring to light the marginalised, the forgotten and the repressed. GHOSTING thus means more than mere abortion or withdrawal. The programme reacts to current moments of crisis, dislocation and speculation and asks how the haunting of the past shakes the limitations of the present – and thus designs new readings of the future.

GHOSTING has a local starting point: the change in the foundation’s work due to the renovation of the historically significant former soldiers’ home by the architect Fritz Höger. This moment of transformation opens the view to the history of a regional cultural institution and to locally told stories– taking shape in of comics, films and texts. The Foundation’s community oriented local cultural program and the people on site who are involved in it expand GHOSTING with their own readings of the topic and present their approach to the ghostly on 28 and 29 October.

PROGRAMME
Saturday, 28 October 2023

2 p.m.: Holo Comics | Ghost Portraits

The M.1 comic workshop presents pictures created by young local artists as part of a drawing exercise. These portraits, made with charcoal, give a face to the spooky aspect of GHOSTING – and also provide an insight into the course and the imaginative creation of its participants.

Agnieszka Roguski talks about questions and key aspects of the exhibition, the installation works by Orawan Arunrak and Tra My Nguyen, the videos by Riar Rizaldi, Sungsil Ryu and Jala Wahid and the exhibition design by Martha Schwindling.

4 p.m.: Internationales Dorfmagazin 255ϛ 1 | Launch issue no. 5

The team of the International Village Magazine 255ϛ 1 launches the current issue during an extraordinary editorial meeting, in which guests and members of the press can participate. Usually acting independently of the foundation’s art programme, the group created the 5th issue around this year’s theme. This is reflected in both texts and illustrations. The articles cover a wide range of topics from ghosts from the past to spiritual phenomena in modern science. The magazine can not be bought, but is distributed from hand to hand and can be viewed and taken away at the event.

5 p.m.: Fiona Schrading | Stories of the research project Wasteland?

How do (rural) areas deal with their cultural heritage – which traditions and practices persist, disappear or change? What is remembered or forgotten and how? How do institutions of cultural education participate in transformations and local history(s) and in turn create places to negotiate coexistence? The team of the research project “Wasteland?” investigated these and other questions at different places in rural areas. The research was conducted at three different cultural institutions and their surroundings. Fiona Schrading, research associate at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, reports on her research and puts central questions of the project up for discussion.

Sunday, 29 October 2023
Filmclub M.1 | Ghostly Film Programme
(Unfortunately, we are not allowed to publish the titles of the films due to licensing law.)

11 a.m.: Matinee-screening für adults
The Filmclub M.1 shows a family saga in which the ghosts of the past interfere in unforeseen ways with the events of the present.

3 p.m.: Childrens’ screening
This will be followed by a children’s film about the most famous and peace-loving ghost in film history.

Both films will be accompanied by snacks and drinks.