Susanne Kriemann, Hey Monte Schlacko, Dear Slagorg

A project within the framework of “Artist in Residence Siegen” of the University of Siegen and Museum of Contemporary Art Siegen

Former Karstadt building / Lecture hall center on the Lower Castle campus
Kölner Str. 41, 57072 Siegen

Opening hours
The exhibition is accessible around the clock. Performances are planned daily between 5 and 8 pm.


Opening: Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at 6 pm, meeting point Alte Poststraße near the former Karstadt main entrance

Free admission

Welcome
Dr. Stefanie Reese, Rector of the University of Siegen

Greeting
Katja Knoche, Head of the House of Science at the University of Siegen

Introductory talk
Susanne Kriemann, Artist and Artist in Residence Siegen
Dr. Michael Schessl, Institute of Biology, University of Siegen
Thomas Thiel, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Siegen

About the project:
From October 23 to November 3, 2024, Susanne Kriemann will be presenting her project “Hey Monte Schlacko, Dear Slagorg” to the public for the first time as part of “Artist in Residence Siegen”. For the installation of the work, the shop windows of all floors of the vacant Karstadt building in Siegen city center will be activated.

Over the past year, Susanne Kriemann has been working with scientists from the University of Siegen and the local community on the history and flora of the regionally famous “Monte Schlacko”. This is a slag heap from the former Bremer Hütte smelter in the Geisweid district that was built up from 1900.

“Hey Monte Schlacko, Dear Slagorg” stretches around the former department store like a metallurgical rind. Large-format prints on partly transparent textiles and papers are attached to the building in different layers. The photographs were taken at different times of the year. They show the flora and fauna that has settled on the gray slag, including many mosses and lichens. Kriemann's photographs examine the nature of the plants and the slag. Layer by layer, organisms are revealed that are interwoven both metallurgically and botanically. They stand for worlds of life yet to be named, which emerge from the countless dumps, clearings and mountains of garbage of consumer society.

Susanne Kriemann (1972, Germany) is an artist, Professor of Code & Image at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and lecturer at NYU Berlin. Together with Aleksander Komarov, she has been organizing the artists' initiative ABA AiR Berlin Alexanderplatz since 2010. With an expanded concept of the photographic document, Susanne Kriemann explores landscapes as analog “recording systems” for man-made processes. Ecology is prevalent both in her motifs and in her working methods. An essential feature of her work is the use of the researched material in prints and exhibitions. This approach is interwoven with archaeological and geological research, so that the (distant) past can be overlaid with the shared present and a speculative future. For several years, Susanne Kriemann has been exploring the idea of collaboration with beings or aspects of nature that are not traditionally considered human.

The exhibition project, which opens on October 23 at 6 p.m., will be accompanied by a supporting program of public talks, guided tours and workshops by the participants. Supporting program at https://air.uni-siegen.de/residenz-2023-24/

Scenography: Leia Walz
Co-production: Lena Fließbach

A project realized as part of the artist-in-residence program “Artist in Residence Siegen” of the University of Siegen & the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (MGKSiegen) with the kind support of Krombacher Brauerei Bernhard Schadeberg GmbH, Lions Club Siegen, the

Rolf H. Brunswig Foundation Berlin, Sparkasse Siegen and The Coatinc Company Holding GmbH. With special thanks to Otto Arnold, Archiv historischer Bilder, Detlev Arnold; Eva Schmidt

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