ENTERVENTIONALE#2020

The ENTERVENTIONALE is the first joint project of Museumsstudien Bonn and, as an interdisciplinary exhibition programme, links the university, museums, cultural institutions and off-spaces in the city. Under the motto EVERYTHING IS NOW, contemporary artists will enter into a dialogue with historically influenced collections, places in the city will be reformulated or reformatted with sound installations for the Beethoven anniversary in 2020.

Landmark

In its original function, the route or warning tape, as it is also known, serves to spatially cordon off areas of use and danger - as a visual warning and marking of places not to be entered. In road construction or on building sites, it signals "Stop!", "Do not go any further", "Danger". However, this message is rather unusual for a museum, as the premises are intended to be explored and new insights gained.

In his "Landmark" series, which the artist has been pursuing since 2016, Uribe-Castro temporarily intervenes in certain places. He deliberately uses the familiar warning signal as a sign of change to give us pause. The "landmarks" are therefore primarily used in public buildings to (re)emphasise their historical and/or political background.

Oh Jehovah, quam ampla sunt tua opera!

Based on the golden lettering in the foyer of the museum "Oh Jehovah, how numerous are your works" (Psalm 104:24), he initiated an exchange between the university's castle church and the Museum Koenig: For a period of six weeks, bird specimens - from the Andean condor to the golden cuckoo - will move into the classicist church building from the Age of Enlightenment. Uribe-Castro is thus bringing species into the sacred space that are under threat due to direct human decimation or the consequences of our way of life: O man, how numerous are your works?

At each of the exhibition venues, replica wire birds have been installed within the museum tour, draped under fabric. On the one hand, the hanging cloths are reminiscent of the depots of discarded objects or of houses that have been abandoned after the death of their owners. On the other hand, in religious contexts, figures of saints or crosses are covered with fabric at certain times, thus preventing the faithful from seeing them in order to recall their significance and emphasise it when they see them again. The sacred is the sacred, that which cannot be touched or touched: touche pas. C'est sacré. "Jehovah's works" do not seem sacred enough to us - or only when they die as mere preparations or cloudy shadows.

Roberto Uribe-Castro

Uribe-Castro's work for this ENTERVENTIONALE diametrically links the locations and institutions, the Koenig Research Museum and the Schlosskirche. The selected animals carry different symbolic meanings for the artist personally on the one hand, and culturally specific on the other. The Andean condor, for example, conveys indigenous values whose significance is deeply connected with the creation of the earth. According to Uribe-Castro, these are values that are particularly important in current climate and environmental debates.

Uribe-Castro asks what we believe in. He questions our values and tries to evoke emotions through blank spaces that remind us of the world and the standards we want to live by. As he puts it: "The connection between the two places forces the public to move between different spaces. Each of them corresponds to a different vision and understanding of the world. But today, given the urgency created by natural disasters, among other things, it is more about what unites us than what divides us."

Roberto Uribe-Castro, born 1974 in Bogotá, Colombia, currently lives and works in Berlin.

Dramatic global challenges - from climate change to environmental pollution and species extinction - are the themes of Uribe-Castro's international installations and other interventions.

Museum studies. Master's specialisation with practice