OK,
REGINA.

Exhibition

25. June 2022
18:00–22:00
Reginastrasse 16
34119 Kassel

OK, Regina is an exhibition of a spontaneously formed, temporary collective of 27 artists brought together by Rudi Rapf. Travelling with one’s art, the excursion brings this group exhibition to Kassel to show works with the mindset of „cooperation and joint use of resources“. OK, Regina heeds the call of the One Hundred Days and uses the practice of ‘lumbung on wheels’. It will be interesting to see how documenta fifteen will influence this group of artists, what stimulates them and what they will take away from this exchange.

A nation‘s art, no less than its philosophy, religion, law, mores, science, and technology, will always reflect the stage in the evolution of the Spirit, and each of these facets will thus point to the one common center, the essence of the age.

Sir Ernest H. Gombrich

OK, Regina.

Ruangrupa, the Indonesian artist collective, was entrusted with the artistic direction of documenta fifteen in order to: „Reach out to diverse audiences – including those that go beyond a pure art audience – and to challenge local engagement and participation.“ This year‘s documenta is based on a concept of sharing, in which the existing means, resources, ideas and innovations are to be used jointly in order to strengthen the bond between artists and audience. Putting the notion of partnership in the center of the artistic platform would ideally stimulate the participants to: join forces, create synergies, expand one’s horizon, create and experience a sense of community, experience strength through sharing.

What brings people together?

Opportunity, a common interest (preferences, partiality, ideology), joy (for culture or sport), probability (a game of numbers), contradiction (against an common evil, against a common enemy). With the appropriate zeitgeist, ruangrupa has recognized the desire of a ‘movement’ – a rather large group of people wishing for cooperation and a sense of transnational unity. It denounces and discards the old ways and looks for change.

Change as a source of meaning

The paradigm shift, clearly noticeable for several years now, questions the elitist actions of politics, business, and society. Its effects have now exceeded the tipping point and a need for action is vital. Some aspects of this (partially peaceful) revolution of the community are to disempower patriarchal structures, to allow for activities outside the office and in nature (possibly against one‘s own interests) and to no longer accept current and past injustice.

It pains a little to realize that history will teach us nothing. It is somewhat shameful that already in 1971 John Lennon sang of „being all as one“ (Imagine), and it irks, too, to understand that the hippie generation that danced in Woodstock in 1968 „grew up“ and became exactly those white old men who shaped the political, economic and industrial „progress“ of the currently so pertinent situation.

It is very clear that what is at stake here are actual and real conditions in the societies of our planet: hyper-urbanization, rural exodus, pressure to perform, passive consumption, loneliness, bigotry, corruption, the super-rich, wage gaps, pandemics, environmental problems, land and human exploitation, global migration, traffic collapse, elitist introduced social demarcations; man-nature disunion.

This is a list horrible enough to despair instantly and forever. How to respond when personal gain and double standards prevail, leaving weaker ones behind? Whatever happened to our principles and the greater good? How are artists to react (in terms of content) to such a deep shaking of moral norms?

Recalibrating the global moral compass

What can be hoped for from this documenta are new and innovative ways in which people could get involved with each other again in (initially small) groups. Collaboration and participation are at the center of such a process, but above all the quality of human relationships. Artistic manifestations might be employed as incubators to bringing about social change. For such an exercise to be successful, it would need willingness and openness, acceptance and courage, perhaps even a loss of face. The adhesive of such a movement is the common wish to grow together.

If Ernst Gombrich is right in the introductory quote (it dates from 1968!), then the common denominator of the ruangrupa collective and the participating artists is resilience. Despair is not a strategy for the future. Stepping before the unknown is an adventure, brave and confident.

OK, Regina is an exhibition of a spontaneously formed, temporary collective of 27 artists brought together by Rudi Rapf. Travelling with one’s art, the excursion brings this group exhibition to Kassel to show works with the mindset of „cooperation and joint use of resources“. OK, Regina heeds the call of the One Hundred Days and uses the practice of ‘lumbung on wheels’. It will be interesting to see how documenta fifteen will influence this group of artists, what stimulates them and what they will take away from this exchange.

We are OK, Regina
Alise Talberga, Antonio Neto, Attila Zsolt Tornyi, Gleb Amankulov, Ines Bacher, Käthe Schönle, Lukas Klestil, Mafalda Rakos, Martin Meier, Marlene Mautner, Matthias Kunz, Max Jurasch, Max Sand, Nikolaus Ruchnewitz, Raphael Zijaja, Rene Wagner, Robert Bodnar, Robert Kusmirowski, Rudi Rapf, Saskia Te Nicklin, Sophie Pölzl, Stefan Klein, Steffi Parlow, Stephan Schwarz, Tino Zimmermann, Tobias Pilz, Veronika Korbei.

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7 Ernst H. Gombrich, Style, in: Donald Preziosi, The Art of Art History, 1968, S. 129-140. Available as pdf https://monoskop.org/images/1/19/Gombrich_Ernst_1968_2009_Style.pdf [last access 2022/06/03].

8 https://kassel.de/buerger/kunst_und_kultur/documenta15/ruan
grupa.php [last access 2022/06/03]

9 https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/75764/einheit-in-vielfalt-zum-verhaeltnis-ethnischer-und-nationaler-identitaet-in-indonesien/ [last access 2022/06/07]. It can only be mentioned in passing that ruangrupa has its origins in Indonesia, where the creation of (national) identity is constructed differently than, for example, in Europe.

10 Kunstforum international Bd. 240, Juni-Juli 2016, S. 28f; Ansgar Klein, Rainer Schmalz-Bruns (Hrsg.): Politische Beteiligung und Bürgerengagement in Deutschland – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-89331-295-1. Philippe Chiambaretta, Artefakt und Biosphäre, in: Lettre International, No. 133, S. 66-68.

11 Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups: A study of human factors in housing. New York: Harper and Brothers.

12 Thanks to Attila Zsolt Tornyi for additions to this text. Our great thanks go to Rudi and Volker, who have made this exhibition possible by sharing their enthusiasm and investing their time and efforts.

OK,REGINA.