Part of: The Kuling Project
Art Intervention 2023
Poster, brochure, letter, kleinanzeigen advertisement
In collaboration with Constanze Bahlo and Lukas Klein during the seminar “Reparative Futurities” with Prof. Heba Amin and the curator of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart Eric Stone.
Reuchlingenstraße 4B and Nördlinger & Pollock
This art intervention uses fictional narration to intervene in the future of an art institution, questioning the hidden histories behind it. Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, located in a factory building at Reuchlingenstraße 4B, originally belonged to a Jewish family’s luggage company, “Nördlinger & Pollock.” During the Nazi period, the family lost this building and their company and went into exile in Argentina. Since then, the building has been owned by the city of Stuttgart. Künstlerhaus Stuttgart has rented this building since 1978. Last year, the descendants of the Nördlinger & Pollock family initiated legal proceedings to reclaim this building.
With the name of the Nördlinger & Pollock offspring, we put an advertisement on Ebay kleinanzeigen to rent out one floor of the building; and wrote a letter to Künstlerhaus offering an alternative future after the building returns to Nördlinger & Pollock. Specifically, there is a real estate in Kuling, China, also owned by Nördlinger & Pollock, which the descendants could offer to Künstlerhaus Stuttgart after the city of Stuttgart returns the buildingʼs ownership to Nördlinger & Pollock. Künstlerhaus Stuttgart could use real estate in the Kuling enclave but would have to vacate Reuchlingenstraße 4B. Thus, Künstlerhaus transforms into an artist travel agency, organizing artist residency programs in Kuling, China.
Xy June Li 