ERCOLANO UNDERGROUND: Gerd Rohling
Since 1995, Gerd Rohling's series "Water and Wine" has been exhibited in ever-changing constellations — exclusively in prestigious locations such as the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, the legendary 49th Venice Biennale, the MAM Rio de Janeiro, the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Hamburger Bahnhof, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Dom Quartier Salzburg.
The fact that a set of these chalices, bottles, amphorae, and bowls is now being installed in the Hermannplatz station on the platform of the metro line U7 under the title "Ercolano Underground" allows these lucent, glass-like vessels, in a sense, to return home. They transform this place of temporal, spatial, and social transit into a "wunderkammer" and turn PASSAGE into a display.
This context is a first: previously only shown in stylised, ceremonial spaces such as galleries, museums or biennials, the objects now find themselves in an alternative place of designation. For they are not made of glass, crystal or quartz. The vessels are in fact composed of plastic waste that Rohling has been fishing out of the Gulf of Naples for decades. Some of them have been refined by the salt of the sea, while all of them have been elevated by the artist's recomposition and lighting arrangement. They are, in essence, composed of plastic and light.
"Ercolano Underground" combines the sublime with the simple. First, the title refers to the successor of the ancient city of Herculaneum that is situated between Rohling's beloved Naples and the devastating Vesuvius, whose eruption in 79 AD led to its demise. Second, it alludes both to the literal underground, a world beneath the surface, and to the concept of subculture.
Now, at a place like U-Bahnhof Hermannplatz, beneath the city, yet right before the eyes of people coming from everywhere and going in many directions — the most beautiful objects are made from waste and the most precious objects are the most modest, making Gerd Rohling's installation an indication of all possibilities. (Sebastian Hoffmann)
Curated by Sebastian Hoffmann
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