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Head Clausnitzer’s Paris Berlin Journal

Köln and Cold Calling in Germany

After Paris I had originally thought to go to Germany by way of Switzerland. Of course it would have been a beautiful trip as well as art educational. That path would have had me arcing down across France, through the (French) city of Leon and, finally through to the Swiss border. However, as I was to have a car full of art, my friends in Paris warned me off going through Switzerland as that meant I would have to undergo the stringent, double-smart, Swiss customs machine. As many of us know Switzerland is art fair land with also a pretty well developed gallery system (I like Werner Bommer in Zurich). With the possibility that I might try to stay in country and stiff the Swiss tariffs, duties, and collections of geld there would be no convincing them that I was just passing through with my cargo, thank you very much. So, no way.

I was disappointed partly because it meant missing Leon, France. I have been curious about the city, as it has been the site of an art biennial with several editions to its credit. The city has become one of the older forums (in this erstwhile movement) for these mega-overview type shows that have cropped up across the world, growing and keeping alive the cultural estate (Creating work for art critics and curators.) Also, Leon has been a locus for some fairly adventurous modernist architecture. These cultural marks added to the cities’ dedication to providing space for public art finds it rivaled only by Kassel in north central Germany where the venerable Documenta has been held every fifth year since earlier in the last century.

Of course, missing Switzerland with Basel, and just before passing into the Deutschlands, the city of Zurich, was a bit vexing, as well. As for Zurich, any city that is wired with Wifi for all of its citizens (a Wifi total hot spot for free or for taxes, I suppose) is all right with me! Instead I drove northeast leaving Paris in the evening hours and making for Belgium and my entry point into Germany at Köln (Cologne). As I jammed through Belgium that night the darkened villages and small towns spread before me like candles on a Schwartzen birthday cake (a cheesy analogy?) as each towns kirk was brightly spotlighted. Off in the distance was Liege and my thoughts turned historical as the names of world war one battlefields trickled by.

Finally, late, late, the road signs changed and I was on the autobahn. Many folks think that the Autobahn is just one famous road but really it is a very well kept network of roads that nonetheless live up to their reputation for some very fast driving. Maintaining 190 kmh is not uncommon. However, the rules of the road are very strictly adhered to. No squirreling around, and absolutely no passing on the right is allowed, even if a slowpoke like me is taking up the middle lane.

Once inside Germany it was just a breath really to the Rhine (Rhein) and Köln (Cologne, or Colonia in Latin). In the morning I asked for “ein plan,” a map of the city, at the hotel desk and proceeded into the cities’ zentrum. I did a couple of touristy things like taking in the Gothic cathedral (sometimes called the Dom) where, whenever I have the opportunity, I like to find the Green Man. He was a leafy-locked animist spirit, a woodland sprite (whyte?) somehow beloved or, held in fear and awe, by the ancient builders. He can usually be found tucked away in an obscure spot on the lower part of the Cathedral’s exterior, often near a minor doorway. However, in Erfurt, Germany I found him carved into one of the pews where the brotherhood sat during vespers. Apparently they kept him close in that dark part of Germany where Luther held forth and the common folk were all too ready to throw over the holy Catholic Church.

I want to talk here just a bit about cold calling in Germany, what I do, as an artist with case in hand and padding the ründgang (making the rounds of the galleries). Going there and making the rounds can be fruitful for an artist with the gumption to do it. Because I did most of my contact work alone I will say that this seems best (unless, of course, you have a German friend to help, ergo, with language, et al). To get you started with the source materials I mention below look for the word “aktuelles” which means roughly current shows.

Of course, so that your time is not wasted, nor that you employ to waste anyone else’s time, you should do some homework before going, probably on line. There are many sources for solid information about the galleries of the EU most especially for Germany and most are very tech savvy with good websites. I think the most valuable of these is the Kunsttermine.de. In Deutsch ‘Kunst’ means art and of course ‘termine’ is plural, more or less, for terminus. This is a very inclusive sort of Art Now Gallery guide for all Germany. You can subscribe and access it on line (in pretty good English) or subscribe for the book by mail (German language, only). Get to know theterritory with great maps and descriptions of shows with pictures. The BVDG (galerien-verband.de) is another good source.

Part of your homework, whether you plan to make a study of German or not, should be to learn a bit of the language’s art lingo. As I sayabove the word for art in Deutsch is simply Kunst. However, when you try to distinguish between your “work” and the actionable adjective (as opposed to being a verb, if you will) for “work” you will find some trouble. Learn the differences. Know the words for ‘contemporary,’ and for the different disciplines and techniques and mediums of art. Knowing these will be so valuable in your communications efforts (Though, English is widely spoken.)

Köln (spelled Koeln, in common spelling where an umlaut symbol is not available on the keyboard) is a world-class art capital. It was the sometimes, rival second city to New York before the rise of the likes of London. As with all art capitals there are the well recognized leader galleries and as exist elsewhere there are younger galleries found off the beaten path, small well lit places with hard working gallerists. Also, there is the ubiquitous presence of the cooperative studio building with show spaces that can be accessed by unaffiliated artists, even from out of the country. And, there are the neighborhood based Kunstvereine (art clubs, lacking a better descriptor) that are often adventurous enough to include the work of outsiders in their programs. These can be especially nice because they often offer a small stipend. Perhaps the most famous of these is the now grand venue called the Hamburger Kunstverein in Hamburg.

Walking into a gallery unannounced with my portfolio case in hand has been a good experience for me in Germany. I would add here that this channel of communication, if it could be called that, is not helped by trying to make appointments in advance and sometimes a return visit is required if you miss the right person at the gallery. I have never been turned down for a quick look-see, though I have never approached a gallery for which I did not have previous knowledge of its program and my work’s aesthetic compatibility. I sometimes limit my forays to a certain level of gallery (those with less firmly set programs). Also, I believe my chances for showing with a gallery I might approach are heightened by a familiar knowledge of the artists they show. It takes memory and brain power but, if you like art then all will be to the better (I think some artists don’t like art, really. We could talk!)

Rejection upon walking into a gallery can happen I am sure but at the very least you may leave a portfolio packet, and you will always be treated with courtesy. Courtesy is a given in Germany. You should make up several packets before traveling. Your visits will be useless without these examples of your work to leave behind. Eat the cost and write them off in advance to alleviate your worries about the price of this ticket. It could be worth it. A couple of pieces of advice for your packet: never appear with slides and include something written in German. Always have a small amount of good prints. If you have put these together digitally with a printer then of course it will be a bit cheaper. Have these made up in advance in pocket sleeves to pull out one at a time to show and leave behind. Forget about return postal. Absorb these costs and go prepared. Finally, write a single page about your work, the media process(es) you employ, and whatever else is important. Be concise and clear and remember that nothing can be presumed to be understood, even remotely, by anybody. Spell it out, but be short. Then with a good resume too, find a German speaker to translate these for you. I paid about $150 for something like this. Do this and forget about the cost.

I have made trips through Germany like this by train. It is a fast way to go and pretty affordable. Looking at a map while you do your homework you will find that the good gallery towns in Germany can be roughly formed into a square. For instance you may go in an arcing line west to east from Hamburg to Berlin south to Leipzig and then Munich. After that proceed west (and a bit north) again to Erfurt then to Frankfurt with choices then for Düsseldorf, Stuttgart. or up and back over the Rhine farther to the west into one of the largest service areas in the EU (and the world). This section is one the most populated and wealthy places in the world, a wide oval of people and place names through which one might travel and show all the way to Amsterdam, often thought of as the entryway to Europe for artists seeking show possibilities.

Köln (some call it the kunstmetropole) is a maze of streets that seem particularly densely packed and circuitous. Nothing is in a straight line. I sound like a New Yorker, a grid addled American, and though there are places like Köln in Paris I had gotten used to the Napoleonic straightening of that city.

With about a hundred galleries to see I was boggled besides. This, not to mention that if you are there at certain other times the Kunstmessen that happen there. Anyway I was hard put to really see more than twenty. I was able to get to the so-called Chelsea Gallery to find that it was open by appointment only during my visit. What the hell, go with what you know, learn nothing! Along the way (well pretty far out as it went it seemed to me) I stumbled upon (really) a gem, an atelier (a studio) that shows artists from the outside, concentrating on the young and under-shown. It is called ARTelier 37 and is run by its founder Ulrich Czsych. Later I bathed in the grandeur of the well healed.

As may be easily deduced, despite what I maintained earlier about needing to know some German art words there are many German artists and galleries who incorporate at least some English into their work or show titles or into the naming of their galleries. My coming show in Berlin (the show I was headed for) was called Low Modern Restaurant Chairs Available in 2005. The remainder of the show’s announcement was in German. I had offered my show title for my gallery to translate however they were really clear that they wanted this to remain in English. It stood out and apart and that worked for the both of us.

After Köln, that very evening I was on the doorstep to Berlin and the promise of my own show.

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