Ah! All of a sudden it’s ten o’clock and still light, still hot and, well, summer. And we were wondering: Does this really count as a season in a year that has already skipped one? Are we allowed, as a cultural body, to slow down in the heat of this specific moment? To rub our physical bodies with SPF20 and protect them (more) just because we are in the luxurious position to do so?

These questions form the central axis for this year’s annual Summer Res(t)idency which recommences on August 1. This third edition welcomes Matilda Kenttä who will be toiling away while the rest of us aren’t. Kenttä, a very *very* recent graduate from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie’s textile department will install a loom in the frame of Kunstverein’s window. While the days grow shorter again Kenttä will be reshuffling the silver curtain currently casting shade on our space into rags. Although her labour is hers, it will not be solitary. Until August 31 Kunstverein’s physical space will turn into an occasional meeting place (call it a bar) for friendly gossip (as the term was understood in the eleventh century, then meaning friend), questioning who, really, has the right to be lazy? Stories bypassers spin will be interwoven into the fabric, which after summer will filter into kitchens and households.

September welcomes a solo exhibition by Cauleen Smith, initiated by our associate curator Suzy Halajian. Halajian, who was selected out of ninety-four candidates worldwide, will bring her voice to Kunstverein’s program by developing two projects annually. This is the first. The Los Angeles-based curator’s interests lie at the intersection of art and politics, looking at how images are made and consumed in relation to our colonial pasts and modern surveillance states. Previously, Halajian has curated exhibitions and programs for, among others, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, the Armory Center for the Arts, and Sursock Museum (Beirut). Halajian has also been an integral part of the curatorial team at the artist-run space Human Resources (LA) since 2015 and—together with Anthony Carfello and Shoghig Halajian—is the co-founder of the journal Georgia.

We hope to see your sun-kissed faces then, if not sooner!
Kunstverein