Rabe perplexum and the Eccentric 80s

With their performative and collaborative works, Rabe perplexum was a subversive voice of queer subculture in the 1980s. In conversation with Fabian Reichle, the artists Gufler and Stiegler will discuss artistic practices of the ‘Eccentric 80s’ from today’s perspective. The videos Videotod (1991, 6 min.) by Holger Dreissig in collaboration with Rabe perplexum, Hommage an Allen Jones by Die Tödliche Doris (1984, 4 min.) and Becoming-Rabe (2016, 8 min.) by Philipp Gufler will be shown at the event at W139.

Together with Ergül Cengiz, Burcu Dogramaci and Mareike Schwarz, Philipp Gufler and Angela Stiegler are part of the exhibition and publication project ‘Eccentric 80s: Tabea Blumenschein, Hilka Nordhausen, Rabe perplexum and Contemporary Accomplices’. It tells a different story of the art of the 1980s in the Federal Republic of Germany; beyond the great male master narrative that has dominated the narrative of these years until now. The exhibition traveled from Lothringer13 in Munich to Galerie Nord | Kunstverein Tiergarten in Berlin and is currently on view at Kunsthaus Hamburg till 21 May 2023. ‘Eccentric 80s’ is accompanied by a publication in German and English published by b_books, which will be presented that evening and can be purchased at W139.

Fabian Reichle is an artist and musician (Zaffjan) and works for the Goethe-Institut NL as a project manager and event organizer. He studied music and journalism at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (DE) and at Sandberg Instituut (NL), Amsterdam.

Angela Stiegler is a visual artist based in Berlin and Munich, working in various media, including video and performance, and in collaborative contexts with shared authorship. Stiegler creates setups formatted to involve others through research and exercises, reframing body politics and technological developments. A particular focus lies in artistic research and the economy of friendship. She co-founded the self-organized initiative K in 2013. Since 2020, Stiegler is part of the opera collective DIVA. She has been teaching in Athens, Munich and Nuremberg. Through filmmaking, she encountered Tabea Blumenschein in 2016 and remained in contact with her until her passing.

Philipp Gufler spans various media in his practice, including silkscreen prints on fabric and mirrors, artist books, performances, and video installations. Since 2013 he has been an active member of the archive Forum Queeres Archiv München.

This event is part of the public programme of W139's exhibition, Substitutes, initiated by artist Philipp Gufler.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes is on show at W139 from 22 April to 18 June 2023.

The exhibition engages with queer history and discourses around the body, gender, and sexuality. It features artists across several generations working in a variety of mediums to contextualise and converse with these discourses. The exhibition is about the absence of bodies, the abstraction of the body, and the tools and language we use to maintain or describe our bodies—costuming, staging, masks, layering, clothing. It questions the normative frameworks that queer and functionally diverse people are subjected to. The human body is, paradoxically, both absent and present within the exhibition.

Initiated by the artist Philipp Gufler, Substitutes brings together works of Lorenza Böttner, Johanna Gonschorek, Elisàr von Kupffer, Rabe perplexum, Louwrien Wijers, Johannes Büttner, and Bruno Zhu. Philipp Gufler will show a new work titled Body/Text: a large-scale silk screen printed textile piece that draws inspiration from Elisàr von Kupffer’s panorama painting Klarwelt der Seligen (Clear World of the Blissful). By connecting contemporary discussions to historical perspectives, the exhibition aims to create a ‘living archive’. Drawing together artistic positions from then and now, the exhibition traces queer lives and networks from the past to our present.

The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 18:00.

Visual identity by Jacob Hoving.

This exhibition is generously supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Goethe Institut, Centro Elisarion, Pro Elisarion Association, Monacensia im Hildebrandhaus, Forum Queeres Archiv München, Grafisch Atelier Hilversum and Fonds21.