MUNICH.- On Monday, 11 May, Haus der Kunst will reopen to the public, in accordance with the guidelines set by the Ministry of Art.

The duration of the exhibitions, which have not been open to the public since 13 March because of the museum’s closure, will be extended, making them accessible to the public for longer:

• “Theaster Gates: Black Chapel” ends on 16 August 2020.

• “Brainwashed. Sammlung Goetz in Haus der Kunst” will also be extended until 16 August 2020; the presentation in the air-raid shelter can be viewed, as usual, Thursdays through Sundays.

• The Kapsel exhibitions “Sung Tieu. Zugwang”and “Monira Al Qadiri. Holy Quarter” will be extended until 30 August 2020.

• The major exhibition in the East Wing, “Franz Erhard Walther. Shifting Perspectives” is on view until 29 November 2020.

The museum’s usual opening hours — Monday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm, Thursdays until 10 pm — are in effect: Day tickets are valid for all exhibitions and cost 10 euros, reduced rate 8 euros. The Walther König bookshop is also open daily from 12 pm to 6 pm; the catalogue for “Franz Erhard Walther. Shifting Perspectives” is now available.

Digital formats, a new artwork and HDK live
In addition to its existing digital offerings, Haus der Kunst has developed new digital formats, including audio tours and the artwork “Presence,” which was created by Franz Erhard Walther specifically for its presentation on the website and the building’s facade. During the Easter period, the statements “Bodies are the boundary,“ „Towards the space,“ „The coincidence of history“, and „Bodies in the present“ were displayed on the website in a short loop. In order to allow this work to have its greatest possible effect, all sub-pages of the website linked the user to www.hausderkunst.de/presence for a period of four days. The artwork thus replaced all other website content in the digital space for four days. No prior announcements or explanations were given, and an explanatory blog post was only put online on Easter Monday. After the four days, the user was once again linked to the regular website with all its previous content.

At the same time, the identical sentences were projected onto the wall of the western façade, facing the English Garden, for a period of 40 days, always from dusk until dawn. After Easter, another digital format was launched: “HDK live:” the live transmission of these images, which are recorded on camera, can be viewed on the website. The first transmission, “Presence,” ends on 18 May.

With this artwork and its manner of presentation, Andrea Lissoni, the new artistic director of Haus der Kunst since April, has set an initial, forward-looking emphasis for the museum. It serves as a window into what is taking place now and renders the artistic content inside the building more easily visible from the outside.

“Imagine the Haus der Kunst in a different way. Imagine shifting perspectives, as Franz Erhard Walter’s exhibition title suggests. The Haus changes shapes. At dusk, the shadows cast by the trees on the western facade fade away. A sequence of sentences gradually starts appearing, becoming bright and alive in the dark. 'Presence' is a window from the outside, which allows nocturnal viewers to look through the first room of Erhard Walter’s exhibition, where a selection from the 'Word Pictures' — a series he developed in the 1950s — is hanging. The invisible window breaks time: 'Presence' loops and connects Erhard Walter’s most recent work and his early ones. The invisible window makes the building transparent: when the sun rises, 'Presence' disappears but the Haus der Kunst remains visible, from a different perspective. The sky is blue or cloudy; every now and then a bird flies; unexpectedly, in a corner of the terrace, a skater learns a new trick.