Katrin Mayer does a lot of research in her art. Her artworks always have to do with places. It is about the history and the stories of a place, about the architecture and the special contexts. Katrin Mayer questions: What happened in this place in the past, and what of it still has an effect today? At what points does the history of the place need to be rewritten?

The theme of Katrin Mayer’s exhibition is the transformation from the cloister as part of the monastery to the exhibition corridor of the Kunsthalle. From a religious place to the corridors of art with exposed electricity and internet cables connecting the Kunsthalle inside. This shows: The Kunsthalle is a place with history. A place for people. And a place that needs to be taken care of. Katrin Mayer exposes the different levels. Her multimedia installation consists of a newly created room installation, a video work and the website www.flurfunkerinnen.org. The stories of the Kunsthalle’s employees stand on an equal footing with images of women in church history. The images remind us, among other things, that the first Dominican monastery was a convent for women. This part of history is often forgotten today. Yet it has helped shape our present.

Katrin Mayer lives and works in Düsseldorf and Berlin. She is currently a fellow of the Berlin funding program Künstlerische Forschung/gkfd, in the context of which she is working on a feminist history of coding. She has developed works for the following institutions, among others: Kunstsammlung NRW Düsseldorf, Lenbachhaus Munich (both 2020), Biennale Warsaw (2019), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2017), Kunstverein Hamburg (2017), Kunsthalle Lingen (2016), Ludlow38 MINI/Goethe-Institut New York (2014), Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2014), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2013), Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach (2013) and KUB Arena Kunsthaus Bregenz (2011). Katrin Mayer has taught at various universities, including ZHdK Zurich, HfbK Hamburg and the University of Cologne.

The exhibition is supported by Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Stiftung Niedersachsen, Stiftung der Sparkasse Osnabrück, Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung/gkfd and Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.