Mel Chin & GALA Committee

ART AS SEEN ON THE MELROSE PLACE / SHOOTERS BAR


Preview Friday July 7, 2006, 6pm - 9pm
Exhibition July 8 - August 26, 2006
Gallery opening hours Tue - Sat 11am - 6pm
Bar opening hours Thu - Fr 6pm - 9pm


Galerie Kamm is pleased to announce a collaborative project with the collection Schürmann.

Over the course of one year, Mel Chin & GALA Committee (Students of the University of Georgia (GA) and the California Institute of the Arts (LA)) worked together with the producers of the American TV series Melrose Place, developing the project 'In the Name of the Place', which was presented in 1997 as part of the exhibition 'uncommon sense' at the MOCA, Los Angeles.

'In the Name of the Place' aims at transforming prime time television into a space for art by infiltrating works of art into the set design of an American early evening TV-series, taking the place and function of ordinary props. Thus, the pattern on a duvet cover, to be seen in a bed scene, consists in the interlocking shapes of uncoiled condoms - an illegal depiction in American television. A Chinese take-away wrapping is lettered with the words 'Human Rights / Turmoil & Chaos', referring to contentious and censured topics in China.
Mel Chin understands the relationship between his 'social artworks' to their hosting organizations as comparable with that of a virus and host; both influence and determine each other. As much as art is infiltrating television, ultimately changing the viewer's attitude, as much is artistic production subjected to the changed conditions, having to react to the narration and mechanisms of the TV production.

Located across the street from each other, the exhibition space Schürmann Berlin will exhibit a rang of artworks produced for Melrose Place, whereas Galerie Kamm shows the series' 'Shooter's Bar'. With their varying shapes and individually designed labels, the lined up bottles address the history of alcohol and alcoholism in the United States from 1700 to the present. The TV set on the counter shows episodes of Melrose Place including artworks. In addition to gallery hours, the bar will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 6 to 9 pm.


Other venue:
Schürmann Berlin, Weydinger Str. 10, 10781 Berlin. Opening hours: Thu - Sat 4pm-7pm