The Momental-Germaine Koh

eröffnung/opening: 5. Mai, 2006 | 19-23:00
6. Mai - 10. Juni, 2006

	Calendar Curator Text Austellung/Exhibition Larissa Fassler Ivana Franke Germaine Koh Stephan Kurr Jeff Preiss Åsa Ståhl Lectures Mark Paterson Christel Weiler + Barbara Gronau Johan Zetterquist mit Judith Manzoni Workshops Stephan Kurr + Jürgen Krusche Markus Miessen


		Koh \| Journal \| 2003 Version of Project \| Ongoing since 1995 \| Photo: RoseAnn Prevec \| McMaster Museum of Art

Germaine Koh

Journal
Series of classified ads | Project ongoing since 1995 | Appearing daily in Der Tagesspiegel for the duration of Exhibition

Since 1995 I have been placing brief journal entries in the classified ads of various daily newspapers, with a different entry each day for months at a time. These insertions modestly interrupt the urgency of a space commonly used for recording the circulation of useful things and abject hopes. The tone of the texts is familiar and abbreviated, recording my usually-mundane daily activities and routines. Instead of seeking the commercial or social transactions that are the usual aim of this familiar space, they use the real time and repetition embedded in the newspaper to relate little more than the passage of time, gently magnifying its banality and arguing for the monumentality of daily preoccupations. Executed anonymously, the reception of this project is as unknowable as its potential audience is wide, though part of its poignancy lies in the assumption that many of the activities I describe might be familiar to many of the unknown people who happen to read them. Although the events are particular to me, they thus might recall certain commonplace experiences.

The project has previously appeared in the following newspapers: Ottawa Citizen (1995-99); Kingston Whig-Standard (1997); Toronto Star (1998); Sydney Morning Herald (1998); Le Devoir (Montreal, 2000); Edmonton Journal (2000); Winnipeg Free Press (2001-02). It was also realized in a mobile-road-sign version in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) in 2003.

Germaine Koh is a Canadian visual artist of no fixed address, whose conceptually generated work is concerned with the significance of everyday actions, familiar objects and common places. Her 2005-06 schedule includes exhibitions at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (Newcastle), De Appel (Amsterdam), Martin-Gropius-Bau (Berlin), Angel Row Gallery (Nottingham), le Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Ottawa Art Gallery, and Artspeak (Vancouver). She has been included in international exhibitions such as the Liverpool Biennial, the Biennale of Sydney, and la Biennale de Montréal, and her work has been featured recently at institutions such as Para/Site Art Space (Hong Kong, 2004), Edmonton Art Gallery (2004), Frankfurter Kunstverein (2003), Bloomberg SPACE (London, 2003), Seoul Museum of Art (2003), Artspace (Sydney, 2003), The British Museum (London, 2002), The Power Plant (Toronto, 2002), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg, 2001), and Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver, 2001). Formerly Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada, she is also an independent curator currently collaborating with Phil Klygo on the art salon and record label weewerk. Koh is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver. www.germainekoh.com, www.catrionajeffries.com.