Dominik took our shoes to the local shoemaker to get them repaired. He saw the space was open for rent and came home and told me. I immediately thought, 'this could be our gallery.' The Zeitgenießische was born.
Zeitgenießische' is a made up play on words in german. It sounds like the word for 'contemporary.' but actually means 'time-enjoying'. We enjoyed the past 6 months in our Zeitgenießische pop up gallery so much.
I am so proud, proud of this venture, proud of our participating artists, proud of our community, proud of my family, proud of myself.
Dominik Baer (my partner in art and life), and I signed the lease on the gallery and decided to make a little space to:
support the art scene in Heidelberg-Pfaffengrund.
present our work, curate and present the work of our contemporaries.
We had an incredible exhibition season. We have had 7 shows in 5 months thus far, 3 solo shows from locally based artists, 3 international group shows, and one bike art show. We even showed two artists' work from our little borough of Heidelberg, Pfaffengrund. #pfaffengrundnightlife
I fell in love with the space. The big storefront window, the high ceilings, the scuffed up floors holding reminisce of the shoemaker, who occupied the space for 40 years before us. How special to occupy a space with such a history of craftsmanship. The space is so charming.
And got to know our part of town better. I got to know local lottery kiosk and flower shop owners by bringing posters by for events all summer. Felt more part of a local and international art community then ever before. We had such nice little artist and collector gatherings on sunday afternoons during our regular opening hours.
This exhibition season is coming to a close. We have an artist talk on August 29th, 2018, with Jessica Serran and then a solo show with yours truly on September 7th, and then we are closing the pop up gallery to the public.
The Zeitgennießische Galerie, Heidelberg, is not dead, I have a strong feeling that it may pop up again sometime. Maybe even next summer, because I have loved running the gallery, and having the open space.
I am however, realizing that I would like a break from organizing exhibitions, and hosting, I am going to be focusing on making new work, applying to residencies, and trying to get my work into other galleries. This next season is going to be a season of focus on my own practice, making what I need to make, and pushing my work out, to hopefully make more opportunities open up in our future.
This gallery was a risk, a financial and time investment for us (me especially), but I am so thrilled to have welcomed so many of you into the gallery and exposed you to great art in person.
Thank you for your continuing support and for joining us on this artistic journey. What will the future hold? What will we stumble upon next?
Anna