Natalie Häusler. Honey

On 22 June 2018, KIT – Kunst im Tunnel will open the exhibition Natalie Häusler. Honey. This is the fourth solo show in the eleven-year history of KIT, whose unusual architectural setting offers a challenge as well as a special opportunity for young artists.

Natalie Häusler (*1983) began her intensive exploration of the tunnel architecture several months ago. Her artistic position includes precisely the following approach: she conceives spaces, environments, or surroundings in which objects and language come together organically. Painting and the written word are the starting point, which is located between poetry and visual art. Throughout the working process, the artist then integrates sculptural, painterly, functional, and sonic elements into her concept.

The Roman de la Rose, a French epic prose poem originally written in the Middle Ages, forms the starting point for Honey. The text was very popular in its time and also inspired one of the first documented forms of feminist literary criticism: Christine de Pizan’s Querelle du Roman de la Rose. The plot includes a long dream that takes place in a walled (pleasure) garden and offers an introduction to the art of courtly love through elaborate allegories, in which the rose stands for female sexuality.

At KIT, Natalie Häusler will use verses that she composed based on the medieval original to create a walled garden in which fear, fascination, love, and religion are embodied by images, objects, and sound. These allegorical figures represent a contemporary transcription and transformation of texts that the artist encounters in her literary research. (For instance, the title of the exhibition refers both to a work by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and to the poem The Honey Bear by Eileen Myles.)

Unlike courtly society, which used the ideal image of the ornamental or pleasure garden as staffage to represent their exquisite lifestyle, the space created by Natalie Häusler does not depart from everyday life. Here visitors encounter the artist’s feelings and thoughts; they can take part in and interact with her work.

Curated by Anna-Lena Rößner

The exhibition is funded by