Friedrich Kunath was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, a town in former East Germany. His work for

the ADN guardhouse entitled some power, that hardly looked like power, said I’m only perfect in an empty room (from the song ‘The Wild Kindness’ (1998) by David Berman) symbolizes the collision between different times and cultures. With the ADN guardhouse from East Berlin as its exhibition venue, one might also speak about the collision between dream and nightmare. Friedrich Kunath lives and works in Los Angeles.

ADN GUARDHOUSE
After a twelve-month long exhibition series in Berlin, the ADN Pförtnerhaus, a project initiated and curated by Berlin artist Christof Zwiener, traveled to Los Angeles for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The guardhouse will be on view in various locations throughout Los Angeles County for an additional two months curated by Zwiener, in cooperation with The Wende Museum in Culver City. The ADN Pförtnerhaus project will conclude with the ceremonial transfer of the former East German guardhouse to The Wende Museum where it will reside on permanent loan in the museum’s sculpture garden.

From 1971 until its closing in 1992, this particular guardhouse was based in the parking lot of the headquarters of the General German News Service (ADN Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst) of East Germany in the precinct Berlin-Mitte. With its acquisition and the beginning of the ADN Pförtnerhaus project in June 2013, Christof Zwiener saved the only such remaining GDR monitoring station in the public space of East Berlin from destruction and eventual disappearance. As a temporary exhibition space Zwiener made the guardhouse available for invited artists who engaged with themes including the legacy of the GDR, state surveillance in general, public space in Berlin and its constant transformation.

The exhibition series in Los Angeles will further this discourse. International artists including Bernd Trasberger, Sonya Schönberger and Friedrich Kunath will grapple with the consequences of social and political changes, working together with Christof Zwiener. Finally, in the new sculpture park of The Wende Museum on the former grounds of the National Guard Armory in Culver City, the ADN Pförtnerhaus will take its place as an independent installation.

The ADN Pförtnerhaus is a project of the artist Christof Zwiener, with the generous support of The Wende Museum, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Villa Aurora, El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA), the cities of Los Angeles, El Segundo and Culver City.

Exhibition Friedrich Kunath, SOME POWER, THAT HARDLY LOOKED LIKE POWER, SAID I’M ONLY PERFECT IN AN EMPTY ROOM from October 19 until November 2, 9300 Culver Blvd (Parcel B), Culver City, CA 90232

Further information about the history, the current and past exhibitions of the ADN Pförtnerhaus
can be found under www.adn-pfoertnerhaus.de.