Five storeys high and dating from 1891, HALLE 14 is the largest production hall on the Leipzig Baumwollspinnerei site, covering 20,000 sqm. It is an exhibition venue and communication hub for contemporary art that serves the common interest. It is run by HALLE 14 e. V., a registered association devoted to continuing the dynamic rehabilitation process begun by the Federkiel Foundation. The production, presentation and dissemination of contemporary art are central to its mission, as
are the preservation and conversion of Halle 14. HALLE 14 e. V. and its partners – the Columbus Art Foundation, directed by Jörg van den Berg, and the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, represented by Prof. Joachim Blank’s class and their “Universal Cube” – each have exhibition spaces of up to 2,400 sqm in size, which they use to present temporary exhibitions. The visitor centre includes a reference library, currently with 30,000 books plus other media dealing with modern art. The art education programme “Kreative Spinner” introduces children and young adults to art in various ways.
In 2002, the Federkiel Foundation triggered the conversion of this disused industrial
building by holding a symposium on “How Architecture Can Think Socially”. Since 2003, the foundation and HALLE 14 e. V., headed by artistic director Frank Motz, have organised ten group exhibitions of international contemporary art, including “TERR A NULLIUS” (2009), “On indefiniteness” (2008), “The Culture of Fear” (2006) and “Xtreme Houses” (2004).
About half of HALLE 14’s spaces are now in permanent use. First architectonic concepts, created mainly by quartier vier, a Leipzig architecture firm, were implemented in the visitor centre and the exhibition spaces. Retaining authenticity and “the luxury of space” remain the key principles for the conversion of the as yet undeveloped areas. The utilisation concept provides for more presentation and project space, for studios
and accommodation for scholarship artists, and for workshops and storage space. The refurbishment and infrastructure development for Halle 14 finally began in 2008 with the urgently needed restoration of the roof. The rehabilitation of HALLE 14 was only made possible by extensive sponsorship by the Federkiel Foundation and the generous support of Halle 14’s proprietor, the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei
Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH. Thanks to them and to funding by the city of Leipzig and
the Federal Employment Agency, as well as government aid, the restoration of the building can be accomplished. Other sponsors, including the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Culture Foundation of Saxony, the Office for Cultural Affairs Leipzig and the Marianne Esser Foundation are helping to carry out the various projects. Last but not least, the team and the supporting members of HALLE 14 e. V. are making a steady and vital contribution to the successful development of the art space HALLE 14.

Ute Volz, Executive Director HALLE 14 e. V.

HALLE 14 e.V.

Spinnereistr. 7 / Halle 14

04179 Leipzig

00 49 (0) 341 – 4 92 42 02

office@halle14.org

www.halle14.org

Tuesday til Friday 11 AM - 6 PM

(during exhibitions Tuesday til Sunday 11 Am - 6 PM)

The seventh year is not cursed

Not long ago, it would have been hard to argue with anyone who described HALLE 14 and its creators as “having a tile loose” (or at least as having weatherproofing problems). However, since Halle 14’s roof was tiled and the renovation plan became economically workable – changes to the fabric of the building to catch up with the artistic side of the endeavour – those days are history. It took seven years of meandering between the permanent building run by ourselves that we were aiming to achieve in HALLE 14 and alternative accommodation nearby before we reached this stage. These were years of wandering, without peace and quiet, sometimes with no security and often without any home base at all, but never without a sense of purpose.

Chutzpah, pioneering spirit, passion, blind confidence, naivety, a little criminal resolve and other qualifications ensured that once we reached the cursed seventh year the largest industrial hall on the site had not simply been blown to kingdom come and replaced by a wheatfield, but was instead allowed to grow old gracefully – or rather, to be reborn.

If this sounds like a fairytale, it is because the course of events – from a conception to a multi-functional art hall – is so tremendous and unbelievable that it is on a par with building a new museum in the midst of a recession – something, one might think, that only Porsche would dare to do. Over the past five years, whenever a sports car swept through the property trackside, as it sometimes did, the visual contrast (suggesting further underlying contrasts) could not have been greater. This is a quality that the Spinnerei possesses in unrivalled amounts, and one that creates excellent interactions. This is an obvious place to give a voice to global issues with local implications (or vice versa) and pose significant social and community questions in a way that has nothing to do with rating figures, book sales or visitor numbers. For us and the 150 artists represented in the 10 exhibitions to date, it was about joblessness and stagnation, it was about a passion for self-sufficient living and independent collecting, and it was about the sense of uncertainty and the culture of fear that permeates our society. It was about Western myths and realities, the intrigues of bioweapon nations and the extension of hegemonies, and now it is about the consequences of postcolonial politics, with their human cost.

Even if art isn’t a weapon, it is a civilising force. It can stimulate minds and create consciousness, and actively make a difference to social contexts and political landscapes. It reveals things by hiding them, it clarifies things by being irritating and it creates new contexts by decontextualising. It is also used as a community builder, an end in itself, a way of gentrifying plots of ground and a prey for the whims of the weather and various dependencies, as therapy for its creators and caretakers and much more. HALLE 14 the productive area and permanent place to do business is fully as important as HALLE 14 the art viewing venue. This is a kind of flagship of critical mass and mutual benefit that simultaneously puts to sea, sights or fails to sight land and drops anchor in its home port. It is an invention that reflects our pluralistic and increasingly rhizome-like worldviews within the self-perpetuating social biotope of the Spinnerei, in the form of art.

Incorporating interdisciplinary features, new ways of experiencing art and the art production/discovery processes of a changing art world may well be as fundamental to HALLE 14’s exhibitions as their critical approach to thoroughly-explored exhibition themes and faith in the “trial and error” principle. In a new venue and with a new exhibition plan, why not take a look at art via the “Kunstfehler” (which means “professional error”, but could mean “art error”): the dignified failures, the delightful bungling or the passionate errors of art? Why not ask Australian artists to interpret the fateful historical decision of the British crown to declare their homeland “terra nullius”: an uncultivated, empty no-man’s-land belonging to no recognised power and therefore open to settlement and colonisation?

Frank Motz, Director Art Programme HALLE 14

Kreative Spinner

Spinnereistr. 7 / Halle 14

04179 Leipzig

00 49 (0) 341 – 4 92 42 02

kreative-spinner@halle14.org

www.halle14.org

Pathways to art

In this ideal place – a space where art presentation and art production are united in one location – a very special art education programme has been created, often with the involvement of dynamic artists who work in the Spinnerei or the Institute for Art Education of the University of Leipzig. The programme holds regular workshops for children and young adults. Since 2008, Kreative Spinner has been working closely with schools in Leipzig. The aim is to gain access to various artists’ perspectives on the world and on art itself. A drawing circle led by Leipzig painters is also held every week, and is open to all ages.

HALLE 14 Library

Spinnereistraße 7 / Halle 14

04179 Leipzig

00 49 (0) 341 – 4 92 42 02

bibliothek@halle14.org

www.halle14.org

HALLE 14 Library

The word has been going around for some time that there is a huge repository of contemporary art catalogues, exceptional portfolios and videocassettes the size of laptops in HALLE 14, donated by a major European art fair. Now, as of January 2009, the publications are finally occupying endless bookshelves in HALLE 14’s visitor centre, where Spinnerei visitors who enjoy reading, bibliophile art-lovers and budding artists looking for inspiration can discover this treasure trove. It will take many hours of work before all 30,000 items are recorded in the online catalogue, but one thing is certain: the next delivery is on its way from Switzerland.