On Thursday, 15 January 2025, from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m., Sebastian Freytag will give a guest lecture on the topic of “Vorstellung / Nachstellung. Künstlerische Rekonstruktion einer Ausstellung” (“Presentation / Re-enactment. Artistic Reconstruction of an Exhibition” (venue: Room 102, Philosophikum, Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster). The lecture will take place as part of Ursula Frohne's course “Kopie, Remix und Reenactment: Künstlerische Aneignung im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert”.

The lecture will focus on the artistic reconstruction of the so-called ‘Vorgartenausstellung’ of 1964, an unconventional action by artists Konrad Lueg, Manfred Kuttner, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter in front of the Parnass Gallery in Wuppertal in 1964. In an installation conceived for the Von der Heydt Museum and modified for ZADIK, the KONSORTIUM group approached this historical event on the basis of photographs and archive documents.

Freytag shows how processes of repetition and re-enactment give rise to new perspectives on art-historical narratives – as artistic research that simultaneously reflects on the mechanisms of the art world. The lecture provides insight into an artistic practice that does not preserve history, but rather creates new approaches to groundbreaking events in art history through contemporary forms of aesthetic and institutional engagement.

In his practice, artist Sebastian Freytag makes references to art history and explores strategies of adaptation, copying and appropriation. As a member of the artist collective KONSORTIUM, which has been exploring questions of artistic autonomy and authorship for over twenty years, he combines theoretical reflection with conceptual practice.