BURGHARD

15 Herein, at least one could make out a ‘motif’ for the burghardi- an approach. At the same time, it would offer an explanation for the highly pragmatic concept of ‘institution’ and the flexibly used term ‘practice’, which seem to underlie their project. Correspondingly, earlier works such as ‘Flyerstapel’ (2002)6 , consisting of stacked culture-related information flyers, or the equally installa- tional and interventionistic transfer project ‘... through a window that is’ (2002)7 are also based on simple yet efficient principle of context displacement. In the work ‘Flyerstapel’, the title is, so to say, also the agenda on the level of the material and design. The work’s symbolic relevance only unfolds in its setting: The flyers, which promote the official program of Viennese institutions, are defunctionalized. Of all things, they are rendered into the construction material for an in situ sculpture developed for a gallery exhibition. To assume an institution- critical stance in this work, however, takes it a step too far. As the art- ists themselves note, the misappropriation of the flyers had no adverse side effects: The informational material withdrawn from circulation was tacitly replaced. ‘... through a window that is’, a temporary removal and repositioning of the showcase of a Viennese artist-run space dur- ing an academy walkabout, underpins the role that context displace- ment plays in burghard’s projects. But an exaggerated emphasis on intervention and institutional critique, so to say as the work’s form and subject matter, threatens to marginalize the fictional rest. Not re- duced to an exclusively art-driven and operated chamber piece, Smith- son’s site/non site concept lights up just when the abandoned artist-run space slowly fills up with inner-city life (graffiti, a repositioned park bench, wind-blown leaves etc.). In the works ‘HHütte’ (2008) and ‘bauen, denken’ (since 2009), con- crete and metaphorical context displacement, a means that burg- hard has repeatedly used, involves the shifting of the field of action as a whole. Here, formerly public functional GDR architecture8 , such as can be found at urban spaces within Berlin-Mitte, is the point of departure for both works. In the course of clearing-up and restitu- tion efforts having to do with previous ownership situations (or drawn into the focus of new land-use plans), this little house was literally rendered ‘landless’. Thus, it became an ideal ‘object‘ for a complex ar- rangement of equally concrete as they were symbolic displacements. These extended all the way from the temporary cloaking of the little house in black (as in the case of ‘HHütte’) to its subsequent ‘unbuild- ing’ – including the embedding of the building rubble (bauen denken, last updated in July 2010) on a piece of land acquired outside of Berlin 3 Kwadrat exhibition space, Berlin, 2009 4 This work was displayed at the exhibition menschliche zwecke, a comprehsensive show at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, 2009, as well as at the KMH Group Show, Krome Gallery Berlin, 2010. 5 This is how Hülse (Das Haus) (2009) and Hülse (System) (2010) can be construed. 6 Developed for the group exhibition ‘Was glänzt hat kein eigenes Licht’, Engholm Gallery, Engelhorn, Vienna, 2002. 7 Developed for the annual exhibition, Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, 2002. 8 Originally the little house was located at Invaliden Strasse across from Nordbahnhof.

BURGHARD

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