Worlds End Contemporary Presents Eisbergfreistadt by Kahn/Selesnick

Worlds End Contemporary announced Kahn/Selesnick's European debut of their latest work and first solo exhibition at the gallery. For this occasion, the artist duo will present Eisbergfreistadt, a project inspired by an incident that took place in a Baltic port during the Weimar Republic.





Mixing facts and fiction, Eisbergfreistadt depicts the creation and decline of a short-lived utopian state, with the same name, in the port of Lubeck. In 1923, a colossal iceberg drifted into the Baltic Sea and ran aground off the German port. The people of Lubeck declared the iceberg a free trade state, with the hope that Eisbergfreistadt would become an offshore financial heaven.

More than a financial success during the hyperinflation crisis of the Weimar Republic, Eisbergfreistadt attracted all sorts of curious, travelers, and artists. Eisbergfreistadt became an important source of inspiration for artists, including the utopian movement of the Chrystal Chain founded by artist and architect Bruno Taut and of which Walter Gropius and Wenzel Hablik were influential. The Chrystal Chain designed utopian cities, and issued manifestos on behalf of Eisbergfreistadt's imaginary socialist government. Many of their drawings were used on the emergency money called Notgeld, which was issued in Germany to supplement the shortage of small currency during the economic crisis.

The Iceberg Free State came to an end when a large masked ball was held to celebrate the creation of the Eisbergfreistadt bank. During the celebration, the iceberg split under the weight with one of the parts drifting towards the arctic and the other melting.

Kahn/Selesnick's exhibition presents a series of panoramic photographs taken at the time of the Eisbergfreistadt, and a variety of objects and souvenirs created on the Iceberg, stacks of Eisberfreistadt's Notgeld, and a painting. This documenting project explores the historic utopian state where the artists take us into an apocalyptic fantasy mirroring our own present reality of economic gloom and global warming.

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