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Lecture: The Rehfeldts and Mail Art | The Rehfeldt Archive

the rehfeldts

We cordially invite you to our event on 15 October at 7 pm as part of the exhibition “The Rehfeldts – an artist family from Pankow”.

Lutz Wohlrab will talk about “The Rehfeldts and Mail Art” and Julia Heunemann about the Mail Art Archive of Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Robert Rehfeldt (in German language).

Please register in advance by e-mail (mail@wolf-galentz.de)

Speakers

With a background in cultural and media studies, Julia Heunemann is interested in the techniques and practices of transmitting, collecting and exhibiting. She works at the Mail Art Archive of Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Robert Rehfeldt, writes a PhD about the historical investigation of the deep-sea and curated exhibitions e.g. at museum FLUXUS+ Potsdam and galerie weisser elefant Berlin.

Dr. Lutz Wohlrab (b. 1959) has participated in many international Mail Art exhibitions since 1985. In 1994 he co-edited the seminal work on the mail art scene in the GDR (Mail Art-Szene DDR). In 2007 a mail artist encyclopedia followed on the internet: www.mailartists.wordpress.com. He works as a psychoanalyst in Berlin. His publications include Stücke von Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Kunst im Kontakt on Robert Rehfeldt.

The Rehfeldt’s – A Family of Artists from Pankow

Robert Rehfeldt

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
we cordially invite you to visit our next exhibition
The Rehfeldt’s – A Family of Artists from Pankow

Artists:

Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, edition
Robert Rehfeldt, painting, collage, Mail art
René Rehfeldt, printmaking
and works of the sculptor Rolf Winkler

Opening: Sunday, September 13, 3–8 pm

Introduction to the exhibition: Joachim Pohl (in German language)

Due to the current situation we ask you to announce your visit by e-mail (mail@wolf-galentz.de).

Opening hours with prior appointment: Sunday 14:30–17:30 | Monday 17:30–21:30 and on appointment.

Finissage: Sunday, October 25, 4–8pm

Exhibition: September 14 to October 25, 2020

The Rehfeldts – an artist family from Pankow

In the western part of Germany his name is probably known only to a few, and yet Robert Rehfeldt from Berlin-Pankow – the ‘Fanfare of Pankow’, as artist friend Wolf Vostell dubbed him – probably had the most extensive international contacts of all GDR artists: through Mail art. (Kunstforum, Vol. 115, 1991)

The new exhibition at Wolf & Galentz is dedicated to the Rehfeldt family – Robert Rehfeldt (1931–1993), Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt (b. 1932) and their son René (b. 1956). This is the first time ever that works by all three Rehfeldts are presented together.

Robert and Ruth are both especially known for their importance in Mail art; from about 1970 to 1990 – shortly after the fall of the Wall – they formed one of the hubs of the Mail art scene in the GDR and accordingly – due to the nature of Mail art – worldwide.

Initiated by the Fluxus movement in the 1960s, Mail art is an art form that subverts established institutions and measures of value in art distribution and is integrative and egalitarian in nature. The art lies more in the process of distribution, in sharing and communicating the works, in the network itself, than in the individual work: the network and exchange with other artists is central.

In the front room of the Wolf & Galentz Gallery, works by Robert Rehfeldt are shown: a large-format painting (3 x 2 m) of painting and collage, which deals with Mail art; a selection of Mail art and stamp paintings fills another wall, the third wall shows a medium-format assemblage and some smaller works.

Two of Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt’s rare paintings can be seen in the back room of the gallery, along with a selection of Typewritings, the art form for which the she became famous, which were also shown at documenta 14: pictures ‘painted’ on a typewriter, consisting of letters.
In the small room between his two parents, René Rehfeldt shows a selection of his graphic art.
The exhibition is supplemented by several sculptures by a friend of Robert Rehfeldt, the sculptor Rolf Winkler (1930–2001).