HERFORD.- Works of art can’t always be looked at and admired; from time to time they also need to rest, to be stored, conserved and restored in specially prepared rooms. This turns museum depots into powerhouses of energy which is periodically released for particular exhibitions. The Powerhouse Depot exhibition project explores issues of the storage of art, its ageing processes and its conservation and restoration along with questions of how we perceive and attach value to works of art. This three part exhibition marks the opening of the new Marta Depot for the Marta Collection.

“Freshly Unpacked – How Art Ages“ is a trenchant compilation of works from the depots of three very different museums: the LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History in Münster, , the Stedelijk Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent and Marta Herford. Joseph Beuys installation “Wirtschaftswerte” (Economic Values) serves as the starting point for an inspiring dialogue with photographs, paintings, installations and objects by: Susanne Albrecht, Matthew Barney, Robert Barry, Joseph Beuys, Sergey Bratkov, Marcel Broodthaers, Peter De Cupere, Franky Deconinck (DC), H.F. Gaudenz von Rustige, Loek Grootjans, Jonathan Horowitz, C. Keller, Louise Lawler, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Pierro Manzoni, Danny Matthys, Navid Nuur, Prieto, Tobias Rehberger, Dieter Roth, Ulrich Rückriem, Wilhelm Sasnal, Julia Schily-Koppers, Oskar Schlemmer, Nedko Solakov, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Friedhelm Tschentscher, Gavin Turk, Aaron van Erp, Hannes Van Severen, Jan Vercruysse, Rudolph von Normann, Lois Weinberger and Jens Wolf.
.
The “Franz Erhard Walther –Remembrance of Form” exhibition focuses on the process of transformation which the artist himself has made one of the principal themes of his work. His large-scale “Nähungen” (Stitchings) of brightly coloured cotton fabric is a work that is first created by participation of the artist and visitors. With his “Lager der Probenähungen“ (Store of Sample Stitchings) first created in 1979 and steadily enlarged ever since, this four times documenta contributor born in 1939 now transforms the Marta Dom into an unprecedented experiential space, turning the storehouse into a form in which visitors use the instrument of their own bodies to explore space and the work itself.

The first major retrospective of the German-Turkish performance artist Nezaket Ekici (born in 1970), is intriguingly entitled “Personal Map – to be continued…”,and reflects not just the cosmopolitan nature of the works of this “art nomad” from over the past ten years but also features project work especially created for this exhibition. Yet how can the performance art of this artist renowned for the unique nature of each of her works deeply imbued with her own living presence be presented in a museum context? Marta Herford illuminates the manifold possibilities of presence and presentation inherent in ephemeral performance projects.