¹ The exhibition started in 2010 with the title EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW! expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability. Sensitized through the civil discourse on the topic of colonilism, it became clear that ‘expeditions’ is a colonial concept. Therefore, instead of ‘expeditions’ we use ‘explorations’. The visibility of the change instead of deletion intends to make the thought process comprehensible.

20 Venues

An integral part of the concept is to let the exhibition tour in order to withdraw it from the fast pace of the art market and to weave in the peculiarities of local, artistic, scientific and environmental activist competence at each additional exhibition location. Between the kick-off in 2010 and its finale in 2023 at the Uferhallen in Berlin-Wedding, EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW! was in 18 different places at 29 different exhibition venues.

Berlin | Uferhallen | 3.9. – 10.10.2010
Gartow | Westwendischer Kunstverein Wendland 24.10.2010 – 5.3.2011
Dessau | Umweltbundesamt und Bauhaus Dessau 23.3. – 29.4.2011
Ingolstadt | Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm | Stadt Neuburg an der Donau 14.5. – 13.6.2011
Bremen | Wasserturm | Schwankhalle | Arbeitnehmerkammer | 2.7. – 28.8.2011
Hamburg | Virginia Haus | Überseequartier | HafenCity | 10.9. – 30.10.2011
India | Mumbai | 4.2. – 10.3.2012
Aethiopia | Addis Abeba | 4. – 24.5.2012
China | Beijing | Iberia Center of Contemporary Art 5.8. – 14.9.2012
Brazil | Sao Paulo | Galeria Marta Traba 22.2. – 7.4.2013
Mexico | Puebla | Capilla del Arte UDLAP | 17.10.2013 – 19.1.2014
Essen | Stiftung Zollverein | 19.7. – 4.9.2014
Peru | Lima | Museo Metropolitano | 28.10.2014 – 19.1.2015
Freudenberg am Main | rauchmuseum | 15.11.2015 – 13.3.2016
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Marstall Schwerin | Nikolaikirche Rostock | Schloss Bröllin | 1.7. – 11.9.2016
Chile | Valparaíso | Parque Cultural de Valparaíso | 10.6. – 12.8.2017
Bonn | former Volkshochschule | 19.4. – 10.6.2018
Erfurt | Galerie Waidspeicher | Kulturhof zum Güldenen Krönbacken | Augustinerkloster | 28.7. – 22.9.2019
Israel | Museum on the Seam Jerusalem | Pyramida Art Center Haifa | 2.9. – 30.11.2021
Berlin | Uferhallen 11.5. – 16.7.2023

EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW! ETF! ended at the very place where it started 13 years ago.

Between 2010 and today there lie many thousands of nautical miles and land kilometers of distances, four continents, many anxious hours in ports waiting because of corrupt customs clearance and late arrivals of ships. The 40-foot container has always been the unit of measurement and transport for the entire 13 years, paying attention to a reasonably acceptable ecological footprint from the start. ETF! has become a pioneer of an alternative artistic practice in terms of size, internationality, abundance of artistic approaches. At each new exhibition location we have integrated the respective artistic, scientific and environmental activist competencies, which means that the presentation is constantly changing and condensing. On the travel we showed the works of a total of 128 artists from 28 nations, 2023, at the last stop, we showed 85 positions; 40 of them have been there from the beginning, others have been added in the respective countries and cities to which our explorations have led us. ETF! has made guest appearances in the capitals of Ethiopia, Peru and China, in Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Puebla, Haifa and Jerusalem. At the end about 240,000 visitors saw the exhibitions, for which we worked together with 19 project partners at 29 exhibition venues.

So on this last – analogue – station we want to sum up, deepen and discuss what we have experienced and learned so far, what of it is recommended for imitation! is and remains. In this critical and reflective view, we are accompanied by impulses and the questions of the artists and collectives, the ETF! turn off. The works of art currently address a wide range of topics: climate change, biodiversity, plastic pollution, renewable energies, fossil energies and nuclear energy, access to water, rare earths, overexploitation of and sealing of surfaces, sustainable consumption, also old cultural techniques such as the extraction of terra preta, water filtering, recycling and upcycling. In doing so, they sharpen the focus on flight, expulsion, hunger, debt (reduction) and democratization.

︎︎︎ For more informations about each artist, about our past exhibitions and side events please visit:
www.zur-nachahmung-empfohlen.de/en