The exhibition Leidenschaftslose Mechaniken by Luciano Pecoits (lives and works between Munich and Vienna) is the first chapter in the exhibition series Since…, developed to mark the anniversary of Haus am Waldsee.

In his practice, the artist uses archival materials and photographic processes to draw conclusions about the conditions of the material’s original context, and how these conditions continue to have an impact on our present. In doing so, he places particular emphasis on provenance research as a method of examining art and the origins and self-images of its institutions.

Pecoits’s newly commissioned works are the result of more than two years of research into the history of the Haus am Waldsee building. Based on administrative documents from the post-war years, such as files from restitution and denazification proceedings, the works trace a fine web of key figures and change of ownership. Accompanied by reproductions of the few preserved photographs of the building as a private residence, the artist reveals the extent to which the house was involved in political power structures and National Socialist networks, and how these connections remained influential throughout the post-war period and beyond.

Photos: Robert Hamacher

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).
Funded by the Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).