Do you know Aubette?
Aubette is the small circular pavilion near the main entrance of the Middelheim Museum. It is over a hundred years old and for a long time was used as a cottage for the park museum’s superintendents. In 2015 it was thoroughly restored.
Contemporary experiment
Middelheim would not be a museum of contemporary art if it were not constantly open to experimentation. Together with Antony Hudek, director of Objectif Exhibitions/Extra City, a changing exhibition project is being developed, in which different forms of contemporary sculpture enter into dialogue with a setting rich in history.
The range of spatially oriented art is now extensive, from monolithic sculptures to installations, from land art to performance, and from the indestructible to the evanescent. Belgian artist Paul Hendrikse will go first this spring.
Win-win situation
The title Roundabout refers not only to the round shape of Aubette or to the roundabout at the transition between Middelheim-Hoog and Middelheim-Laag. It is also and above all an allusion to the Middelheim Museum’s function as a laboratory in the public space.
The park is the perfect setting for an experiment with the form and content of the urban landscape. At the same time, the necessary museum context is provided which is often lacking in the public space.