Extra Time. Heather Phillipson

Run time: September 14, 2024, through March 2, 2025

For the 100th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain, British artist Heather Phillipson is converting Kunsthalle St. Annen into a walk-in work of art. Opening on September 13, 2024, her solo exhibition draws on ideas of time and sociological change, which play a central role in The Magic Mountain. The novel deals with individual experiences of time against the backdrop of the epochal upheavals in the run-up to World War I.

Extra Time transforms the former church of St. Anne’s Priory into a portal for dreams, visions of an alternative present and possible futures. Crow-like characters, scattered across the exhibition spaces, are the protagonists of Phillipson’s presentation. Crows are not only considered to be one of the most intelligent species of birds, they are also reputed to have mysterious and prophetic powers, which makes them the subject of numerous myths and legends, in which they appear as harbingers and instigators of disruptions. At Kunsthalle St. Annen, they congregate in various forms of mass gathering, from which they observe, dissent and dream. “As suggested by the title ‘Extra Time’, a phrase borrowed from football to designate an additional period of play at the end of a match, the exhibition attempts to manifest a sense of time spilling over, a surplus of time, a time outside of allotted time, in which time runs differently”, says the artist.

Phillipson’s scenes also allude to the city of Lübeck, which serves alongside Mann’s novel as another important reference for Extra Time. As is characteristic of her way of working, the artist immersed herself in the city and allowed its images, sounds, smells, and stories to act on her. Motivated by encounters with the crows populating the city, particularly its playgrounds and sports fields in the early morning hours, she transfers this mystic atmosphere into elaborate spatial collages and surreal environments. Visitors to the Kunsthalle St. Annen will move through four-dimensional images, as it were, such as football fields strewn with oranges, protest camps, playgrounds and the heavens.

Heather Phillipson has developed the progression through these distinct yet interconnected environments specifically for Kunsthalle St. Annen, and it can only be experienced in its entirety on this site. She incorporates the ascendant architecture of the building and its three floors, inviting visitors to symbolically climb The Magic Mountain.

Phillipson’s expansive exhibits are composed of a variety of media, from video, collage, sculpture, music and digital media to murals, drawings and texts. Extra Time is a sensuous combination of Phillipson’s art, the central motifs of Mann’s novel and the urgency of our present moment.

Extra Time is accompanied by a comprehensive program of events and educational activities. Visitors can look forward to dialogue tours and workshops with artists, for instance. There will be parties and popular formats, such as the Art Dinner and St. Annen Talk, which offer space for encounters, music, culinary delights, and conversation.

Opening: September 13, 2024

Heather Phillipson (* 1978, UK) is an acclaimed British artist and poet. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2022. Among her most recent projects are a new commission for Art Night 2023 in partnership with Art Fund's Wild Escape project and the BBC Archive; Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries commission, London (2021–22); the Fourth Plinth commission, Trafalgar Square, London (2020–22); and a major project for Art on the Underground´s flagship site at Gloucester Road station (2018). Her works have been exhibited worldwide at sites including the Serpentine Galleries and Whitechapel Gallery in London, the New Museum in New York, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Schirn in Frankfurt, the Sao Paulo Art Biennial (2016), Athens Biennial (2018), and Sharjah Biennial (2019). An acclaimed filmmaker, Phillipson also received the Film London Jarman Award in 2016 and the European Short Film Festival selection from the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2018, as well as multiple accolades for her poetry. In 2024, Phillipson will present a new commission for the Imperial War Museum’s 14-18 Now Legacy Fund in partnership with Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea and a new permanent commission for Hospital Rooms, United Kingdom.