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NO MEASUREMENT GROUP

The group is mainly formed by members of Kollektiv Crèmbach, the youth committee at Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München and their new found friends. In particular, the collectives from China called 无名画会 | Wuming Huahui No Name and 新刻度小组 | Xin Kedu | New Measurement gave the main impulse for the foundation of the group.

Both the members of both collectives, No Name and New Measurement, have been practicing independent forms of artistic expression by focusing more on the collaborative process, rather than the work itself. Although they worked in very different social contexts, the working methods of both collectives show many similarities. They challenge the definitions of culture by developing alternative perspectives in their difficult environments. Their work is based both on the years of upheaval before and after the revolution in China from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s and is also visionary for contemporary Germany. They elude as a community not only the constraints of society, but also those of the art market. The criteria necessary for a comprehensive understanding of their work are missing - the collectives work without measurement.

Change may not lie in a complete upheaval of the system, but in the appropriation and repurposing of resources. We, as the No Measurement Group, use the tension that arises from friction between reproduction and resistance. We find a positive aspect in every problem, which we tap into as a growing community through new friendships. A tension arises between the parallel society of the collective and the real society. Being a collective gives us the space to deal with society and to remain open.

The work of the group cannot have any effect if this is not communicated beyond the institution. The group resists a "zoo setting", in which the project is only put on display without any regard to the community's well-being. Communicating the work is hampered by several hurdles, such as closed exhibition spaces in the absence of supervision, admission costs even for youth and young adults, and lack of budget for the work done. 

In the projects that the Kollektiv Crèmbach has implemented so far, the museum's content is expanded through young perspectives. The process behind documenta fifteen also involves negotiating the distribution of resources - financial, material and symbolic manner such as interpretive sovereignty. The foundation of the No Measurement Group is a reaction to the pressure of the system!

Who determines which resources the collective gets?

Who determines which physical, symbolic, and organizational spaces exist in the museum?

This space manifests itself on different levels:

Digitally: developing and managing digital online content.

Discursive: What is talked about internally in the museum, what does the museum communicate externally?

Physically: Being together at the events in the museum.

To what extent and at what points the collective's activity has a long-term impact on the institution has been under constant negotiation since the founding of Kollektiv Crèmbach in January 2020. Just as in the Lenbachhaus, the participation of the No Measurement Group in CAMP notes on education as part of documenta fifteen, arises the question of the impact of its activity inside the institution

How can we describe our utopia?

At what point do we reach our utopia?

Where are we struggling to reach it?

Which barriers do we manage to break down, which ones remain?