Museion

Museum of modern and contemporary art I Bolzano-Bozen, Italy I www.museion.it

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Doing Deculturalization 13/04 - 03/11/2019

Doing Deculturalization is inspired by the writings of the Italian art historian and critic Carla Lonzi (1931–1982). In particular, it focuses on using her concept of deculturalization, a way of (culturally) decoding life, labor and language, as a prerequisite for an antiregulatory and decolonial vision of gender and migration. The processes of withdrawal and alienation connected to this concept are highlighted both in reference to their historical feminist context and in possible ways of applying them to the present. So, the project is basically asking, to what extent can “deculturalization” processes liberate forms of empowerment and resistance. In other words, how can they develop a critique of the colonializing power structures? Against the backdrop of this question, the exhibition creates a speculative scenario, a topography of associations between archive material from feminist movements and contemporary and historic artistic positions with a particular focus on material from the Archivio di Nuova Scrittura  in the Museion Collection.

Curated by Ilse Lafer, guest curator 2019 at Museion In collaboration with: Sabeth Buchmann (congress/workshop), Frida Carazzato, Francesca Lacatena (curatorial advisors), Lukas Maria Kaufmann (exhibition design), Brigitte Unterhofer e team (exhibition organization and production).

Foto: Luca Meneghel

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Keren Cytter, “Mature content” 26/01 - 28/04/2019

In her videos, films and installations, Keren Cytter (b. Tel Aviv, 1977, lives and works in New York) depicts how media, and especially social media clichés, permeate our daily lives. Using a cyclical, non-linear logic, her approach subverts linguistic conventions and traditional mechanisms of interpretation.  With an explicit focus on amateur videos, her montages of impressions, memories and fantasies give rise to poetic and self-referential compositions with a penchant for intense and artificial scenes. At Museion, Keren Cytter will present an exhibition on the theme of time and the different stages in life. Previous works will be displayed alongside new ones and there will be a number of drawings – some exhibited on the museum’s glass facades – as well as a new animated film that highlights her work as an author of children’s books. First solo exhibition in an Italian museum

Curated by Letizia Ragaglia In collaboration with Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Tel Aviv

Foto: Luca Meneghel

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TUTTO. Perspectives on Italian Art 13/10/2018 – 24/03/2019

Fascinating, multifaceted and profound: These are the words that come to mind when describing the Italian art that will be on view in the show Tutto starting 13 October 2018. Visitors will be treated to more than 100 works – mainly paintings and photographs – by more than 30 Italian artists represented in the Sammlung Goetz and the Museion collection. Most of the artworks date from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. Following When Now Is Minimal (2013) and The Photographic Portrait between Participation and Alienation (2017), Tutto, a show that focuses solely on Italian art, is the third cooperative project undertaken by the two collections. After the showing in Bolzano, Tutto will travel to Munich in the summer of 2019 to be presented at the Sammlung Goetz, which will thus for the first time in its history host a dialogue between its own holdings and an extensive body of works from another collection.

Foto: Luca Meneghel

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Somatechnics. Transparent travelers and obscure nobodies 25/05 -02/09/2018

On occasion of the tenth anniversary of its new venue, Museion is turning the spotlight on its original mission, namely the idea of fostering dialogue between northern Europe and the Mediterranean area. Somatechnics offers a contemporary take on these elements, bringing together pieces by artists who work in Austria and Italy and explore the physical, administrative and symbolic borders of the two countries. Taking its cue from the historical and geopolitical characteristics of the South Tyrol – Trentino Alto Adige region, Somatechnics explores how ethnic identities form, in connection with a linguistic identity and the sense of belonging to a place, or trespassing in some way: elements which confine our bodies to specific areas. The project includes an exhibition, a programme of performances and a public programme.

The proposal was selected from a pool of projects by eight curators under the age of 45. The jury which chose the winning project comprised: Massimiliano Gioni, associate director and head curator of the New Museum, New York, and artistic director of The Trussardi Foundation in Milan; Matthias Mühling, Director of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, and Letizia Ragaglia, Director of Museion.

Curated by Simone Frangi

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BODY CHECK. Martin Kippenberger - Maria Lassnig

03/02 - 06/05/2018

The exhibition takes a fresh look at the work of Maria Lassnig (1919, Kappel am Krappfeld, AT – 2014, Vienna) and Martin Kippenberger (1953, Dortmund, D – 1997, Vienna, AT) revealing hitherto unexplored connections between these two illustrious artists.

Though they never met, and belonged to different generations, in an era dominated by abstract painting both chose to place the human body firmly at the centre of their work. Their art explores the human body as a tormented expression of the self and the world, and a fragmented, deconstructed entity that is a metaphor for social and psychological conflicts, as well as the theatrical, performative element – its propensity for slipping into different roles in way that is ironic, sometimes even tragic. These are the connections that emerge from more than sixty works spanning two decades – from the 1990s to the 2000s – including paintings, drawings, videos and installations. Several of the pieces have been shown only rarely, while others are being exhibited in Italy for the very first time.

As well as the points of connection between the two artists, the show also highlights the differences in their approach to the theme: Lassnig takes a more obsessive, introverted view, with feminist overtones, while Kippenberger’s work embraces the grotesque, with a darkly humorous vein. The show also draws attention to the artists’ milieu in terms of art history, culture and psychoanalytical elements: the context in which this focus on representing the human body arose.

Curated by Veit Loers

Foto: Luca Meneghel © Estate of Martin Kippenberger, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. © Maria Lassnig Stiftung / Foundation

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INSTALLATION ART

07/10/2017 – 23/09/2018

Works of art that can be entered and explored; works of art that envelop us and play with our senses; works of art designed to be used in some way: this is the focus of INSTALLATION ART, Museion’s new exhibition, which presents immersive pieces from the museum’s collection that invite the public to physically engage with them. Sixteen artists – from Carl Andre to Luis Jakob, Heimo Zobernig and Monica Bonvicini – present large scale installations, video and works of light art that generate a spatial dimension. The selection spans various different types of installation art – some of them plunge us into an imaginary world, others affect our perception on a sensory or intellectual level, while others are based on eliciting direct interaction with visitors. All of them pay special attention to the viewer, who completes the work of art and becomes part of it, actively participating and adding his or her personal experience. Several of the works were made especially for Museion on occasion of previous exhibitions, and therefore stand as a record of the museums’ past shows.

Featured artists: Carl Andre, Mirosław Bałka, Robert Barry, Massimo Bartolini, Monica Bonvicini, Angela Ferreira, Spencer Finch, Sylvie Fleury, Werner Gasser, Luis Jacob, Hubert Kostner, Matt Mullican, Otto Piene, Superflex, Günther Uecker, Michel Verjux, Luca Vitone and Heimo Zobernig.

Curated by Letizia Ragaglia

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HÄMATLI & PATRIÆ

16/09/2017 – 14/01/2018

I concetti di Heimat e patria riletti alla luce della più recente attualità in Europa sono al centro della mostra proposta da Nicolò Degiorgis (Bolzano, 1985), guest curator a Museion 2017.

La struttura, fisica e concettuale, del percorso espositivo è data dall’opera L’arca di Noè sul monte Ararat, dipinto fiammingo del 1570 di Simon de Myle, che ritrae lo sbarco dell’arca e non la sua partenza, soggetto abitualmente rappresentato. Prendendo spunto da questa scena curiosa, a tratti grottesca, la mostra si presenta come una grande mise-en-scene del dipinto stesso e una sua traduzione in chiave contemporanea. Tematiche come la migrazione, il nazionalismo, il populismo e l’identità sono trattate sotto forma di dialoghi ispirati da personaggi, animali, oggetti e situazioni presenti all’interno del dipinto. Il percorso espositivo, che presenta oltre trenta opere tra video, sculture, installazioni, fotografie, disegni, libri d’artista e documenti, prende quindi forma in un’installazione da esplorare, che offre spunti di riflessione su alcuni eventi degli anni recenti.

Il dialogo portante è tra Hämatli, termine germanico all’origine della parola Heimat e patriæ, termine latino che indica la patria, quindi il concetto di nazione e paese. Da questi due poli si sviluppano 23 ulteriori dialoghi, come ad esempio oriente e occidente, recto e verso, preda e predatore, terra e mare, confine e orizzonte, porci e economia.

A cura di Nicolò Degiorgis

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Július Koller, “One Man Anti Show” 20/05 – 27/08/2017 

Museion presenta, in cooperazione con mumok — Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien e la Galleria Nazionale Slovacca, Bratislava, la più vasta retrospettiva mai dedicata a Július Koller (Piešt’any, Slovacchia 1939- Bratislava, 2007). Koller, tra le personalità artistiche più importanti dell’Est Europa dagli anni Sessanta, ha sviluppato un’opera di grande rilevanza internazionale. La mostra documenta, alla luce dell’elaborazione di materiali artistici e d’archivio, il suo contributo autonomo alla Neoavanguardia. Oltre a lavori noti a livello internazionale sono esposte anche opere, materiali d’archivio ed ephemera inediti. L’opera di Koller si pone a distanza critica rispetto al governo comunista e alla sua arte ufficiale, ma mette in discussione anche le tradizioni della modernità e le convenzioni del sistema dell’arte occidentale. Dalla metà degli anni Sessanta Koller crea, con gli Antihappenings e gli Antibildern un’opera contrassegnata da ironia giocosa e scetticismo, che con spirito dadaista unisce ad un atteggiamento scettico radicale un approccio innovativo. Dipinge così quadri oggetto di colore latex bianco e immagini con il motivo del punto interrogativo, che diventa simbolo universale della sua messa in discussione della quotidianità e della realtà. Il gioco del tennis e del ping pong sono utilizzati da Koller come forma artistica partecipativa: collegando lo sport a uno statement politico, l’artista rivendica così l’attenersi alle regole e il fair play come base dell’azione sociale – statement che conserva ancora oggi la sua piena attualità, anche alla luce della situazione politica internazionale. Dopo la repressione della Primavera di Praga, l’artista inizia la serie U.F.O.naut per contrapporre alla realità “situazioni culturali” e utopie di un nuovo futuro e di una nuova cultura cosmo umanistica.

A cura di Daniel Grúň, Kathrin Rhomberg und Georg Schöllhammer

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Lili Reynaud-Dewar “TEETH GUMS MACHINES FUTURE SOCIETY” 28/01 - 07/05/2017

What is cultural identity defined by? What influences the way it is constructed? Drawing on the liberation movements and subcultures of the twentieth century, Reynaud-Dewar explores the rules and stereotypes of a political, racial and sexual nature that forge an individual’s identity. The exhibition – the artist’s first solo show in an Italian museum – presents installations, videos and objects including the so-called grills, the teeth decorations that are a status symbol in rap and hip hop culture, which the artist provocatively appropriates. The fact of using grills to modify the human anatomy in turn recalls another key element of the show, the essay ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ by the feminist scholar Donna Haraway, a metaphor for the blurring of the hard and fast dividing line between man, machine and nature in Western thought.

Lili Reynaud-Dewar (La Rochelle, France, 1975, lives and works in Paris and Grenoble) has had solo exhibitions in institutions such as the New Museum in New York (2014), Kunsthalle Basel (2010) and Generali Foundation Vienna (2012). In 2015 she took part in the Venice Biennale. At the invitation of guest curator Pier Bal Blanc for Museion she produced the video Live Through That?!, which featured her dancing naked through the empty museum. The Museion exhibition is her first solo show in an Italian museum.

A collaboration with Kunstverein in Hamburg and de Vleeshal in Middelburg

Foto: Seehauser

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Nico Vascellari, “Lago Morto”, 2011.

Lago Morto è una sorta di “scultura punk sociale”, un tentativo di rivedere i modelli e abitare contesti normalmente esclusi. Le fotografie scattate durante i concerti sono deliberatamente povere, poiché lo scopo non è tanto di documentare e catalogare un’azione, ma piuttosto di rivedere ruoli predeterminati come quelli di autore e fruitore, pubblico e performer.

Lago Morto is a sort of “social punk sculpture”, an attempt to revisit conventional models and inhabit settings usually reserved for other purposes. The photographs taken during the concerts are deliberately poor quality, because the aim was not so much that of documenting or recording the action, but rather rethinking our preconceived concepts of artist and viewer, audience and performer.

Installation view. Foto: Augustin Ochsenreiter

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“The force of photography. Works from the Museion collection” 25/11/2016 - 17/09/2017

The exhibition explores the photographic works in the Museion collection. Portraits and self-portraits – images of others’ bodies and one’s own – investigate the notions of identity and otherness, the body and social space. The exhibition also features a selection of sculptures around the same theme.

A longside the exhibition, photographic works will be presented in the study collection room. These can be described, in the broadest sense of the word, as political works. They express a direct criticism of a socio-political situation and will be counterposed by idealistic and utopic visions.

Curated by Letizia Ragaglia

Artists: Eleanor Antin; Vanessa Beecroft; Günther Brus; Letizia Cariello; Marcel Duchamp; VALIE EXPORT; Michael Fliri; Isa Genzken; Gilbert & George; Nan Goldin; Douglos Gordon; Roni Horn; Joan Jonas, Elke Krystufek; Ketty La Rocca; Zoe Leonard; Ana Lupas; Santu Mofokeng; Zanele Muholi; Brigitte Niedermair; Luca Patella; Arnulf Rainer; Lili Reynaud Dewar; Niki de Saint Phalle, Jana Sterbak, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nico Vascellari, Francesco Vezzoli.

Image: installation view. Foto: Luca Meneghel

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Museion Facciata Mediale 2016  Rachid Ouramdane, Mehdi Meddaci. Les yeux tournent autour du soleil.  Foto: pitsfoto.com courtesy of the artists

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Francesco Vezzoli, Museo Museion, 2016. Foto: Luca Meneghel. Albert Stolz, Porträt Frieda Stolz. Collezione/Sammlung/Collection Museion. Rahmen/Cornice/Frame: Michelangelo, Tondo Doni, 1504-6, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze

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Korakrit Arunanondchai, Painting with history 3 or two thousand five hundred and fifty nine years to figure stuff out, exhibition view, Museion 2016. Foto: Luca Meneghel

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Korakrit Arunanondchai, Untitled (ground with wedding dress), 2016, installation view, Museion 2016. Courtesy of the artist and C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Foto: Luca Meneghel