Gustav Metzger
22 Jan - 12 Mar 2006
Gustav Metzger
On Memoriam: New Works
January 22 - March 12, 2006
Since the early 1960s, Gustav Metzger (*1926) has been an important personality in public life in Great Britain. He has had a significant influence on the British and international art scenes, not only as an artist, but also as a political activist. Metzger has always understood art in an overall social context. Thus he developed for the first time in 1959 the concept of “Auto-destructive art”, which he has continued since then. This year his artistic work has been recognised with a large retrospective at the Generali Foundation in Vienna, which was accompanied by the most comprehensive monograph about his life and work so far.
The installation Eichmann and the Angel, 2005 will be on display at the Kunsthalle Basel. This was also exhibited in autumn 2005 at the Cubitt Gallery in London. The installation connects, on various levels, Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin. Furthermore the artist will show a new work, developed especially for the rooms of the Kunsthalle Basel. The sculptural installation refers both in terms of content and form to the Monument for the murdered Jews in Europe, Berlin 1998-2005, by Peter Eisenmann – and in doing so connects the Jewish refugee flow during the Third Reich with the current situation of fugitives worldwide.
© Gustav Metzger
Installation view of the show
Eichmann and the Angel at Cubitt Gallery in London, September 2005.
Courtesy Cubitt Gallery, London
On Memoriam: New Works
January 22 - March 12, 2006
Since the early 1960s, Gustav Metzger (*1926) has been an important personality in public life in Great Britain. He has had a significant influence on the British and international art scenes, not only as an artist, but also as a political activist. Metzger has always understood art in an overall social context. Thus he developed for the first time in 1959 the concept of “Auto-destructive art”, which he has continued since then. This year his artistic work has been recognised with a large retrospective at the Generali Foundation in Vienna, which was accompanied by the most comprehensive monograph about his life and work so far.
The installation Eichmann and the Angel, 2005 will be on display at the Kunsthalle Basel. This was also exhibited in autumn 2005 at the Cubitt Gallery in London. The installation connects, on various levels, Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin. Furthermore the artist will show a new work, developed especially for the rooms of the Kunsthalle Basel. The sculptural installation refers both in terms of content and form to the Monument for the murdered Jews in Europe, Berlin 1998-2005, by Peter Eisenmann – and in doing so connects the Jewish refugee flow during the Third Reich with the current situation of fugitives worldwide.
© Gustav Metzger
Installation view of the show
Eichmann and the Angel at Cubitt Gallery in London, September 2005.
Courtesy Cubitt Gallery, London