Lust and Vice: The Seven Deadly Sins from Dürer to Nauman
15 Oct 2010 - 20 Feb 2011
Bruce Nauman
Vices and Virtues, 1983-1988 (2008)
Neon Schrift, Ansicht der Installation am US_Pavillon, Biennale di Venezia 2009
© 2010, ProLitteris, Zürich
Vices and Virtues, 1983-1988 (2008)
Neon Schrift, Ansicht der Installation am US_Pavillon, Biennale di Venezia 2009
© 2010, ProLitteris, Zürich
LUST AND VICE: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS FROM DÜRER TO NAUMAN
15 October 2010 - 20 February 2011
Opening: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 6:30 pm
The Kunstmuseum Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee will devote a comprehensive exhibition to the seven deadly sins, targeting a fitting documentation of artistic preoccupation with this theme from medieval times to the present. The exhibition will address the relevance of the notion of sin in contemporary society and how our culture justifies changes in values.
Despite the secularization of society and the waning dominion of Christian ethics, the concept of the cardinal sins is, still today, all the rage, as evidenced by David Fincher’s Hollywood film Seven (1996) or artworks such as Bruce Nauman’s Vices and Virtues (1983-1988 / 2008).
Pope Gregory I (ca. 540–604) was the first to speak of the “seven deadly sins.” He was thereby referring to seven attitudes of the soul, bad characteristics or vices, which lead to the death of the relationship between humankind and God as well as of relationships among humankind:
- Superbia: pride (hubris, wantonness, arrogance, vanity)
- Avaritia: avarice (greed, miserliness)
- Invidia: envy (malevolence, jealousy)
- Ira: anger (rage, retribution, thirst for revenge)
- Luxuria: lust (promiscuity)
- Gula: gluttony (greed, immoderation, intemperance, egotism)
- Acedia: sloth (of the heart/of the intellect; laziness, satiety, cowardice)
Society’s attitude to the individual sins listed here has grown ambivalent in recent times: Greed, envy, or gluttony (in the form of consumerism) has become the driving force of the capitalist economic system, while lust in the form of sexual promiscuity has lost its negative connotations in large sections of our thrill-orientated society. At the same time, however, we can observe contrasting tendencies: the greed of managers is denounced as a rip-off mentality, the consumerist behavior in our throwaway society as superficial and meaningless.
Artistic representation of the cardinal sins in their historical development is to be analyzed at both the exhibition sites. However, the exhibition will not be structured like a chronologically marked track but, following an introductory section with series of representations in the Kunstmuseum, the individual sins will be presented in their own respective sections, which will be distributed throughout both buildings. This mode of presentation makes it possible to confront and compare older art with contemporary and reveal the changes in attitudes towards notions of sin.
Team of curators:Fabienne Eggelhöfer (ZPK), Claudine Metzger (KMB), Samuel Vitali (KMB)
CATALOGUE: The catalogue will be published in German and English with texts, et al., by Fabienne Eggelhöfer, Matthias Frehner, Christine Göttler, Claudine Metzger, Monique Meyer, Barbara Müller, Juri Steiner, Samuel Vitali. Approx. 344 pages, 240 plates, Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Supported by the Stiftung GegenwART and Ursula Wirz Stiftung.
15 October 2010 - 20 February 2011
Opening: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 6:30 pm
The Kunstmuseum Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee will devote a comprehensive exhibition to the seven deadly sins, targeting a fitting documentation of artistic preoccupation with this theme from medieval times to the present. The exhibition will address the relevance of the notion of sin in contemporary society and how our culture justifies changes in values.
Despite the secularization of society and the waning dominion of Christian ethics, the concept of the cardinal sins is, still today, all the rage, as evidenced by David Fincher’s Hollywood film Seven (1996) or artworks such as Bruce Nauman’s Vices and Virtues (1983-1988 / 2008).
Pope Gregory I (ca. 540–604) was the first to speak of the “seven deadly sins.” He was thereby referring to seven attitudes of the soul, bad characteristics or vices, which lead to the death of the relationship between humankind and God as well as of relationships among humankind:
- Superbia: pride (hubris, wantonness, arrogance, vanity)
- Avaritia: avarice (greed, miserliness)
- Invidia: envy (malevolence, jealousy)
- Ira: anger (rage, retribution, thirst for revenge)
- Luxuria: lust (promiscuity)
- Gula: gluttony (greed, immoderation, intemperance, egotism)
- Acedia: sloth (of the heart/of the intellect; laziness, satiety, cowardice)
Society’s attitude to the individual sins listed here has grown ambivalent in recent times: Greed, envy, or gluttony (in the form of consumerism) has become the driving force of the capitalist economic system, while lust in the form of sexual promiscuity has lost its negative connotations in large sections of our thrill-orientated society. At the same time, however, we can observe contrasting tendencies: the greed of managers is denounced as a rip-off mentality, the consumerist behavior in our throwaway society as superficial and meaningless.
Artistic representation of the cardinal sins in their historical development is to be analyzed at both the exhibition sites. However, the exhibition will not be structured like a chronologically marked track but, following an introductory section with series of representations in the Kunstmuseum, the individual sins will be presented in their own respective sections, which will be distributed throughout both buildings. This mode of presentation makes it possible to confront and compare older art with contemporary and reveal the changes in attitudes towards notions of sin.
Team of curators:Fabienne Eggelhöfer (ZPK), Claudine Metzger (KMB), Samuel Vitali (KMB)
CATALOGUE: The catalogue will be published in German and English with texts, et al., by Fabienne Eggelhöfer, Matthias Frehner, Christine Göttler, Claudine Metzger, Monique Meyer, Barbara Müller, Juri Steiner, Samuel Vitali. Approx. 344 pages, 240 plates, Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Supported by the Stiftung GegenwART and Ursula Wirz Stiftung.