Ashes and Gold
28 Jan - 22 Apr 2012
ASHES AND GOLD
A World’s Journey
28 January – 22 April, 2012
For the first time an exhibition attempts the surprising combination of two specific materials in contemporary art: ash and gold, two substances which could hardly be more different in terms of their cultural significance. Spaces between nature and culture, between life and death are opened up for the visitor in the field of tension between these two highly symbolic materials.
Gold is, therefore, not only an elementary natural material, but also a valuable resource par excellence and an expression of man’s desire for the exclusive, the rare, the unique. Ash, on the other hand, appears as its dark, opposite side. It is the residue of the combustion process, the last stage in material transformation, irreversible and final. In the field of tension between these highly symbolic but opposite materials we enter a sensually palpable space between nature and culture, value and myth, between life and death.
As materials in art they are anything but superficial, because they always speak of an open spirit which invents them, stages them and thereby permanently changes itself. And as symbols of cold, eternal material and hot, material-consuming energy, they are materials with great symbolic power which address the observer almost directly. The high-carat exhibition with numerous renowned artists offers a stimulating parcours through the history of art in the last 40 years.
The exhibition was created in collaboration with Dr. Anne Schloen, Cologne.
Artists:
Pawel Althamer, Gili Avissar, Massimo Bartolini, Lore Bert, Joseph Beuys, Guillaume Bijl, Marcel Broodthaers, James Lee Byars, Jacques Charlier, Paolo Chiasera, Anja Ciupka, Thomas Demand, Igor Eskinja, Luka Fineisen, Lucio Fontana, Michel François, Gilbert & George, Félix González-Torres, Filip Gilissen, Subodh Gupta, David Hammons, Douglas Henderson, Andy Hope 1930, Rebecca Horn, Alfredo Jaar, Anish Kapoor, Yves Klein, Stefanie Klingemann, Jannis Kounellis, Gereon Krebber, Bruno Krenz, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Maik und Dirk Löbbert, Heinz Mack, Yaël Nazé, Louise Nevelson, Navid Nuur, Wolfgang Paalen, Mimmo Paladino, Otto Piene, Sigmar Polke, Friederike von Rauch, Man Ray, Erich Reusch, Gerhard Richter, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Jürgen Stollhans, Ines Tartler, Hermann de Vries, Andy Warhol, Lawrence Weiner, Claudia Wieser, Richard Wright.
A World’s Journey
28 January – 22 April, 2012
For the first time an exhibition attempts the surprising combination of two specific materials in contemporary art: ash and gold, two substances which could hardly be more different in terms of their cultural significance. Spaces between nature and culture, between life and death are opened up for the visitor in the field of tension between these two highly symbolic materials.
Gold is, therefore, not only an elementary natural material, but also a valuable resource par excellence and an expression of man’s desire for the exclusive, the rare, the unique. Ash, on the other hand, appears as its dark, opposite side. It is the residue of the combustion process, the last stage in material transformation, irreversible and final. In the field of tension between these highly symbolic but opposite materials we enter a sensually palpable space between nature and culture, value and myth, between life and death.
As materials in art they are anything but superficial, because they always speak of an open spirit which invents them, stages them and thereby permanently changes itself. And as symbols of cold, eternal material and hot, material-consuming energy, they are materials with great symbolic power which address the observer almost directly. The high-carat exhibition with numerous renowned artists offers a stimulating parcours through the history of art in the last 40 years.
The exhibition was created in collaboration with Dr. Anne Schloen, Cologne.
Artists:
Pawel Althamer, Gili Avissar, Massimo Bartolini, Lore Bert, Joseph Beuys, Guillaume Bijl, Marcel Broodthaers, James Lee Byars, Jacques Charlier, Paolo Chiasera, Anja Ciupka, Thomas Demand, Igor Eskinja, Luka Fineisen, Lucio Fontana, Michel François, Gilbert & George, Félix González-Torres, Filip Gilissen, Subodh Gupta, David Hammons, Douglas Henderson, Andy Hope 1930, Rebecca Horn, Alfredo Jaar, Anish Kapoor, Yves Klein, Stefanie Klingemann, Jannis Kounellis, Gereon Krebber, Bruno Krenz, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Maik und Dirk Löbbert, Heinz Mack, Yaël Nazé, Louise Nevelson, Navid Nuur, Wolfgang Paalen, Mimmo Paladino, Otto Piene, Sigmar Polke, Friederike von Rauch, Man Ray, Erich Reusch, Gerhard Richter, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Jürgen Stollhans, Ines Tartler, Hermann de Vries, Andy Warhol, Lawrence Weiner, Claudia Wieser, Richard Wright.