Acts of Friendship
28 Jan - 28 May 2023
Alex Bag, Petterson Beckwith, Cash from Chaos / Unicorns & Rainbows, 1994 - 1997, 11-channel video projection on 5 monitors (color, sound). Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Flavio Karrer
L/B (Lang/Baumann), Beautiful Corner, 1999, Wood, fitted carpet, glass plate, 2 tables, 10 chairs, snacks and drinks. Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Flavio Karrer
Exhibition view Acts of Friendship – Acts 1 & 2, Angela Bulloch, Club Berlin, 1994 - 1997, Ruth Erdt, The Gang, 1984 - 2000. Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Foto: Flavio Karrer
Exhibition view Acts of Friendship – Acts 1 & 2, Olaf Breuning, Woman and the Dead, 2007, Martin Kippenberger, Pictures under the Influence of Wind Direction I-IV (No. II and IV), 1986, Ruth Erdt, The Gang, 1984 - 2000. Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Flavio Karre
Esther Eppstein, Message Salon Wohnwagen, 1998-2000, Caravan with awning, furniture, brochu- res, photos, various materials, video and audio works.
Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
Esther Eppstein, Message Salon Wohnwagen, 1998-2000, Caravan with awning, furniture, brochu- res, photos, various materials, video and audio works.
Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Flavio Karrer
Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, photo: Flavio Karrer
These days, we often associate friendship with the notion of a bond based on mutual trust, which supports us, not least in times of crisis. Yet friendships are also complex, contradictory structures that may indeed be subversive in character. Thus, friend- ships are not only able to support us as individuals in how we behave towards the world around us; they can also be pathway towards making ourselves heard as a collective and thereby rebelling against social (power) structures.
Inspired by Ragnar Kjartanssons’ video installation The Visitors, which can be under- stood as a homage to friendship, the team of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst has selected for the exhibition, Acts of Friendship works from the collection, that in their view represent a particular aspect of friendship. The selected works, around thirty in all, are shown in three theme-based groups of works.
While the works represent the personal conceptions, approaches and perspectives of the individual team members toward friendship, they also serve as a starting point to reflect on questions around this subject, which is as multifaceted as the various approaches themselves. In Acts of Friendship the concern is not primarily with caring friendships linked to our inner circle, rather it’s about complicity, alliances and sol- idarity. Thus, the path from togetherness and interaction in familiar company is not far from the sense of community that makes us publicly stand up for convictions and values, and which turns us into a politically active, hands-on collective.
With works from the collection by Alex Bag/Patterson Beckwith, Phyllida Barlow, Judith Bernstein, Alighiero Boetti, Olaf Breuning, Angela Bulloch, Mary Beth Edelson, Esther Eppstein, Ruth Erdt, Annika Eriksson, Fischli/Weiss, Alicia Framis, Gabriela Fridriksdóttir, Jan Peter Hammer, Lyle Ashton Harris, Martin Kippenberger, Lang / Baumann, Teresa Margolles, Bernhard Martin, Muda Mathis, Mickry 3, Claudia & Julia Müller, Juan Muñoz, Elodie Pong, Annika Ström, Rirkrit Tiravanija
Inspired by Ragnar Kjartanssons’ video installation The Visitors, which can be under- stood as a homage to friendship, the team of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst has selected for the exhibition, Acts of Friendship works from the collection, that in their view represent a particular aspect of friendship. The selected works, around thirty in all, are shown in three theme-based groups of works.
While the works represent the personal conceptions, approaches and perspectives of the individual team members toward friendship, they also serve as a starting point to reflect on questions around this subject, which is as multifaceted as the various approaches themselves. In Acts of Friendship the concern is not primarily with caring friendships linked to our inner circle, rather it’s about complicity, alliances and sol- idarity. Thus, the path from togetherness and interaction in familiar company is not far from the sense of community that makes us publicly stand up for convictions and values, and which turns us into a politically active, hands-on collective.
With works from the collection by Alex Bag/Patterson Beckwith, Phyllida Barlow, Judith Bernstein, Alighiero Boetti, Olaf Breuning, Angela Bulloch, Mary Beth Edelson, Esther Eppstein, Ruth Erdt, Annika Eriksson, Fischli/Weiss, Alicia Framis, Gabriela Fridriksdóttir, Jan Peter Hammer, Lyle Ashton Harris, Martin Kippenberger, Lang / Baumann, Teresa Margolles, Bernhard Martin, Muda Mathis, Mickry 3, Claudia & Julia Müller, Juan Muñoz, Elodie Pong, Annika Ström, Rirkrit Tiravanija