Living in the Material World
Materiality in Contemporary Art
06 Dec 2014 - 15 Feb 2015
Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Venus, 2013, sofa, plaster, wood, pedestal, spray paint, newspaper, acrylics, fabric, pastels, glazed ceramic, 183 x 124 x 107 cm, Private collection, photo: Nick Ash
LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD
Materiality in Contemporary Art
Lara Almarcegui, Michael Beutler, Karla Black, Berta Fischer, Theaster Gates, Ane Mette Hol, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, David Jablonowski, Markus Karstieß, Alicja Kwade, Marie Lund, Oscar Tuazon
What material does an artist select, and for what reasons? The international group exhibition Living in the Material World examines the role of materials in contemporary art. It brings together important positions in contemporary art including - in Theaster Gates - a participant at dOCUMENTA (13) 2012 in Kassel, and contributors to the two most recent Venice Biennales in Lara Almarcegui, Karla Black, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Oscar Tuazon.
In the 1960s the definition of art was expanded radically due to the questioning and re-evaluation of various materials. For the first time, material gained ascendancy over form. After the conceptual art of the 1970s had directed attention increasingly towards text written and pictorial documents as means of expression, in the 1980s young artists turned back to the balance of material and form. However, the possibilities of digital technology led to a reduction in the importance of concrete materials at the end of the 20th century.
For a young generation of artists today, the aspect of materiality has again become a key concept. Against the background of current social and cultural developments, they are elaborating upon and transforming the approach of earlier decades. Artistic handling of materials in a social climate where added importance is being given to factors such as making things oneself, recycling with aesthetic pretensions, and possibilities for individual product design, enables inferences for the value and significance of materiality in the present age and not only in the context of fine art.
The twelve artists invited to participate here focus on the characteristics and narrative potential of such diverse materials as fabric, concrete, wood, ceramics, glass, plastic or paper. While it was still important during the 1960s to assimilate random materials once considered alien to art into fine art at all, and so to oppose traditional material hierarchies and art-historical conventions, today the use of such an artistic repertoire is no longer a trigger of outrage. The materials being used here are familiar – in the exhibition space as well. The artistic focus is less on the discovery of new materials and more on a re-dedication of the familiar, giving it a novel function.
The artists of the exhibition Living in the Material World take up artisanal traditions and industrial production methods, are occupied with recycling and do-it-yourself, devote themselves to material analysis and the reconstruction of specific places and objects, or develop fragile architectonic constructions.
In cooperation with the Kunstmuseen Krefeld / Museen Haus Lange and Haus Esters
________________________________________
Catalogue
Living in the Material World
With texts (Germ./Engl.) by Andrea Brauckmann, Julia Brennacher, Lotte Dinse, Beate Ermacora, Susanne Figner, Robert Fleck, Sylvia Martin, Gunnar Schmidt and Jürgen Tabor
Snoeck Verlag, Cologne 2014
Artist’s Talk
Thursday, January 22, 2015, 7 pm
Michael Beutler in conversation with Beate Ermacora
Materiality in Contemporary Art
Lara Almarcegui, Michael Beutler, Karla Black, Berta Fischer, Theaster Gates, Ane Mette Hol, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, David Jablonowski, Markus Karstieß, Alicja Kwade, Marie Lund, Oscar Tuazon
What material does an artist select, and for what reasons? The international group exhibition Living in the Material World examines the role of materials in contemporary art. It brings together important positions in contemporary art including - in Theaster Gates - a participant at dOCUMENTA (13) 2012 in Kassel, and contributors to the two most recent Venice Biennales in Lara Almarcegui, Karla Black, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Oscar Tuazon.
In the 1960s the definition of art was expanded radically due to the questioning and re-evaluation of various materials. For the first time, material gained ascendancy over form. After the conceptual art of the 1970s had directed attention increasingly towards text written and pictorial documents as means of expression, in the 1980s young artists turned back to the balance of material and form. However, the possibilities of digital technology led to a reduction in the importance of concrete materials at the end of the 20th century.
For a young generation of artists today, the aspect of materiality has again become a key concept. Against the background of current social and cultural developments, they are elaborating upon and transforming the approach of earlier decades. Artistic handling of materials in a social climate where added importance is being given to factors such as making things oneself, recycling with aesthetic pretensions, and possibilities for individual product design, enables inferences for the value and significance of materiality in the present age and not only in the context of fine art.
The twelve artists invited to participate here focus on the characteristics and narrative potential of such diverse materials as fabric, concrete, wood, ceramics, glass, plastic or paper. While it was still important during the 1960s to assimilate random materials once considered alien to art into fine art at all, and so to oppose traditional material hierarchies and art-historical conventions, today the use of such an artistic repertoire is no longer a trigger of outrage. The materials being used here are familiar – in the exhibition space as well. The artistic focus is less on the discovery of new materials and more on a re-dedication of the familiar, giving it a novel function.
The artists of the exhibition Living in the Material World take up artisanal traditions and industrial production methods, are occupied with recycling and do-it-yourself, devote themselves to material analysis and the reconstruction of specific places and objects, or develop fragile architectonic constructions.
In cooperation with the Kunstmuseen Krefeld / Museen Haus Lange and Haus Esters
________________________________________
Catalogue
Living in the Material World
With texts (Germ./Engl.) by Andrea Brauckmann, Julia Brennacher, Lotte Dinse, Beate Ermacora, Susanne Figner, Robert Fleck, Sylvia Martin, Gunnar Schmidt and Jürgen Tabor
Snoeck Verlag, Cologne 2014
Artist’s Talk
Thursday, January 22, 2015, 7 pm
Michael Beutler in conversation with Beate Ermacora