Part of a Moment
May 28–September 24, 2017
Cristian Andersen, Rita McBride, Alicia Frankovich, Florian Germann, Emma Haugh, San Keller, Nik Kosmas, Isabel Lewis, Maya Minder, George Steinmann, Helga Wretman
The 2017 Klöntal Triennale is conceptually oriented around the Arena Seatings, a group of three sculptures by Rita McBride from the late 1990s. These bleacher-like structures form the context for a variety of performances and artistic actions that will be staged in and around them. In this way, the audience becomes integrated into artistic moments—hence the motto for this year's Klöntal Triennial, Part of a Moment—and is invited to create new connections between art and the everyday. This leitmotif is taken up in works by Cristian Andersen, Florian Germann, San Keller, Nik Kosmas, Maya Minder, and George Steinmann in the Kunsthaus and throughout Klöntal. Various other artists will also contribute to the numerous performances and events, likewise leaving their own marks.
Performative and participatory strategies have been practiced in art at least since the 60s and have been adopting ever expanding forms—with the new possibilities afforded by the internet—since the early 90s. These tendencies aimed to expand art beyond the rigid horizon of experiences afforded by museums and into a form of communicative practice. Various artists would often organize communal activities like cooking events, tours, and other event formats that staged art as a connective process. The boundaries between artists and audience, experts and amateurs, producers and consumers thus began to dissolve. Collaborations and the collective dimensions of experience were explored and celebrated. Since its beginnings, participatory art has possessed an emancipatory political potential and encouraged alternative models for social relations. Design was often a distinctive point of reference for these practices and, at times, took on the role of a mediator between art and the everyday.
For the 2017 Klöntal Triennial, the invited artists have developed site-specific works, which are often performative, process-oriented projects that make use of ephemeral materials and unfold at various points throughout the summer. The exhibition is less a presentation of static museum objects than an orchestrated series of transient artistic moments. Over the course of the exhibition, a series of so-called Blind Dates will be organized in the Arena Seatings by Rita McBride. Here, historical and recent strategies of participation will be played through, discussed and evaluated with respect to their contemporary relevance. These Blind Dates consist of an interdisciplinary program of events, in which various artists, authors, critics, and musicians are invited to stage performances, discussions, readings, and concerts.
The program of events can be found at www.kloentaltriennale.ch and will be updated continuously.
Program
Performance: San Keller, Fishing with San
June 30–July 2
Will be broadcast on audio livestream at www.kloentaltriennale.ch, 6am–6pm
Camping Vorauen, Klöntalersee
Blind Date: Workshop. Participatory and collaborative artistic strategies
July 1, 1:30–5pm
With Prof. Dr. Sabeth Buchmann, Max Glauner, San Keller, Alexandra Blättler, Sabine Rusterholz Petko
Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus
Performance: Florian Germann, Saint Halo
July 1, 9–10:30pm
Camping Vorauen, lakeside
On-site visit: George Steinmann, Looking from Within
July 2, 2–3pm
Gasthaus Richisau
Fermentation Workshop
July 8, 1–5pm
Maya Minder with Gasthaus: Fermentation and Bacteria
Camping Güntlenau
Blind Date: Performances by Alicia Frankovich, Twins and Lovers and Helga Wretman, In-Group Photo and a magazine launch by Emma Haugh, Reading Troupe Manual 02
July 8, 6–8pm
Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus
Info & directions
The Klöntal Triennale was initiated in 2014 by Alexandra Blättler and Sabine Rusterholz Petko. This year's project has been organized by the Verein Klöntal Triennale and carried out in cooperation with various partners such as Kunsthaus Glarus, Hochschule Luzern (HSLU) and the F+F Schule für Kunst und Design in Zürich.
Klöntal Radio will be streamed from our website for the entire duration of the exhibition and will feature live transmissions from various locations around Klöntal and the Kunsthaus Glarus. This serves not only to enable participation across geographic and temporal distances during the various events but also to immerse real-time in moments of stillness, during which only nature and its everyday use will form the acoustic backdrop.
The exhibition in Klöntal valley is freely accessible. Supplementary guide material for a tour can be found at the Kunsthaus Glarus, Gasthaus Richisau, and on the camping grounds.
Opening hours Kunsthaus Glarus
Tuesday–Friday 2-6pm; Saturday–Sunday 11am–5pm
www.kunsthausglarus.ch
Parallel exhibition at Kunsthaus Glarus: Birgit Megerle - The Painted Veil, May 28–July 30, 2017
Special thanks to Kunsthaus Glarus, Kanton Glarus Swisslos Kulturfonds, Kulturstiftung des Kantons Thurgau, Glarner Kantonalbank, Stiftung Erna and Curt Burgauer, Garbef-Stiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Ernst and Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim-Stiftung, Stanley Thomas Johnson Stiftung, Jubiläumsstiftung der Schweizerischen Mobiliar Genossenschaft, Migros Kulturprozent, Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art, Stiftung Anne-Marie Schindler and Volkart Stiftung.
