EXAT 51 and Jasmina Cibic: Ideology, Abstraction and Architecture

This fall, Haus Lange and Haus Esters will house two thematically complementary exhibitions that explore the relationship between Ideology, Abstraction and Architecture. Curated by Katia Baudin, Director of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld since September 2016, these shows inaugurate a new phase in the tradition of site specific exhibitions in the two Bauhaus villas designed by Mies van der Rohe.

For the first time, a historical group—EXAT 51—and a contemporary position—Jasmina Cibic—from former Yugoslavia are the focus of major exhibitions in Germany. Both cast a fresh look at the Bauhaus and its heritage in the ideological context of the former Eastern Bloc. A century after the October Revolution, these exhibitions shed new light on the interconnections between modernism and ideology.

According to Baudin, “In an increasingly divided world, museums can help loosen the borders and provide new perspectives on our society, culture and identity through the arts of the present and the past, including introducing the public to positions and cultures it is less familiar with.”

EXAT 51. Synthesis of the Arts in Post-War Yugoslavia

For the first time, EXAT 51 is the subject of a large scale survey exhibition in Germany. EXAT 51 (Experimental Atelier 51) was an interdisciplinary collective based in Zagreb, which regrouped artists and architects. The members of EXAT 51 encouraged experimentation, strived to create a synthesis between the fine and the applied arts, while advocating the cause of abstract art in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1950s.

The collective emerged at a time when Yugoslavia was trying to reposition itself geopolitically following Tito’s break from Stalin and the Soviet Union. Its members included Bernardo Bernardi, Zdravko Bregovac, Vlado Kristl, Ivan Picelj, Zvonimir Radić, Božidar Rašica, Vjenceslav Richter, Aleksandar Srnec and Vladimir Zarahović.

The exhibition in Haus Lange aims to highlight the experimental and interdisciplinary spirit with which these artists and architects sought to introduce modernism and abstraction into everyday socialist life through pavilion designs for world and trade fairs, furniture designs, graphic design, sculptures, paintings and animated films. It features 130 works from major Croatian collections. The show is organized in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb and is accompanied by a publication.

Exhibition curators: Katia Baudin (Director, Kunstmuseen Krefeld) and Tihomir Milovac (Chief Curator, MSU)

Jasmina Cibic. The Spirit of Our Needs

Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic (*1979 Ljubljana, lives and works in London) has her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany at Museum Haus Esters. In The Spirit of Our Needs she has developed a site-specific installation that showcases the three films of her latest NADA trilogy for the first time. Cibic realizes complex multilayered works that critically explore the relationship between cultural production and power structures. In her performances, installations and films, the artist addresses ideologies and their realization in art and architecture.

NADA examines three of European modernism’s star architects and the role their work played in national representation. The starting point for Act I is Vjenceslav Richter and the Yugoslavian pavilion he designed for the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958. Act II takes place in Arne Jacobsen’s Aarhus City Hall (1937–42), while the third act has been filmed in Haus Lange and Haus Esters. It addresses Mies van der Rohe’s Krefeld architecture of the 1920s in the context of political discussions concerning the representation of Germany at world fairs. The Heinz und Marianne Ebers-Stiftung is proud to announce the acquisition of all three films for the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. A publication will be published at the end of the exhibition. 

Jasmina Cibic represented Slovenia at the 2013 Venice Biennale and has realized numerous solo and group exhibitions in Budapest, Calgary, London, New York and Zagreb among others. She was the recipient of the MAC International award in 2016. In 2018, Cibic will have solo exhibitions at BALTIC Gateshead and DHC Montreal.

Exhibition curator: Katia Baudin (Director, Kunstmuseen Krefeld), assisted by Constanze Zawadzky (Junior Curator, Kunstmuseen Krefeld)