The How and the What: editon hansjörg mayer

Opening: February 14, 5-8pm
Additional Event, Studium Generale Rietveld Academie: ​March 20, 4-6pm

Kunstverein, Boekie Woekie and Eenwerk are happy to invite you to the joint exhibition of Hansjörg Mayer: “typoet,” concrete poet, printer, publisher and teacher. This fragmented exhibition—with the resolve of an institutional show—brings together Mayer’s (Stuttgart, 1943) extensive and diverse oeuvre. By placing Mayer’s work in the context of the bookstore, the street, the library, the gallery and the school, different aspects of his practice are shown.

Kunstverein (Hazenstraat 28, Amsterdam. Open Thursday–Saturday, 1-6pm) 
Early experiments with typography and film take center stage at Kunstverein. From outside, projected directly onto the large front window of the space, passersby can watch the little-known films Mayer made as part of the Filmarbeitsteam (FAT): a pioneering experimental film-making project set up by Georg Bense, Hansjorg Mayer and Rainer Wössner. Their short films stand out by their intense occupation with language, text and structure. Inside, Mayer’s own concrete poems and experiments with typography and printing techniques will be shown. These early works—in which the graphic and poetic is a result of experiments with technology and material—are key to understanding Mayer’s other work. 

Boekie Woekie (Berenstraat 16, Amsterdam. Open Daily, 12-6pm)
Boekie Woekie is the artists’ bookstore run by the artists Henriëtte van Egten, Rúna Thorkelsdóttir and Jan Voss. Durring the exhibition (almost) all of Roth’s books published by Mayer will be on display alongside the many Roth books they regulary hold.

Eenwerk (Koninginneweg 176, Amsterdam. Open Thursday–Saturday, 1-6pm) as the name suggests, shows only one work by one artist at the time. In the main gallery some enlarged pages of Typoaktionen and the actual leporello, 1967, will be shown. In the main gallery, enlarged pages from Mayer’s Typoaktionen as well as the “leporello” itself will be shown. In addition, many books published by edition hansjörg mayer. will be on show in the library of Irma Boom, adjacent to Eenwerk. Visitors are invited to browse through this immense, inspirational collection of publications, including Mayer’s own “typoems,” the Futura series, artists’ publications, artists’ catalogues and his later ethnographic books.

At all locations, visitors can listen to records from Selten Gehörte Musik(Seldom Heard Music)—Mayer’s record label which captured the improvisation and mayhem of (among others)Dieter Roth, Gerhard Rühm, Hermann Nitsch and Oswald Wiener . 

The exhibition is based on an idea by Marja Bloem. During the opening of the exhibition Marja Bloem and Hansjörg Mayer will give a guided tour past each location, starting at 5:30pm at Kunstverein, continuing to Boekie Woekie and finishing at Eenwerk.

Additional event in collaboration with Studium Generale Rietveld Academie
March 20, 2020, 4–6pm

An afternoon of talks with Hansjörg Mayer and others will take place at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. The full program will be announced soon via https://studiumgenerale.rietveldacademie.nl. For this occasion a selection of work produced by Mayer and his students at Bath Academy and Watford School of Art will be on display in the Gerrit Rietveld library. 

This exhibitions has been made possible through the kind support of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Kunstverein’s (Gold) Members and Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.