MACBA AT FRANKFURTER KUNSTVEREIN
A SELECTION OF WORKS FROM THE MUSEU D’ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA
October 9, 2007 – January 13, 2008
FRANKFURTER KUNSTVEREIN
Steinernes Haus am Römerberg,
Markt 44, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
phone: +49.69.219314-0
fax: +49.69.219314-11
post [at] fkv.de
On the occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 with the Catalan Culture as guest of honour, the Frankfurter Kunstverein and the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) are proud to announce a joint curate exhibition of works from the MACBA collection.
The present exhibition represents an unusual experiment: An art society hosting the collection of a museum. The two institutions involved — MACBA, the Contemporary Art Museum of the city of Barcelona, and the Frankfurter Kunstverein — have very different scales and functions: An art society is an institution dedicated to a dialogue with the present in order to predict art’s future, while the museum attends to define present history in a dialogue with the past. However, one mission is shared, namely the investigation of the forces that shape and limit the interplay of art and society.
“MACBA at Frankfurter Kunstverein” is a careful selection of works from the MACBA collection that shows how a diversity of works can approach questions existing at the core of a community. Questions, probed by the art works, such as: What is the nature of the agency necessary to make cultural participation possible? How can an entity, such as a collection of modern and contemporary art, engage in the construction of political identities? How is the notion of aesthetics to be extended towards the social body? A large number of the works presented at the Frankfurter Kunstverein are thus directly concerned with the notion of the collection as a resource to depart from in order to gain a voice. All the works in the exhibition ‘talk’, but in order to talk they need to struggle, amongst each other and with disciplinary boundaries.
The exhibition features works from the entire period covered by the MACBA Collection from the 1950s to the present, beginning with the early avant-gardes and the advent of photography and film, such as the cinematic works of Pere Portabella. The works by Marcel Broodthaers, Öyvind Fahlström and others heralding the expansion of conceptual art explore models for understanding reality, the crisis regarding the artists role and the debate on the nature of art. The modern paradigm based on visuality was transformed in the 1970s, when artwork became a relational object. As a result, the “study-presentation-contemplation” triangle, which had been the classical model for representing the relationship between the museum and the public, was replaced by another: “event-activity-discussion”.
“MACBA at Frankfurter Kunstverein” will also be exhibiting among others works by Francesc Abad, Ignasi Aballí, Ibon Aranberri, Eugènia Balcells, Nestor Basterretxea, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Brassaï, Marcel Broodthaers, Jean – Marc Bustamante, James Coleman, Joan Colom, Alice Creischer, Jean Dubuffet, Jon Mikel Euba, Öyvind Fahlström, Harun Farocki, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Lucio Fontana, Pedro G. Romero, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Eulàlia Grau, Grup de Treball, Philip Guston, Hans Haacke, Suzanne Lafont, Helen Levitt / Janice Loeb / James Agee, Antoni Llena, Joaquim Llucià, Gordon Matta-Clark, Henri Michaux, Miralda, Miralda / Benet Rossell, Fina Miralles, Antoni Muntadas, Deimantas Narkevicius, Rosalind Nashashibi, Pere Noguera, Jorge Oteiza, Pablo Palazuelo, Carlos Pazos, Pere Portabella, Joan Rabascall, Àngels Ribé, Alejandra Riera /Fulvia Carnevalle, Martha Rosler, Dieter Roth, Michael Shamberg, Nancy Spero, stanley brouwn, Antoni Tàpies, Francesc Torres, Jeff Wall and Krzysztof Wodiczko.
The Frankfurter Kunstverein is delighted to host the MACBA collection, thus enabling a visual, discursive and energetic art dialogue.
CURATORS: Manuel J. Borja-Villel (director of MACBA) and
Chus Martínez (director of Frankfurter Kunstverein)
CATALOGUE: An English, German and Catalan reader edited by Revolver Frankfurt will accompany the exhibition, which will feature texts by Manuel J. Borja-Villel and Chus Martínez as well as Charles Esche, Brian Holmes, Lars Bang Larsen, Jacques Rancière and Irit Rogoff.
In the context of the exhibition a series of events and conferences will take place and will be shortly announced.
Co-produced by Frankfurter Kunstverein and Museu d’Art Contemporani (see logo below):
This exhibition has been made possible thanks to the funds of the Institut Ramon Llull (see logos below):
Cultura Catalana, Frankfuter Buchmesse
Partners of the exhibition are (see logos below):
Grup Agbar, Fundacio Caixa Catalunya, San Miguel, Helaba, Mas d’en Gil, Salgot, and Clickair
OPENING HOURS: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 am-7 pm
GUIDED TOURS: every Thursday at 5.30 pm
INFORMATION: www.fkv.de
(text and images for download under PRESS)
