Timeout. Art and Sustainability
May 25-September 2, 2007
Curator: Friedemann Malsch
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
Städtle 32, P.O. Box 370
FL-9490 Vaduz
Tel: 423 235 03 00
Fax: 423 235 03 29
mail [at] kunstmuseum.li
Tu Su 10am 5pm
Th 10am 8pm
From May 25 to September 2 the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein will focus on a current theme with the exhibition “Time Out. Art and Sustainability”, which examines how artists have engaged with this topic over the past 40 years. Of central importance is man’s relationship to history, nature and ecology, and to the acceleration of the rhythm of human life.
Since the dawn of industrialization in the 18th century the pace of life in Western societies has continued to accelerate, both in societies as a whole and for individuals. At the same time, the last two decades have also seen the emergence of world views and movements warning against this growing acceleration in all walks of life and offering alternative models. Slow food, slow city, slow medicine, slow sex and the like are enjoying increased popularity in all areas of culture throughout the world. Moreover, trade and industry and politics have recently recognized the necessity of a sustainable approach.
Since the late 1960s it has become apparent that a number of artists have held increasingly sceptical views concerning the acceleration in Western societies. Exponents of Arte Povera, Concept Art and other groups have focused increasingly on the losses that have accompanied this continual acceleration in the pace of life. They have been questioning our notion of history, the effects our civilization has had on the environment, social cohesion indeed, even the basis of our relationship with the world, for example, our sense of time.
The young generation of artists builds on the basics devised in the 1970s and, since around 1990, has been continuing to develop them on a rather pragmatic level somewhere between the poles of political commitment and withdrawals to the private and intimate sphere.
This exhibition “Timeout. Art and Sustainability” illustrates the various ways in which art handles deceleration and sustainability. As part of an open narrative various topics and strategies are presented and confronted with one another. Here, works by artists from the whole world come together, including Lida Abdul, Giovanni Anselmo, Thom Barth, Michael Buthe, Thomas Feuerstein, Gloria Friedmann, Piero Gilardi, Henrik Håkansson, Laura Horelli, Jan Jedlicka, Kerstin Kartscher, On Kawara, Kimsooja, Matt Mullican, Lia Perjovschi, Dan Peterman and Clemens von Wedemeyer.
The exhibition is produced by the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. A catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition contains text contributions by Freddy P. Grunert, Jochen Gerz, Friedemann Malsch, Christiane Meyer-Stoll and Kristin Schmidt as well as a rich visual material, including installation shots from the exhibition.
