LAB
1 May – 26 September 2004
Kroller-Muller Museum
Houtkampweg 6, 6731 AW Otterlo
(+31 318) 591 241
www.kmm.nl
Guest Curator: Nathalie Zonnenberg
From 1 May the Kroller-Muller Museum will host the exhibition LAB, a project developed specially for the new activity area in the sculpture garden. This will be the first exhibition held on this area, which has been designed by the garden and landscape architects West8. The Italian architectural collective Gruppo A12 has designed a temporary pavilion for the exhibition, which also functions as a work of art. This remarkable structure in the form of a labyrinth will house presentations by an international group of artists: Lara Almarcegui (ES), Heman Chong (SG), Minerva Cuevas (MX), Manfred Pernice (DE), Tino Sehgal (DE), Simon Starling (UK) en Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi (IR). LAB can be seen until 26 September 2004.
Central to the project is the collaboration between a guest curator, the architects and the artist; the exhibition’s final form is a result of their discussions and exchange of ideas. In this sense, the exhibition functions as a laboratory, in which concepts about art and society come together in a total installation. The presentation is determined largely by the structure designed by Gruppo A12. Their architectural sculpture gives expression to the project’s content, but also reacts to the surroundings of the sculpture park. It comprises a long corridor linking separate spaces in which the artists present their work. But is also a sculptural building that enters into a relationship with other structures in the Sculpture Park such as the Jardin d’email (Enamel Garden) by the French artist Jean Dubuffet or the Rietveld Pavilion.
LAB refers to the ever-changing character of the contemporary metropolis, in which communications structures run parallel to and through each other. The artists in the exhibition are linked by a common use of urban communications structures as an artistic medium. So, Heman Chong uses a shop display to show a collection of 550 different postcards that provide an image of the universal city in all its aspects. Manfred Pernice makes use of the physical characteristics of large cities all around the world in the monotonous forms of office towers, public housing and shopping centres. Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi also deal with universal themes related to life in the city, juxtaposing issues related to individual cities to highlight their similarities. These concepts will be presented in a publication (Pages) that will be published at the end of the exhibition period.
The Kroller-Muller Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.
The sculpture garden closes at 4.30 p.m.
For up-to-date information on exhibitions visit: www.kmm.nl or telephone (+31 318) 591 241
