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120115: Kunsthaus Graz, Neue Galerie Graz: Art and Destruction Since 1950 / Damage Control. Body Art and Destruction 1968-1972
Kunsthaus Graz, Neue Galerie Graz:
Art and Destruction Since 1950 / Damage Control. Body Art and Destruction 1968-1972
14.11.2014 – 15.02.2015
In the wake of devastation
By Roland Schöny
Naturally, this widely composed double exhibition on the concept of destruction, devastation and self-injury is not as spectacular as "out of action" in 1998. Whilst here the motif of destruction in contemporary art is generally dealt with, at that time it concerned establishing the assertion, with enormous abundance of materials, of the radical forms of performance and action art simultaneously in several places in the world.
Meanwhile, much of this is canonised knowledge or the content of collections. The Friedrichshof collection is represented in the Mumok in Vienna, and since 2008, Graz has its Bruseum. There, emanating from the Œuvres of Günter Brus, making different connections in the direction of destruction and body art, would impose itself. However, this aspect rather forms an additional chapter to the exhibition in the Kunsthaus Graz. It was organised by the Hirschhorn Museum Washington and curated by Kerry Brougher and Russell Ferguson. To begin with, the film by Harold Edgerton (1950) showing the explosion of an atomic bomb can be seen as a symbol of mass destruction which stands for the cynical demonstration of power by the USA at the end of World War II and which was one of the historic paradigms of the post-war era.
But very soon, it becomes evident how quickly the exhibition develops into highly interesting single works which are, however, hardly held together by plainly delineated chapters or themes because they deal with concepts of ritualized devastation in almost all branches of art. The diversity of the approaches shows, for example, the spectrum ranging from Ai Weiwei's famous photo series in which he lets a Ming Vase fall to the ground, Gordon Matta Clark's "Humphry Street Splitting" of a no longer occupied house (1974) and Pipilotti Rist's video, in which a girl wanders through a street anarchically playfully hitting the windscreens of parked cars (1997). Not least, one is met by the impressive revision of Goya's "Desastres de la Guerra" by the Chapman Brothers ("Injury to insult injury", 2004). Them completely differently and very pragmatic and relevant to present times, Luc Delahayes' wide screen photo work "Jenin Refugee Camp" (2001), which focuses on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This alone illustrates the enormous variety. Even politically charged works can be poles apart from each other thematically and formally.
A concentrated synopsis which, in ome of its moments, can make one cringe and shows what the great Hirschhorn Museum has omitted.
Kunsthaus Graz
8020 Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43/316/8017-9200
Fax: +43/316/8017-9800
email: info@kunsthausgraz.at
http://www.kunsthausgraz.at
Opening hours: Thu - Sun 10-18, Thu 10-20 Uhr
Neue Galerie Graz
8010 Graz, Joanneumsviertel
Tel: +43 316 8017-0
Fax: +43/316/8017-9800
email: joanneumsviertel@museum-joanneum.at
http://www.neuegalerie.at
Opening hours: Tue - Sun 10.00 – 18.00
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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120115
Kunsthaus Graz
8020 Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43/316/8017-9200, Fax: +43/316/8017-9800
Email: info@kunsthausgraz.at
http://www.kunsthausgraz.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-18, Do 10-20 Uhr
Neue Galerie Graz
8010 Graz, Joanneumsviertel
Tel: +43 316 8017-9100
Email: joanneumsviertel@museum-joanneum.at
http://www.neuegalerie.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-17 h
Kunsthaus Graz
8020 Graz, Lendkai 1
Tel: +43/316/8017-9200, Fax: +43/316/8017-9800
Email: info@kunsthausgraz.at
http://www.kunsthausgraz.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-18, Do 10-20 Uhr
Neue Galerie Graz
8010 Graz, Joanneumsviertel
Tel: +43 316 8017-9100
Email: joanneumsviertel@museum-joanneum.at
http://www.neuegalerie.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-17 h
