Dear All,
it gives us enormous pleasure to be back with you all after a short but well-earned break.
After a quiet week in the windy wilds of Brighton town playing the penny arcades, dodging the maniacal drivers, falling out with the waiter in a rather well known Fish & Chip Shop and failing to find any note worthy artwork (Actually we did come across a rather famous work by Banksy. Art ?) we now find ourselves in Germany on a pilgrimage to view as much contemporary art as we can in 9 days.
Over the next few days we will be touring Munster Sculpture Projects before moving on to Documenta 12 in Kassel. For those of you who may not be aware of the significance of these events, they are of international importance and the following is intended as a short introduction:
Munster Sculpture Project was initiated in 1977 by Kasper Konig and happens every 10 years taking over the whole of the city of Munster. The first event featured work by many of the most significant artists of the time; Carl Andre, Michael Asher, Joseph Beuys, Donald Judd, Richard Long, Bruce Nauman, Claes Oldenburg, Ulrich Rückriem and Richard Serra. Since the first event it has grown to become the largest and most significant survey of contemporary publicly sited sculptural works in the world. This years highlights includes works by: Bruce Naumann (with an inverted pyramid dug into the ground initially proposed for the original in 1977 but impossible then due to budgetary constraints), Mike Kelley (with a petting zoo including a salt lick in the shape of Lot’s wife) and Gustav Metzger (a work which plays on chance and the dual histories of Munster and Coventry’s destruction during the second world war.)
Documenta 12 as the title suggests is the 12th edition, the first happening in 1955 and then every 5 years give or take. This year the exhibition is curated by Roger M. Buergel and Ruth Noack. Documenta is considered by some to be the most important exhibition of contemporary art and certainly one of the most heavily theoretical. This year the curatorial team have developed three central questions which run through the selected works, these are:
- ‘Modernity: Is it our antiquity?’
- ‘Life: What is Bare Life?’
- ‘Education: What can be done?’
These themes are explored in a number of ways, through the exhibition itself, a programme of lectures, tours, discussions and 3 magazines each dedicated to one of the questions; containing writing selected by around 100 international publications. For further info on both events click on the following links:
http://www.skulptur-projekte.de
Over the coming days we hope to bring you some of the highlights and perhaps even the lowlights of our time in Germany so stay tuned for regular updates, perhaps Fact of the Day will rear its head once or twice.Best Wishes
ED
contemporaryartetc.com 