Materiality today

With Pop Art and Land Art, Arte Povera and the representatives of anti-form such as Robert Morris, contemporary art since the 1960s has managed to outwit the obsolete Ovidian notion of material, namely that »the work of art was finer than the material«. Based on the material, actions and concepts are turned into art that is characterized by an inherent dynamics. Thus, the material determines form and sheds light on the production process of the artwork. The art of a generation of artists born in the 1970s now turns once again to material and manmade production processes to recapture its immediate perception in this way. Either now acts as a carrier of meaning, has values attributed that sometimes correspond to a collective social framework. It comes as no surprise that there are references to alchemistic strategies, that there is emphasis on the transformation of materials, that the gesture of intentional display in the form of three-dimensional installations explicitly aims to exaggerate the presence of the work. Craft takes priority over mediality and networks, connections to design and architecture are explored on a different level. The artists involved in this groundbreaking exhibition in Krefeld and Innsbruck are: Lara Alamarcegui (b. 1972), Michael Beutler (b. 1976), Karla Black (b. 1972), Berta Fischer (b. 1973), Theaster Gates (b. 1973), Ane Mette Hol, Jessica Jackson Hutchins (b. 1971), David Jablonowski (b. 1982), Markus Kastieß (b. 1971), Alicja Kwade (b. 1979), Marie Lund (b. 1976) and Oscar Tuazon (b. 1975).

Exhibitions:
Haus Lange / Haus Esters Kunstmuseen Krefeld, 6/4–10/8/2014
Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, 6/12/2014–15/2/2015