Erik van Lieshout: Sündenbock

With Sündenbock (Scapegoat), the Kunstverein Hannover is presenting the most comprehensive exhibition of works by Erik van Lieshout (*1968, lives in Rotterdam) in Germany to date. The solo show by the Dutch artist presents six extensive video installations from 2006 to today supplemented by large-format collages and drawings. Accessible components made of crude wooden constructions, ramps, and platforms as well as the use of barrier fences connect the individual works to become a psychologically charged and physically challenging path through the exhibition.

His body of work addresses contemporary sociopolitical issues in a way that is both blunt as well as satirical and amusing, and renders political injustices and social conflicts visible. At the same time, he subverts personal boundaries and social taboos and exposes mechanisms of role ascription, understanding one’s own role, and the assignment of blame. In his processually arranged films, Erik van Lieshout ventures into the middle of society in order to throw light on uncomfortable issues such as right-wing extremism or migration-related conflicts and as well as to fathom the social impact of art. By operating in both an empathetic and confrontational way, he succeeds in creating direct access to places and people and revealing their attitudes and opinions.

At the center of the exhibition is van Lieshout’s most recent work G.O.A.T. (2017), which he developed at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India and which focuses on artistic freedom, censorship, and the phenomenon of the scapegoat—against the background of various cultural influences. The artist spent three months in an exhibition building on the grounds of the Biennale for the purpose of interacting with the public. The film is to be understood as a provocative cultural-sociological experiment in which van Lieshout goes to the limits of his own boundaries as well as those of society. G.O.A.T. ultimately presents the failed attempt of a European artist to find complete expression within the scope of foreign aesthetic and religious-moral ideas and to inquire into the values on which these circumstances are based.

Director: Kathleen Rahn 
Curator: Ute Stuffer

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Edition: There is a special edition of 20 collages (29.3 x 42 cm, unique, numbered and signed) on the occasion of the solo exhibition by Erik van Lieshout

With the support of: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur; NORD/LB Kulturstiftung; Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung; Sparkasse Hannover; Mondriaan Fund; Königreich der Niederlande. The Kunstverein is permanently supported by the Culture Office of the Landeshauptstadt Hannover.