New dates: 19–22 April 2013
AXA ART Professional Preview and Vernissage:
Thursday, 18 April
Koelnmesse GmbH
Messeplatz 1
50679 Köln
T +49 221 821-0
F +49 221 821-2574
info [at] koelnmesse.de
www.artcologne.de
www.koelnmesse.de
High-calibre special shows and exhibitions
April 2013—focus on the Rhineland. The 47th Art Cologne runs from the 19th to 22nd April with over 200 international galleries from 25 countries showcasing the full spectrum of contemporary art, post-war and modern masters. Art Cologne is also playing host to a programme of special exhibitions. Highlights from the Düsseldorf-based Julia Stoschek collection will be shown in the entrance area of the fair. On Art Cologne’s forecourt at the south entrance to the Koelnmesse complex, visitors will be greeted by a large-scale, visually spectacular sculpture by Katharina Grosse. Art Cologne is also pleased to cooperate with the Cologne electronic music label KOMPAKT to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. At the same time as Art Cologne, a high-calibre retrospective and three exciting shows of work by contemporary artists will be starting at the Museum Ludwig, the Kölnischer Kunstverein and the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. The cooperative effort of these three institutions and Art Cologne is designed to give art lovers a high-profile, attractive, event-filled and easily accessible cultural programme.
Special shows:
It has been several years since Art Cologne hosted work from a major private collection. Now Julia Stoschek has put together a museum-calibre exhibition titled Das Bildermuseum brennt (the picture gallery is on fire). Specially tailored to the Cologne exhibition hall, the show goes into the complexities of staging exhibitions and how artworks are perceived in a given exhibition space. The performance artist and musician Mariechen Danz and her band UNMAP (with special guests) will give a concert at VENUS & APOLL in Düsseldorf as part of the Stoschek show. The concert kicks off at 9pm on the 19th of April.
The German artist Katharina Grosse lives and works in Berlin. In her painting she uses a wide variety of surfaces, often working directly on the walls and floors of exhibition or living spaces, the facades of buildings and on giant styrofoam objects. On the forecourt at the south entrance to the Koelnmesse complex, Grosse will be showing a sculpture consisting of two enormous styrofoam slabs stacked one above the other. She has spray-painted the sculpture with layers of vivid colour. Its impact is visually arresting and highly dynamic. Visitors are encouraged to walk around the sculpture and use the opportunity to view it from multiple vantage points in a gradual process of engagement with it. At Art Cologne, Grosse’s work is represented by Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder (Vienna) and Johann König (Berlin).
The KOMPAKT label was launched in 1993 by Wolfgang Voigt, Jürgen Paape and Michael Mayer. This was the genesis of its signature ‘Cologne Sound.’ KOMPAKT now represents a long list of international artists working in every branch of contemporary electronic music. And the label still remains at the spearhead of the electronic avant-garde scene. It is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a music installation specially designed for Art Cologne. This will be staged in the foyer. The label will also be running a KOMPAKT music booth and exhibiting a range of visual material and artist-designed covers. There will also be a chill-out lounge with multimedia sound art on tap.
Exhibitions:
The long-awaited retrospective of Andrea Fraser opens on the 20th of April at the Museum Ludwig. The American artist is the designated recipient of this year’s Wolfgang Hahn Prize. This is the first comprehensive show of her work since 2003. It documents the early performances of the 1980s and her more recent work. Fraser is scheduled to stage a 1991 performance titled May I help you on the 21st of April. The European premiere of her full-length performance Men on the Line—first performed in Los Angeles in 2012—will be held at the Museum Ludwig on the 21st of June.
Opening on the eve before the preview and vernissage of Art Cologne, on the 17th of April, an exhibition at the Museum Ludwig is showcasing the British video artist Phil Collins. Collins’s work takes a critical look at the burgeoning instrumentalisation of the entertainment industry. He uses his contemporaries as players in his films, photographs and soundtracks, deliberately recontextualizing popular media strategies. His work turns on a critical preoccupation with mass media.
Opening a few hours before the Phil Collins exhibition, a Stefan Müller solo exhibition opens at the Kölnischer Kunstverein. Long overdue, this is the Cologne-based artist’s first public show for many years. One of his creative points of departure is to mix the traditional tools of the artist’s trade such as canvas and paints with randomly chosen everyday residual products like dirt, ash and dregs.
An exhibition of work by the Detroit-based artist Michael E. Smith is yet another April highlight. It opens at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen on the 21st of April. Smith’s work is still relatively unknown in Germany. His objects are powerfully expressed, extraordinarily precise illustrations of the interface between art and sociopolitical reality. He frequently uses materials sourced in everyday subcultural life, directly referencing the sports and music of Afro-American youth culture and positioning them in a new spatial context.
Executive Board: Gerald Böse (Chief Executive Officer), Katharina C. Hamma, Herbert Marner
Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Mayor of the City of Cologne, Jürgen Roters
Headquarters and place of jurisdiction: Cologne – District Court Cologne, HRB 952
Contact:
Benjamin Agert, T + 49 221 821-2076 / F + 49 221 821-2181 / b.agert [at] koelnmesse.de
Note to press users:
Images of Art Cologne can be accessed in the Press section of the Art Cologne website (www.artcologne.com). Select ‘Press’, ‘Image Database’ and ‘Art Cologne.’
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