A Tale of Two Worlds

In one of its largest exhibitions ever the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires in collaboration with the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main is proud to present A Tale of Two Worlds, comprising over 500 artworks from private and public collections, by 100 artists and collectives from Latin America, the United States and Europe. The exhibition marks the grand re-opening of the refurbished Moderno and will occupy all the galleries of the newly-expanded institution, which has doubled in size.

Jointly curated by Moderno Director Victoria Noorthoorn and Senior Curator Javier Villa, and by MMK Curator Klaus Görner, A Tale of Two Worlds breaks new ground for Latin American art: conceived from a Southern perspective, it sets out to establish a dialogue between canonical works of European and North American art from 1955 to 1986 in the MMK’s collection and the history of experimental Latin American art from 1944—the year Concrete art movements first emerged in Argentina—to the end of the military dictatorships in the late 1980s. It thus seeks to encourage discussion of how different artists react to their socio-political environments.

In A Tale of Two Worlds, there are no major and minor art movements, no “footnotes” or “contributions.” There are two powerful artistic currents—the European/North-American and the Latin American—that have at times run parallel, at others crossed or joined: independent in their identities and interactions with their different realities; interdependent in their conversations, collaborations and controversies. In this new view of art history, Latin American art is not here to complete or complement, or check the box of difference, but to conform, in a fraternal equality that does not preclude rivalry, an art both global and diverse, combative and democratic.

The project has been conceptualized and organized over the past three years between two cities: Buenos Aires and Frankfurt. It is an answer to the call by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) on major museums in Germany to endow their collections with a more global perspective. It was previously staged at the MMK between November 2017 and April 2018 and is accompanied by a 500-page fully illustrated catalogue that includes commissioned texts by 24 authors from the three continents.

In Buenos Aires the exhibition has been designed by Daniela Thomas and Felipe Tassara in collaboration with the Moderno’s own team. It is made possible by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and its Council of Cultural Promotion.

Participating artists:
Adolfo Bernal, Albert Georg Riethausen, Alberto Greco, Alberto Heredia, Aldo Paparella, Aldo Sessa, Alejandro Puente, Alfredo Hlito, Alighiero Boetti, Amancio Williams, Ana Mendieta, Andy Warhol, Anna Maria Maiolino, Antonio Caro, Exposición de Arte Destructivo (Enrique Barilari, Kenneth Kemble, Jorge López Anaya, Jorge Roiger, Antonio Seguí, Silvia Torrás, Luis Wells), Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Artur Barrio, Augusto de Campos, Beatriz González, Blinky Palermo, Bruce Nauman, Carmelo Arden Quin, Carlos Raúl Villanueva, Charlotte Posenenske, Cildo Meireles, David Lamelas, Edgardo Antonio Vigo, Eduardo Clark, Eduardo Gil, Edward Ruscha, Emilio Renart, Escuela de Valparaíso, Flávio de Carvalho, Francis Bacon, Franz Mon, Fred Sandback, Gego, Geraldo de Barros, Gerhard Richter, Grete Stern, Gyula Kosice, Hélio Oiticica, Hildegard Weber, Iván Cardoso, Jasper Johns, Jesús Ruiz Durand, Jo Baer, John Chamberlain, Joseph Beuys, Juan Andrés Bello, Juan del Prete, Juan Downey, Juan N. Melé, Kenneth Kemble, Lenora de Barros, León Ferrari, Leopoldo Maler, Lidy Prati, Liliana Maresca, Liliana Porter, Lotty Rosenfeld, Lucio Fontana, Lucio Costa, Luis Camnitzer, Luis Felipe Noé, Luis Pazos, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, Manolo Millares, Marcel Broodthaers, Marcel Gautherot, Margarita Paksa, Marta Minujín, Martin Blaszko, Mathias Goeritz, Mira Schendel, Morris Louis, Nicolás García Uriburu, On Kawara, Oscar Bony, Oscar Niemeyer, Pablo Suárez, Paul Almásy, Peter Roehr, Piero Manzoni, Raúl Lozza, Rhod Rothfuss, Ricardo Carreira, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Rubén Santantonín, Teresa Burga, Thomas Bayrle, Thomas Farkas, Timm Rautert, Tomás Maldonado, Ulises Carrión, Víctor Grippo, Walter De Maria, Willys De Castro, Yente and Yves Klein.