David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean presents the first major European retrospective of the work of artist, writer and activist David Wojnarowicz (b. 1954, Red Bank, New Jersey; d. 1992, New York). Following its inaugural presentation at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (from July 13 to September 30, 2018) and subsequent iteration at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (from May 29 to September 30, 2019), the exhibition travels to Mudam for its third and final presentation. History Keeps Me Awake at Night, which brings together more than 150 works, is the first retrospective to be organised in two decades and the most complete presentation of Wojnarowicz’s work to date.

Reflecting the close relationship between David Wojnarowicz’s personal life, artistic oeuvre and activism, the exhibition presents a broad spectrum of his work. Extending from his seminal photographic series Arthur Rimbaud in New York (1978–79)—for which his friends posed in locations in New York city wearing a mask of the 19th-century French poet’s face—to late work that is characterised by grief and illness, including Untitled (When I Put My Hand on Your Body) (1990) and Untitled (One Day This Kid…) (1990–91). The exhibition includes a selection of Wojnarowicz’s early experiments in collage, paintings and stencil works that first appeared on the streets of downtown Manhattan in the early 1980s. Accompanied by the music of his band 3 Teens Kill 4, these works show the artist developing an iconographic language that he also used on the walls of the abandoned piers on the Hudson River and would figure in the more complex studio paintings that he developed later in his career. They are presented with a slideshow by Andreas Sterzing that retraces the artistic activity around Pier 34, an abandoned structure that played host to an ephemeral, alternative art system created by Wojnarowicz and fellow artist, Mike Bidlo. An important group of spray and collage paintings from 1982, which focus on an image of the artist Peter Hujar—the artist’s friend and mentor—are also included. The exhibition features a selection of paintings from mid 1980s that combine mythological subject matter with elements that refer variously to urbanism, technology, religion and industry. Several major works, including the quartet of paintings Water, Earth, Fire and Wind (1987), the series of head-shaped sculptures Metamorphosis (1984) and works from the Ant Series (1988–89) and Sex Series (1989) are also part of the selection.

During the exhibition’s run, Mudam will host a programme of film and video screenings that engage with the subject of activism and have been devised by the anthropologist and curator Julien Ribeiro. Mudam will mark World AIDS Day, with a series of special events, including a screening of Jean-Claude Schlim’s House of Boys (2009) and Jacques Molitor’s Listen (2017) on November 30 and December 1, 2019, presented in collaboration with Stop Aids Now/Access. To book or view a detailed programme visit: mudam.com

Curators: David Breslin, David Kiehl. The presentation at Mudam is curated by Christophe Gallois, assisted by Nelly Taravel.

David Wojnarowicz. History Keeps Me Awake at Night was organised by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in collaboration with Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

With the support of The American Friends of Mudam.

Also on view:

Anri Sala. Le Temps coudé through January 5, 2020
Suki Seokyeong Kang (2018 Baloise Art Prize) | Mudam Collection through April 1, 2020
Worlds in Motion | Mudam Collection through April 13, 2020
Recent Donations and Long-Term Loans | Mudam Collection through April 13, 2020

Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean opened in 2006 in a purpose-built building designed by the renowned Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and is located in the Park Draï Eechelen, overlooking the historic city of Luxembourg. Through its collection, exhibitions, artistic and educational programmes and partnerships, Mudam Luxembourg aims to advance its mission to present the most relevant contemporary art of our time to the largest possible public.