New program at Grazer Kunstverein
Ian Wilson, The Peacock and
The Members Library
Ongoing from 9 March 2013
Grazer Kunstverein
Palais Trauttmansdorff
Burggasse 4
8010 Graz, Austria
T +43 (0)316 83 41 41
F +43 (0)316 83 41 42
office [at] grazerkunstverein.org
The Grazer Kunstverein and its new artistic director, Krist Gruijthuijsen, are delighted to announce the inauguration of the new program within the Kunstverein’s newly renovated and expanded premises.
To start at the beginning: Ian Wilson
Wilson (b. 1940, South Africa) is someone in whose work the Grazer Kunstverein would like to see its mission reflected; to explore relationships between the viewed—or discussed—and the viewer and the topical urgency of such interaction.
To stress his importance to the program, the Grazer Kunstverein dedicates a permanent solo exhibition to the artist, which will display different works throughout the year as well as a commissioned and acquired Discussion.
To underline this beginning, the Kunstverein will examine in the upcoming years its interior by introducing permanent or temporary (new) furniture, design, applied and decorative arts that analyze their own functionality. The Peacock, as this non-stop group show is titled, is inspired by the notion of a Period Room, a room that defines a moment in time, as well as the animal itself, one that represents a notion of internal and external pride. Each year The Peacock has a specific narrator who will provide a structural narrative to the works on display. Curator and writer Tirdad Zolghadr is invited to shape the story line for 2013.
The conceptual focus of the Grazer Kunstverein lies on the production and display of language, in which notions around communication, commitment and exchange are presented both artistically as well as discursively. The program will display (underrepresented) historical avant-garde figures vis-à-vis current art tendencies to stress its relevance and necessity within contemporary thinking.
To underscore this aspect of commitment and exchange, the Kunstverein will expand its premises with a new venue, titled The Members Library, which concentrates on the display and production of publications. The venue consists of two elements: a library (including a bookstore) and an exhibition space (dedicated to publications). The library’s structure will be ‘furnished’ with books recommended by each member. These books (either bought or donated) have played a significant role in the member’s lives (by ways of thinking) and will form the backbone for our monthly discursive program.
For the exhibition space within The Members Library, ‘the book’ is viewed as a venue in itself, enabling to transmit the ideas and ambience of art presentation over spatial and temporal distance. Unique (and often forgotten historical) publications will be exhibited as well as publications that are to be seen sculptures or performances.
The Members Library is presented within a permanent work by Céline Condorelli.
Our present time calls for a structure of self-organization in response to programming for mass audiences; it calls for urgent, concentrated presentations that feed a local, national and international audience. Driven by a curiosity of what an ‘ideal’ audience indicates, the Grazer Kunstverein continues to dedicate itself to the quality of the visitor instead of the quantity and will therefore contribute to the debate around the notion of ‘the public’ and ‘publicness.’
The new program is open to the public from 9 March 2013 onwards. Besides Wilson, the inauguration also includes the very first European solo show of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles (US), a survey on the work of Ravio Puusemp (EE/US) and permanent and temporary instalments by Nina Beier, Will Stuart, Robert Wilhite, and Dexter Sinister as part of The Peacock.
If you wish to receive further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely yours,
Grazer Kunstverein
Grazer Kunstverein is generously supported by:
Stadt Graz, Land Steiermark, Bundesministerium für Kunst und Kultur, Legero The Footwear Company and its members.
