Rita McBride: Gesellschaft

‪From October 17, 2015 to January 10‬, 2016 the kestnergesellschaft presents an overview of American artist Rita McBride’s works from the past two decades. The focused solo exhibition Gesellschaft (Society) marks the curatorial debut of the new director Christina Végh in Hanover. Spanning the entire exhibition space at kestnergesellschaft, Rita McBride’s large-scale sculptures and installations from 1992 to 2015 illustrate her complex artistic practice and highlight her interest in the notion of “society” and the underlying fundamental structures and systems it is based on. With the retrospective’s title Gesellschaft Rita McBride turns her attention to the kestnergesellschaft—which will celebrate its centennial in 2016—and the involvement of its members in civil society.

Known as a sculptor, Rita McBride’s focus is not on honing a specific artistic signature; instead, she is fascinated with the possibility of continually creating new networks of reference which expose, visualize and question vaguely experienced concepts such as the “public” and “society.” Everyday objects from the urban space like ventilation shafts and electrical boxes often form the point of departure for her works. Collectively overlooked, these objects constitute fundamental control systems which are an essential part of society and imperceptibly govern the public by enabling and controlling movement and action.

Rita McBride’s enormous work Arena occupies a central position in the exhibition at kestnergesellschaft. The modular system consisting of layers of plywood and Kevlar takes up the entire cupola hall of the kestnergesellschaft and is simultaneously a sculpture and a meeting place. Since its creation, Arena has hosted more than 100 artists, musicians, curators, and politicians. In Hanover, Rita McBride will initiate a series of events with Arena which will serve as a platform for different individuals from the kestnergesellschaft. In a series entitled “blind date” the kestnergesellschaft as an institution plans to explore an “alternative self portrait” in context of the exhibition’s title Gesellschaft by programming the Arena with an open call to its members. Arena, which was produced by the Witte de With (Rotterdam) and exhibited there in 1997, has since accumulated an illustrious and international exhibition history, including Kunstverein München, MACBA (Barcelona) Tate Modern (London), Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Total Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), and the Sculpture Center (New York).

Rooted in the tradition of Minimal Art and Institutional critique, Rita McBride’s approach to her work, which has also included literature and performance since the early 1980s, makes her particularly interesting to a younger generation of artists today. McBride (*1960 in Des Moines, Iowa) has worked as a professor of sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf since 2003 and as director of the academy since 2013. 

Director and Curator: Christina Végh
Press contact: Lara Schuh (Head of Communications):
T +49 511 70120 16 / F +49 511 70 120 20 / kommunikation [​at​] kestnergesellschaft.de
Press material: www.kestnergesellschaft.de (press material available for download under “Press”)