Liz Magor: you you you

In her native Canada and beyond, the artist Liz Magor (b. 1948) is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary sculptors; the oeuvre she has built since the 1970s has guided an entire generation of younger artists. Her art investigates the culture of production and value and the associated ambivalent relationship humans have with consumer goods. The retrospective focuses on sculptures and installations the artist created in her studio in Vancouver over the past three decades. Composed of found everyday objects, her allegorical tableaus question idealized notions of nature embedded in modern culture and penetrate the psychology of desire and addiction. From an art-historical perspective, Liz Magor’s decades-long engagement with the world of material things and their resonance has led her to stake out a highly idiosyncratic position. Presented casually, without pedestals, her meticulously finished sculptures are defined by a profoundly affecting physicality. In light of the recent “material turn” in the work of younger artists, but also in the humanities and cultural studies, Magor’s art speaks forcefully to contemporary concerns. The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst presents the first extensive exhibition of Liz Magor’s oeuvre in Switzerland.

Liz Magor (b. 1948 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) lives and works in Vancouver. Her art has been presented in solo shows in several countries. Selected exhibitions: Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2016); Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry—le Crédac, Paris (2016); Art Gallery of Ontario (2015); Peep-Hole, Milan (2015); Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver (2014); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2008); The Power Plant, Toronto (2003). Magor represented Canada at the Venice Biennale (1984) and participated in documenta 8, Kassel (1987), and the Sydney Biennial (1982).

Curator: Heike Munder (Director, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst)

The exhibition at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst was conceived in close collaboration with the Kunstverein in Hamburg and realized in partnership with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.

In collaboration with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the Kunstverein in Hamburg, a monograph accompanying the exhibition will be published by JRP|Ringier, with contributions by Dan Adler, Lesley Johnstone, Liz Magor, Heike Munder, Bettina Steinbrügge, Ian Carr-Harris, Géraldine Gourbe, Trevor Mahovsky, Isabelle Pauwels, Chris Sharp, and Corin Sworn.