On the Renaissance of Modernism
in Contemporary Art
Künstlerhaus, ground floor
Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria
May 20 - September 11, 2005
Opening: May 19, 2005
Curators:
Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Sandro Droschl
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The contemporary artworks presented in this show refer to certain works, styles, and personalities of the modern era. The fascination which the ‘incomplete project of modernism’ (Jürgen Habermas) exercises on contemporary artists cannot be denied, regardless of the degree to which the resulting works and their underlying concepts differ. The goal of this project is to offer, for the first time, a look at the various strategies of reception and adaptation of modernism in contemporary art. Exhibiting these works in a group exhibition reveals what unites them formally and conceptually and elucidates their differences.
Dealing with modernism, contemporary artists employ methods which range from formal analysis to contextual transformations and ironic proposals of correction. The various resemblances, citations, paraphrases, etc. pick out the basic changes which the ‘operation system art’ has undergone in the course of the last hundred years as a central theme. Contrary to the avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century foremost oriented towards an imaginary ideal future, contemporary art is, in the pure sense of the word, ‘present-time’. Types of work such as ‘site-specific installations’ or ‘temporary interventions’ exclusively produced for the respective occasion are the logical and practical consequence of this approach.
The great interest of artists in modern architecture and design stands out particularly. There exists a canon of forms in this field which is clearly classified as ‘modern’ such as the constructional and repetitive application of geometric basic forms or the use of specific materials like concrete, steel, plastic, and glass. Apart from the rediscovery of the aesthetic qualities of concrete buildings, the discrepancy between comprehensive social utopian designs and the real existing modernity and its consequences can most strikingly be exemplified by means of built manifestations. Formal-aesthetical innovations of the classical modern era such as abstraction or techniques of collage are currently not updated for their own purpose but function as art-historian references. By means of digital media, the image-inventions of the modern era are experimentally tried and tested anew. The artists create complex reference systems in order to critically question both form and function of artistic production and presentation.