Download - Österreichische Friedrich und Lillian Kiesler Privatstiftung

Künstler der/Artists of the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme:
(vordere Reihe von links nach rechts/front row from left to right)
Frédéric Delanglade, Roberto Matta, Friedrich Kiesler, Jindřich Heisler,
Jacques Hérold, Aime Maeght, Henri Goetz, Jaroslav Serpan
(mittlere Reihe von links nach rechts/middle row from left to right)
Maurice Baskine, Pierre Demarne, Maurice Henry, Jerzy Kujawski, Claude
Tarnaud, Francis Bouvet, Victor Brauner, Sarane Alexandrian, Toyen, No
Seigle, Nora Mitrani, Hans Bellmer, André Breton, [unbekannt/unknown],
Henri Pastoureau, Bernard Gheerbrant
(hinterste Reihe von links nach rechts/back row from left to right)
Antonio Dacosta, Marcel Jean, Jacques Kober, Stanislav Rodanski,
Gaston Criel
this international gathering of many great artists did not materialise: Duchamp’s
biographer Calvin Tomkins called the exhibition “the movement’s last hurrah” 6 .
Even if the exhibition did no go down in history in the same way as that
of 1938, it does reveal far more complex strategies in terms of curating.
Pioneering for curatorial practice at that time is the fact that a curator used
an art exhibition – beyond the politically charged world fairs – so consciously
as a strategic instrument. Not only defining the theme for an exhibition, but
thereby also issuing a general social directive, testifies to a new, progressive
ambition that augments the significance of presenting art per se. Even today,
the large-scale biennials planned for several years are the only equivalent
to creating an event of such dimensions. Generating an international network
whose organisation transcended war-induced boundaries, uniting old and young,
professionals and amateurs alike, and that was backed up by a high degree of
interdisciplinarity and co-operative works, follows that methodical approach
with which Breton had already successfully implemented the international
system of the Surrealist group in the art world.
Creating the exhibition as a narrative path and conceiving it as an initiation
of the viewer was a particularly ingenious idea. Duchamp created milestones
mit eigens konzipierten Räumen und Werken als Symbiose zwischen Form
und Inhalt. Duchamp und Kiesler ermutigen zur Kooperation, mit der Salle
de Superstition entsteht symbiotisch zwischen Architekt und Künstlern ein
Gesamtkunstwerk im Ausstellungsraum – ein kollektiv gestaltetes „Environment“,
Jahre bevor dieser Begriff überhaupt geboren war.
Die drei Protagonisten arbeiteten an der Modifikation des Ausstellungsformats
und einer kontinuierlichen Erweiterung des Kunstbegriffs. Ihre Beiträge für
1947 entstanden nach jahrelangen intensiven Auseinandersetzungen mit der
Wahrnehmung, mit dem Ausstellungsraum, mit den Themen des Displays und
der (Re-)Präsentation von Kunst. Gemeinsam haben sie die Bedingungen des
Ausstellens (Exhibition Politics) neu definiert – die Ausstellung von 1947 markiert
einen Wendepunkt in der Ausstellungsgeschichte, und das reformatorische
Potential der Protagonisten gilt der zeitgenössischen kuratorischen Praxis noch
heute als Vorbild.
in the theory of art with his exploration of perception and his study of the
recipient. His “rain” of 1947 was a climax in visitor interaction. His kitchen,
planned but never built, would have added the sense of taste at least to the
sensory experience. Kiesler knew how to use the exhibition as an instrument for
developing a programmatic architecture. He succeeded in achieving a coherent
exhibition design with specially conceived rooms and works as a symbiosis
of form and content. Duchamp and Kiesler encouraged co-operation, with the
Salle de Superstition constituting a total work of art in the exhibition space,
created symbiotically by the architect and artists – a collectively designed
“environment”, years before this concept was even coined.
The three protagonists worked on modifying the exhibition format and
continuously extending the concept of art. Their contributions for 1947 were
made after studying perception, the exhibition space, the subjects of display
and (re)presenting art in great depth for many years. Together they redefined
the conditions of exhibition politics – the show of 1947 marked a paradigm
shift in exhibition history, and the reformatory potential of the protagonists
continues to be an exemplar for modern curatorial practice.