"Rip It Up and Start Again" Exhibition
Artists Space
This event has ended.
Rip It Up and Start Again was conceived by Stefan Kalmár as a dual exhibition—his last for Kunstverein München (Rip It Up) and as one of his incoming exhibitions (Start Again) for Artists Space, which Kalmár has been heading since July 2009. The exhibition brings together works by William S. Burroughs, Charles Henri Ford, Ray Johnson, Arthur Russell and Philippe Thomas (readymades belong to everyone®), each presented by another invited artist, acquaintance, friend, academic and/or admirer. In the spirit of artistic strategies that could be characterized by the title of the exhibition Rip It Up and Start Again*, all of the exhibited artists worked with collage in the broadest sense: reconfiguring existing image worlds.
In their lifetimes these artists were admired by artist peers, but have received only marginal recognition within art historical discourse and amongst a younger generation of artists working today. The exhibition presents aspects of their multifaceted artistic practices: Burroughs’ little-known “Collages;” Philippe Thomas’ fictive agency readymades belong to everyone®; Ray Johnson’s “Mail Art;” Arthur Russell’s experimental minimalist compositions; and Charles Henri Ford’s collages, double exposed photography, and films.
Rip It Up and Start Again focuses on the non-institutionalized contexts of production and the closely intertwined networks of music, art, literature, publishing and popular culture. The exhibition also explores the ways in which these strategies could be regarded as anticipating contemporary cultural practice and discourse, alternative publishing, minimal music, issues of authorship and transgressive identity politics.
Media
Schedule
from January 19, 2010 to February 20, 2010
Opening Reception on 2010-01-16 from 18:00 to 20:00