Kontakt

… works from Collection of Erste Bank Group

Mar. 17 — May 21, 2006
Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig
(mumok), Vienna & transit Workshops, Bratislava

Co-curators:
Silvia Eiblmayr, Georg Schöllhammer, Jiří Ševčík, Branka Stipančić, Adam Szymczyk

Artists: 
Marina Abramović, Paweł Althamer, Heimrad Bäcker, Cezary Bodzianowski, Josef Dabernig, Carola Dertnig, VALIE EXPORT, Stano Filko, Heinz Gappmayr, Gorgona, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Marina Gržinić/Aina Šmid, Tibor Hajas, IRWIN, Sanja Iveković, Šejla Kamerić, Julije Knifer, Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Edward Krasiński, Denisa Lehocká, Kazimir Malevich/Belgrade, Karel Malich, Jan Mančuška, Vlado Martek, Dalibor Martinis, Natalia LL, Roman Ondák, Mladen Stilinović, Raša Todosijević, Milica Tomić, Peter Weibel, Heimo Zobernig

The first presentation of the Kontakt Art Collection took place at Vienna’s mumok and at the tranzit Workshops in Bratislava. The exhibition showed an overview of art from Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe created since the 1960s. Performance art, media reflexivity, and responses to modernist art practices made up the central focus of this presentation. Furthermore, this project was the first presentation of art from the countries of Central Europe to be mounted as a border-crossing show in two locations. The works shown in this exhibition reflected the political and historical transformations that had taken place in Europe since the 1960s, as well as the importance of art before the backdrop of current cultural, social, and economic developments. 

The exhibition presented a chapter in the international history of art that had been neglected up to then and attempted to make a contribution to its re-evaluation in the current art discourse. While the exhibition’s earlier works (from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s) were shown at mumok, the more recent positions were exhibited at the tranzit Workshops in Bratislava. The art of the formerly Communist countries is to be regarded in a general international art-historical context so as to bring out mutual relationships as well as differing practices. These aspects were also outlined in the exhibition. The presentation offered the opportunity to trace parallel as well as highly individual artistic practices in the context of transforming political, economic, and social structures.

1 Logo by Július Koller 
2 Heinz Gappmayr, Gorgona, Jiří Kovanda, Vlado Martek, Július Koller
3 Karel Malich, Peter Weibel
4 Natalia LL, VALIE EXPORT, Heinz Gappmayr, Heimo Zobernig, Dalibor Martinis