Artist: Gustav Metzger
Exhibition title: Revisited
Curated by: Luise Horn and Lena von Geyso
Venue: Kunstraum München, Munich, Germany
Date: January 27 – March 6, 2022
Photography: All images copyright of Thomas Splett and Kunstraum München
As part of the preparations for its 50th anniversary (1973–2023), the Kunstraum München is opening its artistic archive to revisit artworks and artifacts from three presentations and interventions by Gustav Metzger (1926–2017) that took place in or were produced by the Kunstraum in 1997, 1999, and 2006. As part of the project, theorists and other participants will also be discussing these works from varying points of view.
Still today, Gustav Metzger is considered one of the most important representatives of political action art. His »auto-destructive art« — that formed the nucleus of his work as of 1959 and often incorporated exhaust gases, acid, and liquid crystals, among other things—was made in reaction to nuclear threats, humanitarian catastrophes, the destruction of nature, and the capitalist art market. The controversy culminated in the »Destruction in Art Symposium« (DIAS) in London in 1966 that included members of the Vienna Actionist and Fluxus movements as well as psychologists, poets, and musicians. In »Art Strike« of 1977, Metzger urged resistance to the institutionalized art market by demanding that artistic production be suspended for three years.
With the exhibition »Gustav Metzger – Revisited« the Kunstraum dedicates itself to an artist who critically questioned the role of art and art’s status throughout his life. At the center of this archival reactivation is the question: What do his works and documents say in today’s context?
