VK

27 June 2014-31 August 2014

A beautiful exhibition just opened in Kunstverein, “Ger Van Elk” curated by Bart van der Heide, director of the Munich kunstverein, the first institutional solo exhibition by Ger Van Elk, outside of the Netherlands since 1988, presenting the artist’s most recent work as well as rarely seen historic pieces  from his own private collection,

…This exhibition will feature recent work alongside a selection of historic pieces from the artist’s own private collection. Van Elk is one of the few Dutch artists who were active in the defining stages of an international generation of artists in the 1960’s. During this time he took part in seminal group shows such as ‘When Attitudes Become Form’ (1969) and ‘Op Losse Schroeven’ (1969); two exhibitions that in retrospect featured a first identification of Conceptual Art. While simultaneously maintaining close relationships with artists such as Piero Gilardi or Gilbert and George, his early work embodies a fluid response to diverse conceptual art practices that were yet to be defined. However in contrast to the works of his contemporaries, Van Elk never committed his practice to a singular classification under Pop-Art, Arte Povera or others, and instead developed a formal practice that was re-negotiated, and even contradicted, with every new situation in which his work was produced. (Kunstverein’s press release)

http://www.kunstverein-muenchen.de/de/gervanelk

a quite afternoon visit at Pinakothek der Moderne for the newly opened exhibition “I am a Sender” multiples by Joseph Beuys.

26.06.2014-11.01.2015

Capri-Battery [Capri-Batterie], 1985
Light bulb with plug socket, in wooden box, lemon
Publisher: Edizione Lucio Amelio, Naples

Between the mid-1960s and his death in 1986, Joseph Beuys created over 500 multiples — inexpensive, editioned artworks, with which he sought to make his art available to a larger audience. Experimenting freely with a wide array of formats and materials, he used these small objects and works on paper to reach a broader public than was possible with unique artworks or with ephemeral artistic activities like his performances, lectures and discussions. Positioning himself as a broadcaster, Beuys imagined the multiples as ‘antennae,’ which would carry his creative concerns into the wider world: ‘I am a Sender,’ he declared, ‘I transmit!’ Gathering together ideas and energies from across the many strands of his expansive oeuvre, the multiples expressed the full range of Beuys’s artistic interests, relaying these into the homes and daily lives of their owners.

more here http://www.pinakothek.de/en/beuys-multiples

and revisited again the beautiful exhibition of Florence Henri “Compositionen” 

21.3.2014-14.09.2019

The photographs and photo-montages of Florence Henri (1893-1982) attest to a broad artistic education and an unusual openness for new currents in the art of her times. Today, her experimental photographic oeuvre has a permanent place in the art of the avant-garde….

This  presentation from the holdings of the Ann and Jürgen Wilde Foundation includes photographs, publications and historical documents.