Welt in der Schwebe. Luft als Künstlerisches Material.
Up in the Air. Air as an Artistic Material.
Group Exhibition
Kunstmuseum Bonn
Through June 19, 2022

Air has an existential significance for all forms of life in the world. It is everywhere, albeit invisible and evanescent; it is literally impalpable. While until now in everyday life we have taken air for granted, in current political and social discourses air appears as a central element: during the corona crisis, we wear face masks to protect others from the air we breathe out, scientists are investigating the role of aerosols in the transmission of the Covid-19 virus, and climate activists fight for clean air and hence against climate change.
The exhibition focuses on air as an artistic material and as a carrier of forms and ideas in the visual arts. The works on display, just like the material they all share, are sometimes expansive, sometimes minimal or even invisible, solid as well as ephemeral, they are located indoors as well as outdoors. The art works storm, whisper, blow, evaporate, breathe, and float.

20/20 Vision – The Collection Remixed
Collection Presentation
Kunsthalle Bremen, Der Kunstverein in Bremen

With the title “20/20 Vision: The Collection Remixed", the Kunsthalle Bremen presents a radical new look at its collection for the first time in nearly ten years. Using bold colors on the walls, an elaborate staging and an entirely new arrangement of the works on display, the exhibition allows surprising new aesthetic experiences. Descriptions of all works on display provide in-depth information, some of which are findings from the very latest research. Several works have not been seen in public in decades. The installation will also present for the first time a number of recent acquisitions, donations, and permanent loans. Works of art created after 1945 will also be given a greater presence.

Mies in Mind
John Bock, Thomas Demand, Thea Djordjadze, Jenny Holzer, Kraftwerk, Reinhard Mucha, Otto Piene, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Scheibitz
August 20–September 4, 2021
Berlin

Air Time
Charlotte Moorman, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene
August 12–September 30, 2021

Otto Piene was an artistic pioneer, from his years as co-founder of the Zero group in Düsseldorf to his massive environmental installations across the United States and Europe. This exhibition explores his Sky Art projects in particular, illuminating their experimental, participatory and collaborative nature. This phase of his work flourished to a large degree through the opportunities and connections he made at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—with artists such as Nam June Paik, Charlotte Moorman and Elizabeth Goldring—where he was a fellow (1968–74) and later director (1974–94) of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS). Some of Piene's most spectacular Sky Art performances were realized in collaboration with fellow artist and life-long friend Charlotte Moorman, who holds a special place in this exhibition.

Otto Piene
February 1–April 6, 2019
Berlin

Otto Piene counts among the pioneers of 20th century art. As co-founder of the international ZERO movement, he had a fundamental impact on how classical art forms such as painting and sculpture are perceived. His early smoke, grid and fire paintings, light ballets and light rooms enabled him to incorporate time, light, space and movement into the production of art.

Otto Piene
Light Ballet
April 29–June 10, 2017
Berlin

Otto Piene’s use of light developed in the late 1950s with works utilising earlier experiments of printing onto canvas using punctured screens of many small holes, producing a grid of small, elevated pigment dots on the surface. These perforated ‘raster sieves’ were used in early works as hand-held tools through which to shine light from candles. This rudimentary apparatus soon developed into more complex means in 1960-61, employing metal screens, discs, motors, timers, and rotating electric lights, coming to a theatrical climax in room size installations. A selection of these elements will be presented in Sprüth Magers collaboration with the Otto Piene Estate, his first exhibition with the gallery, taking the form of a ‘Light Ballet’.