Notions of the Artist

11.11.2009 — 17.01.2010

Opening: November 10, 2009, 8 pm

The exhibition “Notions of the Artist” at the Frankfurter Kunstverein dealed with the social roles of the artist. Seven contemporary artist’s positions illumed the sociocultural field of controversy, where the artist operates, and the social projections towards this peculiar occupation.

Whether the artist would be regarded as a free thinker or eccentric, as a genius with extraordinary talent, a dismissed sceptic, seer or teacher, court jester and agent provocateur, researcher and inventor, entertainer or charlatan, social worker and mediator, as a poor poet or a pop star, or as an entrepreneur, is depending on the historical context and cultural milieu.

The artist as “projection screen” can point in very different directions, he has nevertheless one comment denominator: art and those who create it enjoy a special status. In particular, it would be the artists’ activities that are considered to be manifestations of freedom of the subject through which a society can assess its ability to tolerate and question itself. In the same time there is a long artistic tradition in which social actions are included in artistic production, or even became a direct material of this production.

The presented works can be read in the context of role notions or make this subject their focus. Some, on the one hand, show contemporary variations of such ideas and this therefore makes them worthy of discussion. On the other hand, they also thwart such thinking in a critical or ironic manner, while questioning possibilities for action and influence in the social structure.

Participating Artists: Marc Aschenbrenner, Wim Delvoye, Stephan Dillemuth, Michael Franz, Paule Hammer, Manuela Kasemir and Andreas Wegner

Curator: Holger Kube Ventura