Blake & Sons

William Blake claimed a change. His poems have a clear relation to the times he lived in. In particular, the Prophecies demonstrate Blake's religious, mythological and political interests. For Blake, outward events and circumstances were the expressions of states of mind, ideologies, mentalities; and not their causes. Blake always seeks to discover the source of social and private ills within man. Only a change of the ‘hearts and minds' of a nation can create a new society and less hideous cities. This idea was shared half a century later by a multiplicity of alternative lifestyle movements. These movements were concerned with a transformation of ways of living in the areas of life-style, nutrition, housing and healthcare in order to counteract the consequences of a misguided civilization.

The desire for change and the search for new social and political conditions are not just issues of the past. Indeed, in contemporary art an increased interest can be observed in both William Blake and historic alternative lifestyles. The exhibition Blake & Sons, curated by René Zechlin, presents international contemporary artists examining these two points of interest. In bringing the two strands together the exhibition proposes William Blake as a father figure of alternative thinking. The artists participating in the exhibition include David Altmejd, Markus Amm, Kenneth Anger, Sam Basu , Henning Bohl, Christopher Bucklow, Stephan Dillemuth, Simone Gilges , Sebastian Hammwöhner, Dani Jakob, David Thorpe, Johan Thurfjell, Gabriel Vormstein and Walker & Walker.

Pressetext

Blake & Sons
Alternative lifestyles and mysticism in contemporary art
kuratiert von René Zechlin

mit David Altmejd, Markus Amm, Kenneth Anger, Sam Basu, Dirk Bell, William Blake, Henning Bohl, Christopher Bucklow, Paul Chan, Stephan Dillemuth, Simone Gilges, Sebastian Hammwöhner, Dani Jakob, John Risi, David Thorpe, Gabriel Vormstein, Walker & Walker