MONDI POSSIBILI

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are happy to present the group show „Mondi Possibli“ parallel to the international furniture trade show.

On display will be furniture and objects by artists such as Thea Djordjadze, Peter Fischli/David Weiss, Claus Föttinger, Thomas Grünfeld, Stefan Kern, Joseph Kosuth, Louise Lawler, Michail Pirgelis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Thomas Scheibitz, Andreas Schulze, Rosemarie Trockel, Franz West a.m.o. Designating the exhibits „objects“ makes reference to the central question of the show as to the nature of borders between art and design and their criteria, such as their quality as commodities.

The exhibited pieces of furniture and objects take on shapes and simultaneously their inherent forms of practical use as furniture. Most of the works have been created for practical use explicitly. Beyond their functionality they present spaces of different connotations and references. The artists through their works follow the supposed questions that possibly arise in the interface of the two, furniture and object: Practicability, concept, reference, e.g. in an art historical sense with Andreas Schulze’s rack or formal reduction as in Rosemarie Trockel’s ovens. Each work offers a new approach to the viewer and possibly an entirely new differentiation between art and design.

The pieces of furniture and objects are grouped in several rooms, which correspond with those of a house or an apartment, such as a living room, bedroom, kitchen and hall. The exhibits are thus taken literal and set up inside a living situation, while each is referring to each of the other objects and thus offering the viewer a momentum of comparison through varying types of interaction.

One room of the exhibition is dedicated to Michelangelo Pistoletto’s „Love Difference Table“. The show’s title „Mondi Possibili“ not only refers to this work in terms of possible worlds of design and art, with which the artist occupy themselves, but can be understood literally here: the mirror table in the shape of the Mediterranean sea with 23 chairs for abutting states has the title of a movement, founded amongst others by Pistoletto in 2003, with the sub-title “artistic movement for Inter-Mediterranean politics”. Projects, congresses and events are used as platforms for the question of how far art can contribute to politics of trans-nationalism. The term “Love Difference” is an invitation to appreciate cultural differences instead of demanding uniformity.

Pressetext

MONDI POSSIBILI

mit Thea Djordjadze, Fischli / Weiss, Claus Föttinger, Thomas Grünfeld, Stefan Kern, Joseph Kosuth, Louise Lawler, Michail Pirgelis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Thomas Scheibitz, Andreas Schulze, Rosemarie Trockel, Franz West