De Stijl and the Future

Collaborations - where the trend is again greeding for exceptional artists, we ask about creative cooperation. It is good to have a look around, to ask questions and inquire whether, in the dialogue of this world, the arts play a particular role, a role that distinguishes them from globalization. Does culture, do the visual arts especially, still have the mission to say something about the country? Is there a difference between the production processes or is it already set up in generally understandable way? The point of our Exhibition is to turn around our aesthetic gaze in order to show that the movement of De Stijl has reached artists from all over the world even a hundred years after their act. I admit we start in a smalI circle of artists, but there are enough to show, how an artist movement can influence an entire generations of artists and thinkers.

The exhibition De Stijl and the Future occupies the Artworks of several Artists from China, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain the Exhibition expIores the relationships between the movement and the work of the participating artists who are influenced by the ideas of De Stijl. A term that I wouId I ike to mention in this context is “Hospitality". Based on these considerations, we decided to invite the artists to present their own statement about art and its relationship with De Stijl. And to allow this within our exhibition, but not to integrate directly, but at a certain distance. These works are not integrated into the exhibition as direct curatorial positions, but certainly in the experience process of the exhibition conception and theme.

With the exhibition we started a new series of exhibitions which, from the basic concept, guarantees an exchange between the arts, the creatives, curators and the artists themselves.The group of artists cal led Rhythm Section (which we owe to this exhibition) is providing these experiences already. The Rhythm Section is a constellation of like-minded people who have teamed up to share ideas and support each other from all over the globe. In addition to the specific theme of De Stijl, the exhibition provides a platform for sharing and fol low - up - instead of making the distinction, of representing otherness or being exotic or controversial, we want to draw attention to the potential of art itself.

Basically, one should understand the exhibition of contemporary art not only as a form of presentation of solid "results" in the sense of nthat is contemporary art", but also as a process, a kind of tool, an opportunity to learn.

Art is one of the most important, perhaps one of the last places where society is reflected. But the exciting thing is that the power of art goes beyond that. I as an art historian and curator believe that art can change the look and give impulses. It can not be reduced to a single statement. The visual quality largely eludes the linguistic translation, thereby gaining its power. Art can activate the senses and set thinking processes in motion. It*s about exposing yourself to art. Only then will you be able to learn something about the aesthetic quality of the respective artwork. The art works are an experimental field on which something new can be developed. In this case we have the opportunity - and I think this is to emphasize - to enable exhibitions on contemporary (young) art in an international context.

The catalog

The catalog has proven to be a durable medium that not only acts as a source of information, but also shapes the image of art. On the one hand, the catalog of the exhibition illustrates and transforms - backgrounds are illuminated and the theoretical condensed. The catalog is a quote of his own space, depending on the institution. Although the publication remains referenced on the underlying material, with every expansion of information, the catalog develops an independent value. In this respect, the accompanying material not only provides an explanation of the context and the current reception of the exhibited objects, but also becomes a documentation beyond the period of the exhibition. This rather individual translation of De Stijl through the graphic design of our catalog gives you an insight into the geometrical-abstract compositions that were neither figurative nor illustrative or narrative. For the design, we decided to design exclusively purely visual elements i.e. surfaces and colors.

Thematically the catalog is divided into two chapters, whereby the first chapter contains shorter essays and essays in which the history of De Stijl is retold and the second chapter focuses on the participating artists. In this way we attempt to pass on the underlying story as a surplus, or at least to reveal some fragments of it, so that it can engender a motor for the shown works. The first part includes a brief essay of my own about the story of abstraction and the movement of De Stijl. Dr. Karin Wimmer shows us the connections with the exhibited artists in connection with De Stijl.

Here we also find an essay of the art historian Dr. Wies van Moorsei (her aunt Nelly van Moorsel was the partner of Theo van Doesburg), a statement of the artist group Rhythm Section them self written by Oleksiy Koval and a really nice transcribed interview and documentation form the video work BOOGIE WOOGIE RHYTHM SECTION by Anneke Bosma with Wies van Moorsel and the Galerist Antoinette Reuten from Amsterdam which also can be seen in the exhibition.

The second part of the catalog is dedicated solely to the artists of the exhibition. For this we asked the artist how De Stijl has influenced their artistic work, but we also wanted to know more about their artistic practice and the general work as an artist. We will see that this artist have a muItilayered artistic exploration, the interesting thing here is to make these manifestations visible in their width for us as viewer and reader of these contributions. The exhibition and this wi 11 also show this publication includes a wide range of different artistic positions and expressions. Some of them are classical painters, others are based on scuIpture, we have installations and drawings that appear in the absolute reduction of their form and abstraction. But there are also video and digital works. The measure of these artists is above rhythm, they experiment with different materials and frameworks with questions about the treatment of color, surface and movement, time, space, light or matter. These artists are not only painters and scuIptors, they are also teachers of art academies, theoreticians, philosophers and thinkers of our time.

We hope that the exhibition as welI as the catalog will help you to create a philosophical- aesthetic approach to the artwork.