' Forms of Resistance ' at the Van Abbemuseum

Written by Alexander Atterberry Friday, 04 March 2011 23:30

 

Eindhoven, The Netherlands - On 22 September, the Van Abbemuseum will open its doors to the extensive and investigative exhibition about the convergence of art and life. Forms of Resistance departs from four historical moments: the French Commune in 1871, the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Prague Spring in May 1968 and our world after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Based on these benchmarks and showing works by such artists as Manet, Courbet, Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Malevich, Miralles, Haacke, Johannesson, Gran Fury, Leonard, Ressler and Superflex, this exhibition shows how art can be critical of politics and a symbol of the desire for revolution.

The works on display and the manner in which they are organised ensure a varied, aesthetically pleasing exhibition of depth. The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication. On exhibition 22/09/2007 – 06/01/2008.

Forms of Resistance is a chronological overview of the social changes from 1871 onwards on the basis of visual arts in the broadest sense of the word. Artists and the desire for social change from 1871 to the present. What role did artists play in major social changes of the past 135 years? How have artists addressed social and political issues from 1871 to the present? Do developments in art precede, coincide with, or follow social shifts?

the narrative

The exhibition is dedicated to telling the story of art and social change through the lens of resistance. Ambitions for progressive social or political changes in the past 150 years are compared, selecting specific moments at which clashes between art and activism were at their most pronounced. The connection between art and social change has been a fundamental aspect of modernism and continues to form artistic desire up to the present moment. Throughout the 20th century, artists were busy resisting the reality of the day in diverse ways. The concept of the avantgarde as the phalanx of a revolutionary movement intended to resist or destroy old habits and produce the new man was bound up with modernism’s formalist innovations as much as its direct engagement in political action. Artists combined resistance with speculating about the future and support of certain political developments. They recognised that resistance and speculation went hand in hand. Their critique was propositional as well as severe, and they often made work for a world that did not yet exist but that they wanted to see come about. Following the political and social upheavals of 1968 and 1989, this avant-garde model lost its applicability.

Artists developed ever different ways of resistance and speculation. In the 21st century, with ideological struggles beginning to reconstitute themselves, the role of art is put under increasing pressure. Do resistance and speculation have a place in a world where economy is the instrument of contemporary politics? What does it mean to resist the current political establishment? What can we learn from past models and experiences and what light do they shed on our contemporary ideas of the world?

the title

The title, Forms of Resistance, refers to the critical function of visual art. Resistance needs an object to struggle against and a description of what that object looks like. To be more than destructive, however, it also needs to offer a way of seeing the world differently. Resistance can be in favour of something as well, examples being the beginning of the Russian Revolution and the post-colonial struggle for power in Africa and Latin America. To demonstrate this, the exhibition draws an unusual line through the history of art motivated by the artists’ desires. The line travels from paintings and manifestos by Gustave Courbet South American social actions. The exhibition covers a huge variety of techniques and materials that share no aesthetic similarities.

Instead, the intention of the work is crucial to its selection – the desire for social change determines whether works were included in the exhibition or not. Artists who have been directly involved in political struggles are shown together with artists intent on building a new world against the status quo ante. Iconic works of Modern Art will be presented alongside historical material that will illuminate the social and political context in which the works were produced. Archival material and works of art together tell the story.

artists and movements

Gustave Courbet and Eduard Manet are the key figures from the first period, followed immediately by William Morris, the founder of the British Arts & Crafts movement. Next up is the constructivism of artists such as Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Liobov Popova and Varvara Stepanova, Bauhaus student demonstrations and the surrealism and actions of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro during the Spanish Civil War. The San Francisco Diggers, Bonnie Sherk and The Artists’ Liberation Front precede May ’68, the Paris and Prague revolts. We also examine wall paintings from Chile. The activism and political identity studies of the 1970s can be found in the work of Hans Haacke, the Artworkers’ Coalition, Zoe Leonard, Martha Rosler, ACT UP and Adrian Piper. Why some did artists opt to abandon the art world after ‘68, while others chose to comment on conflict zones within the confinement of the institution? How did art relate to the identity politics and rainbow coalitions of the 1980s and 1990s?

Disobedience, finally, is a small exhibit within Forms of Resistance, in which the archives of Oliver Ressler, Marcelo Esposito and others provide insight into art activism in recent years. The present day is again a time for collectives but also an opportunity to look back on the past utopian century. What went before and what will follow the major ideological shifts of recent years?

curators

The exhibition has been put together by a team of curators: Will Bradley, Phillip van den Bossche and Charles Esche. This project has been realized in part by a contribution of Mondriaan Foundation.

publication

Art and Social Change: A critical reader, edited by Will Bradley and Charles Esche, published by Afterall Books and Tate Publishing. ISBN: 978 1 85437 626 8, € 30

Visit the Van Abbemuseum at : www.vanabbemuseum.nl/engels/

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