to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer

In fall 2015, mumok will look back at international art activities around 1990. On three levels, we are showing installations, publications, objects, projects, films, and interventions by more than 50 artists and artists’ groups. They all question traditional forms of exhibiting and address the pressing social challenges of their time.

The words to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer may seem to define the functions of an exhibition very clearly, but around 1990 there were many open questions as to what art should be offering, how it should be exhibited and made public.

In the context of larger societal changes around 1990, artists increasingly discussed the social functions and base of their work. Reflecting on the conditions of artistic production and art’s presentation was, in various ways, intertwined with work on actual social issues. The status of the object of art and its economic foundation was a subject of contentious debate, as were the mechanisms of social exclusion, identity politics, and gender issues—and the AIDS crisis was reaching a pivotal point. In addition, the consequences of the fall of the Iron Curtain as well as a rapidly advancing globalization left their traces throughout.

to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer brings together artworks and projects that, around 1990, focused as an investigative site modes of display and conditions of reception. The exhibition will be shown on three levels of mumok, presenting internationally renowned artists and also positions and projects that to date have rarely been considered in museums.

Artists and projects: ACME, ACT UP, A.N.Y.P., Fareed Armaly, ARTFAN, Judith Barry, Cosima von Bonin, Gregg Bordowitz, Botschaft e.V., Tom Burr, BüroBert, Clegg & Guttmann, DANK, Das ästhetische Feld, Democracy, Stephan Dillemuth, Mark Dion, DOCUMENTS, Dorit Margreiter – Mathias Poledna – Florian Pumhösl mit Ines Doujak und Hans Küng, Maria Eichhorn, Peter Fend, Andrea Fraser, Friesenwall 120, Game Girl, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Renée Green, Group Material, If You Lived Here…, Informationsdienst, Michael Krebber, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Lesezimmer, Thomas Locher, Allan McCollum, META, minimal club, Regina Möller, Christian Philipp Müller, museum in progress, On the Museums Ruins, Stephen Prina, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Martha Rosler, Klaus Scherübel, Services, Jason Simon, Josef Strau, Texte zur Kunst, Third Text, The V-Girls, Octavian Trauttmansdorff, Vor der Information, when tekkno turns to sound of poetry, Christopher Williams, Fred Wilson, Heimo Zobernig

Exhibition design by Ken Saylor