ON STAGE – All the Art World's a Stage

March 15, 2023 to January 7, 2024

ON STAGE
All the Art World’s a Stage

Curated by Rainer Fuchs

The exhibition ON STAGE explores the various theatrical and stage-related forms of expression in art since the 1960s, when a neo-avant-garde critical of tradition began focusing on performative and actionist art forms that endowed artists with a stage-like presence, often in front of an audience.

The Viennese Actionism with its provocative and time-critical theatricality is just as much a part of this as the Vienna Group, whose literary cabaret stands firmly in the tradition of Dadaist theater, or the Fluxus-Movement with its media crossovers.

Exhibition room with white walls, small dark pictures hanging on the walls, a chello framed with pink neon light in the corner, a piano with all kinds of everyday objects stuck on it in the foreground on the left

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler, © mumok

Artistic installation with spotlights and soft toys in a bright exhibition space

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler, © mumok

Artwork with black wooden chairs in front of a yellow wall

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler, © mumok

Artwork consisting of a dressing table with mirrors in front of a pink wall, on the left in the background a large photo of a camera

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler, © mumok

Works of art in a bright exhibition space, on the left a woman posing wrapped in colourful scarves like the Statue of Liberty, painted on a black background

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler © mumok

Exhibition room with white walls and light floor, on the left in the background an orange, colourful painting with many people, on the right a large picture of a camera

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Exhibition View: ON STAGE – All the Art World’s a Stage
Photo: Klaus Pichler © mumok

Artistic installation in the form of a chessboard with colourful cardboard figures on it

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Artistic installation made of brown material with a kind of scarecrow, small blue pictures on the wall in the background on the right

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Alongside these maledominated art forms, a feminist scene established itself that portrayed and challenged the effects of patriarchal social hierarchies on gender roles. They form the historical basis for more recent positions that oppose conservatively determined gender roles and images of identity, as well as racism and colonialism. Other thematic areas include musical and cinematic productions, (self-)representations and rituals of the art business as well as works in which viewers become actors. The exhibition shows 150 works and work series, most of which are culled from the holdings of the mumok collection.

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ON STAGE – All the Art World's a Stage

The exhibition ON STAGE explores the various theatrical and stage-related forms of expression in art since the 1960s, when a neo-avant-garde critical of tradition began focusing on performative and actionist art forms that endowed artists with a stage-like presence, often in front of an audience.