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Exhibition |
May 25 to October 26, 2019
Vertigo
Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970
Vertigo
Curated by Eva Badura-Triska and Markus Wörgötter
Of all the art movements of the 1950s and 1960s, op art has hitherto received the least attention. Often it is denigrated as being too spectacular and superficial. This is a misconception—this art sharpens our awareness of the ambiguity of appearances and illustrates the impossibility of grasping “reality.” Under the title Vertigo, mumok presents a deceptive game of the senses, presenting a wide spectrum ranging from panel paintings, reliefs, and objects to installations and experiential spaces, to film and computer-generated art.
Op art works are by no means only directed at our sense of sight. With their powerful effects and optical illusions they lead to experiences of sensory overkill, which can then affect the whole body. In all of this, op art remains indebted to the anti-classical. In this sense, the exhibition also includes references to anti-classical art from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries and to precursors from the first half of the twentieth century, works that also use pulsating patterns, beating and ephemeral after-images, paradoxical illusions of space, and other methods of optical illusions
This exhibition was initiated by mumok and is implemented in cooperation with Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, where it will be shown in late 2019. Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 is generously supported by the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Privatsammlung, Bad Homburg/Albertina, Wien/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
From left to right: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Via Appia, Via Adreatina, from: Le Antichità Romane II, 1756; Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie Nr. 417, 1968; Richard Anuszkiewicz, Union of the Four, 1961; Bridget Riley, Hesitate, 1964; Erika Giovanna Klien, Diving Bird, 1939
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Albertina, Wien/Tate, London/Belvedere, Wien/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Gianni Colombo, Spazio elastico, 1967–1968
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Archivio Gianni Colombo, Milano
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Julio Le Parc, Lumière en mouvement – Installation, 1962/1999, Edition 1/9
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Adolf Luther, Laserraum, 1970
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Adolf-Luther-Stiftung, Krefeld/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Jesús Rafael Soto, Metal Vibration, 1969/1970
Photo: Markus Wörgötter ©mumok/Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU), Zagreb/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Nicolas Schöffer, CHRONOS 5, 1960
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/ Viski Károly Múzeum Kalocsa/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Carlos Cruz-Diez, Promenade Chromatique Vienne, Paris, 2019
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Carlos Cruz-Diez/Adagp, Paris, 2019/Bildrecht Wien, 2019
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Exhibition View: Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 / May 25 to October 26, 2019
Marina Apollonio, Dinamica Circulare, 1968/2019
Photo: Markus Wörgötter © mumok/Marina Apollonio
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