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 how art should be exhibited and brought to an audience. At the time the AIDS crisis was reaching its climax, questions of identity and gender were passionately debated, social mechanisms of exclusion were a key issue, and the consequences of rapidly spreading globalization were felt everywhere. Under these conditions, there was heated debate on the social function of artistic work, and on the relationship between art and its public, and its conditions of presentation and reception.

to expose, to show, to demonstrate, to inform, to offer will be shown on three levels of mumok, presenting internationally renowned artists like Félix González-Torres, Louise Lawler or Christopher Williams, and also positions and projects that to date have rarely been considered in museums.