curator: Petra Stegmann
- DOWN WITH ART! E.V.
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness” – such was the observation of Scottish-American naturalist John Muir as far back as 1890, seventy years before artists around the world discovered the forest as a creative space for themselves. The exhibition “THROUGH A FOREST WILDERNESS”, which was presented in Potsdam for a short time only, takes an original look at the artistic works and performances that have come about through the exploration of nature. The focus is on minimal yet often spectacular works of conceptual art, performance, minimal art and Fluxus.
It was for the artists of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular, that the forest functioned as a retreat and an alternative space during the period of the 1960s to 1980s; it became their stage, often serving as the only witness to activities that were prohibited in public cultural life. At the same time, the artists of Western Europe and America were engaged in discovering new territory outside of established and commercialised institutions.
Artists: ANK 64/SOUP 69/Visarid (EE), ARTPROSPEKT P.O.P. (SK), Eugen Blume/Erhard Monden (DE), Bård Breivik (NO), CLARA MOSCH (DE), Vladimír Havlík (CZ), Geoffrey Hendricks (US), Wolfgang Henne/Michael Kunert/Steffen Volmer (DE), Lumír Hladík (CZ/CA), Aleksandar Battista Ilić in collaboration with Ivana Kesser and Tomislav Gotovac (HR), Villem Jahu (EE), Milan Knížák (CZ), Kollektive Aktionen (RU), Hilde Krohn Huse (NO/GB), Reiner Maria Matysik (DE), OHO (SI), Yoko Ono (JP/US), Carolee Schneemann (US), Petr Štembera (CZ), Dezider Tóth (SK), Margita Titlová Ylovsky (CZ), Jiří Valoch (CZ), Robert Watts (US), Vadim Zakharov (RU/DE), Jana Želibská (SK), GORGONA (HR) and others.
