Originally initiated in the early nineteenth-century as a private and autonomous community association of a bourgeois society in the throes of emancipation, the Kunstverein model has been redefined countless times throughout its history. Beginning in the 1960s, trends toward institutional critique unleashed a fundamental paradigmatic shift in which Kunstvereins not only defined themselves as venues for the active presentation of experimental and younger positions in art, but also used their existing structures as an unrestricted space for testing out new forms of institutional and curatorial organization. The exhibition Modell Kunstverein (The Kunstverein Model) calls into question the present day status of Kunstvereins and their heterogeneous structures by drawing links between a selection of documentary materials and the associated artistic perspectives of Art & Language, BANK, Andrea Fraser and Nadim Vardag / Michael Franz. Recent interviews with various participants provide personal insights into the development of Kunstvereins and their specific position within the art system, in particular with regard to the institutional and economic realm. Within the framework of the TWODO Collection, Manuel Graf will present his series Doppelgaenger.

 

Ausstellungsansicht MODELL KUNSTVEREIN, NAK. Neuer Aachener Kunstverein

Ausstellungsansicht MODELL KUNSTVEREIN, NAK. Neuer Aachener Kunstverein

Art & Language, Karaoke sing along (Mixed Media) 2013, Courtesy Künstler, Galerie Kadel Wilborn, Düsseldorf

BANK, FAX-BAK (Kugelschreiber und Tinte auf Papier) Teile der gleichnamigen Werkserie 1998 – 1999
Courtesy: Künstler, MOTINTERNATIONAL, London

Michael Franz & Nadim Vardag, Entropie, 2012 (HD Film, SW, Ton, 12 min.), Courtesy: Künstler, Georg Kargl, Wien

Manuel Graf, TWODO Serie Doppelgaengers, 2015, Courtesy Künstler, TWODO Collection und Van Horn, Düsseldorf