19 July - 21 September 2003 | Opening: 18 July | 7 pm
Július Koller has "consistently developed his position
up to the present day, and an oeuvre that in its stringency, obsession
and peculiarity could well be called one of the most erratic and
consistent of European contemporary art. It is perhaps most comparable
with the universe of a Marcel Broothaer." (Georg Schöllhammer)
The first international, comprehensive solo exhibition of Július
Koller at the Kölnischer Kunstverein deals with attempts of
a utopian appropriation of space in the course of striving for new
creativity, imagination and greater freedom. It was conceived together
with the young artist Roman Ondák, who will be represented
with a solo exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein himself
in 2004.
Július Koller regards his artistic practice since the mid-60s
as a "cultural process", in which the self-initiative
of the subject that is to shape future-oriented, cultural situations
has a special significance. With his projects he has inscribed this
kind of step-by-step, active transformation of real life into reality.
The exhibition shows a selection from Július Koller's extensive
work since the 1960s up to the present. It comprises text-pictures,
objects, collages, photo works, manifestos and a video documentation.
Július Koller, born 1939 in Piestany (former Czechoslovakia),
lives and works in Bratislava.
Catalogue
A catalogue was published on the exhibition by Verlag der Buchhandlung
Walther König with extensive picture material and essays by
Vít Havránek, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Roman Ondák
and Georg Schöllhammer.
Lecture
On September 16, 2003 a lecture and exhibition discussion with Georg
Schöllhammre and Július Koller took place at the Kölnischer
Kunstverein.
For their generous support of the exhibition, we would like to thank:
Ströer Außenwerbung, Kunststiftung NRW.
Press release to download:
>> Press
release.pdf
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