Sam Gilliam, who died recently, is considered a pioneer of post-war painting in the United States. He was significantly influenced by the Washington Variety School and in 1972 participated in the exhibition organized by Walter Hopps for the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
The first black artist to represent the United States there, he was recognized entering his creative practice with a sense of the significance of the cycle, of progress, of the significance of contrast itself, an opportunity to take control and work from his own thoughts.
The title of this exhibition, open through January 29, 2023, refers to this work “Changes” by artist Sam Gilliam, which is part of the mumok collection.
The exhibition “Changes“, deliberately in the plural, focuses on the latest acquisitions to the collection, with works by Leidy Churchman, János Fájo, Philipp Fleischmann, Birke Gorm, Jojo Gronostay, Frida Orupabo and Emily Wardill, and various works that have not yet been exhibited at the mumok, and contrasts these with more established properties that can therefore be seen again.
Various thematic areas address important frameworks from today’s perspective: reflections, surfaces, conditions and in/visibilities. The exhibition calls for a thoughtful and explicit way to address the circumstances and limitations of the exhibition space and how they can allow for exchange and be brought to the forefront in a setting.
The exhibition “Changes,” while alluding to the way the paintings are suspended without contours seeks to look entirely different depending on the idea of the space where the works are presented and intertwines with the commemoration of Mumok’s 60th anniversary this fall.
The center’s current space in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier is the gallery’s third location to date – the main space was, in 1962, Karl Schwanzer‘s Austrian Structure (created for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair) in the Schweizergarten, and the second, in 1979, the ornate Liechtenstein Palace.
As the photographs by Peter Baum, Candida Höfer and Barbara Pflaum vividly illustrate, these stunning and, on the whole, totally different and tasteful structures have also influenced the boundaries of exhibitions in their own ways.
The exhibition “Changes”, will discover the artists: Monika Baer, Peter Baum, Ştefan Bertalan, Christo, Leidy Churchman, Hanne Darboven, Marcel Duchamp, Wear Swirl, János Fajó, Werner Feiersinger, Philipp Fleischmann, Isa Genzken, Sam Gilliam, Domenico Gnoli, Sayre Gomez, Birke Gorm, Julian Göthe, Dan Graham, Renée Green, Jojo Gronostay, Hans Haacke, Maria Hahnenkamp, Candida Höfer, Tess Jaray, Valerie Jaudon, Hildegard Joos, Annette Kelm, Julije Knifer, Jutta Koether, Willi Kopf, Jiří Kovanda, Tetsumi Kudo, Louise Lawler, Carolyn Lazard, Dorit Margreiter, Dóra Maurer, Ulrike Müller, Oswald Oberhuber, Claes Oldenburg, Henrik Olesen, Yoko Ono, Frida Orupabo, Alicia Penalba, Barbara Pflaum, Walter Pichler, Charlotte Posenenske, Josephine Pryde, Florian Pumhösl, Eileen Quinlan, Robert Rauschenberg, Mieko Shiomi, Daniel Spoerri, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Doru Tulcan, Josip Vaništa, Emily Wardill, Lois Weinberger, Lawrence Weiner, Beam Yoshida.