calendario eventi  :: 

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20/8/2014

Three exhibitions

Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau

Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Today is Tomorrow

curated by Thomas Schmutz

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943) ranks among the most important Swiss artists of the twentieth century. A woman of many talents and a master of form, colour and material, she created an oeuvre combining the highest demands on quality and consistency in the fields of design, painting, textiles, drawing, sculpture, architecture, dance and scenography. Including more than 300 exhibits, the exhibition Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Today Is Tomorrow provides the opportunity to explore, in unprecedented depth and breadth, the artist’s way of thinking and working across art forms and thus to fully appreciate her achievement as a pioneer of modernism.

The exhibition Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Today Is Tomorrow offers the largest and most comprehensive survey to date of the work of the Swiss avant-garde artist. On view are larger groups of works from all her fields of activity that provide a basis for understanding Sophie Taeuber-Arps artistic methodology.

A documentary film on Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s life and work of that was first shown on Swiss television in 2012 was aptly titled «Die bekannte Unbekannte» (The Familiar Unknown One). Sophie Taeuber-Arp is indeed very familiar to us: for the past twenty years she has been looking up at us from the 50 Swiss francs bill. She is known as the wife of Hans (Jean) Arp, one of the foremost Dada artists, as his ally and artistic companion. However, the true nature of her work is still insufficiently explored. The image we have of Sophie Taeuber-Arp has been shaped by one-sided art historiography and was crucially influenced by the posthumous statements of Hans Arp, in which he presented his wife to posterity as a dreamer and an artist working in a predominantly intuitive manner. By contrast, theexhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus looks at Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work in its entirety and considers the known and the unknown on a par; one pioneer achievement of Sophie Taeuber-Arp indeed consists in her cross-genre, relaxed and very deliberate use of creative media.

In its retrospective approach, the selection of works from all creative periods takes Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s distinctive understanding of art into account. Added to the substantial holdings of her work in the collection of the Aargauer Kunsthaus are top-quality loans from international and national museums, all of the institutes managing the estate, as well as various private collections. Among these are works that met with acclaim during her lifetime or that were subsequently recognized by art history, such as a series of oil paintings, reliefs and paper works that had a profound influence on the concrete/constructive visual language during the 1930s. Also included, however, are less noted works: textile and costume designs, woven objects and pieces of jewellery whose radical visual solutions already drew attention in the 1910s. Although ahead of its time, her work in the applied arts was long neglected in the fine art context. In the exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, applied and independent artworks are displayed side by side, thus rendering palpable formal connections between art forms: for Sophie Taeuber-Arp, today’s creative process always already held solutions for tomorrow.

At the same time with and in addition to the exhibition Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Today Is Tomorrow, a presentation of works from the collection of the Aargauer Kunsthaus will be on view in the galleries on the museum’s lower floor. This presentation’s focus is on constructive/concrete tendencies within the collection, which over the past twenty years have been a main target of our collecting activities and define the artistic context in which – from a Swiss perspective – Sophie Taeuber-Arp is to be situated.

After its presentation in Aarau, the exhibition will travel to Bielefeld where it will be on view at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld from 12 December 2014 until 15 March 2015.

Biography
Born in Davos in 1889, Sophie Taeuber-Arp grew up in an emancipated and culturally open-minded milieu in Trogen in the Canton of Appenzell. Artistically gifted, she enrolled in the Stauffacher school in St. Gallen, a private school for drawing and design, at the age of 15. From 1912 until 1914 Sophie Taeuber-Arp studied at the renowned Teaching and Experimental Studios for Applied Art in Munich, interrupted by an intermediate year at the State School of Applied Arts in Hamburg. Back in Zürich, she stayed afloat by accepting applied art commissions, until in 1916 she was offered a position teaching textile design at the Zürich School of Applied Arts. She continued to teach there until 1929, setting new standards in textile design. In 1915 she met Hans Arp whom she married in 1922. Both were active in the context of the Zürich-based Dada movement. Sophie Taueber-Arp appeared as a dancer both at the Cabaret Voltaire and later at the Galerie Dada. She attended the Laban School in Zürich and through it met dancers such as Mary Wigman and Katja Wulff. As a 27 year-old, Sophie Taeuber-Arp received her first major commission as an interior architect, which involved decorating the Aubette, a modern entertainment centre in Strasbourg, together with Hans Arp and Theo van Doesburg. In 1929 Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Hans Arp moved to France where they lived in a house conceived by Taeuber-Arp in Clamart-Meudon near Paris. Even more than in Zürich and stimulated by the close contact to the Paris art scene, Taeuber- Arp from then on focused on her artistic work. When the Germans marched into Paris in 1940 the couple was forced to flee to Grasse in the south of France and later back to Switzerland. In 1943 when she was only 54 years old, Sophie Taeuber-Arp died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the home of fellow artist Max Bill.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a member of major avant-garde artists’ associations such as Cercle et Carré (1929-1931), Abstraction-Création (1931-1936) in Paris as well as the Swiss Allianz and a co-founder of and contributor to the art magazine Plastique–Plastic (Paris and New York, 1937–1939, five issues appeared). The Swiss artist is considered a pioneer of constructive, concrete and abstract art, although she never entirely rejected the figurative.

Curatorial Assistance
Rahel Beyerle, project assistant

Accompanying Publication
In conjunction with the large-scale survey Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Today Is Tomorrow a comprehensive accompanying volume is published (1st edition German; 2nd edition English). This volume will be a definitive work that equally considers all areas of Taeuber-Arps creativity and points out the constant interconnections within her oeuvre. Apart from numerous illustrations, the publication includes scholarly essays by Rahel Beyerle, Sarah Burkhalter, Medea Hoch, Brigitte Maier, Walburga Krupp, Sigrid Schade, Thomas Schmutz, Maike Steinkamp and Rudolf Suter and reflects the various work techniques and creative disciplines that were important to Sophie Taeuber-Arp. The volume will be published jointly by the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in August 2014. Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich, 2014, ca. 300 pages. ISBN 978-3-85881-432-6

Preview for the Media
Thursday, 21 August 2014, 10 am
Introduction and tour of the exhibition with Thomas Schmutz, curator.
Followed by a reception in the foyer.

Exhibition Opening
Friday, 22 August 2014, 6 pm
6.15 pm Speakers: Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Thomas Schmutz, Curator / Dep. Director, Councillor Alex Hürzeler, and Isabelle Chassot, Director, Federal Office of Culture. Followed by a reception in the foyer.
5 – 6 pm Preview for sponsors and members of the Aargauischer Kunstverein.

Reading by Albert Freuler
Thursday, 4 September, 6.30 pm and Sunday, 9 November, 12.30 pm
Further information will be made available shortly

Guided Tour and Performance
Thursday, 18 September and Thursday, 16 October
6.30 pm Public guided tour of the Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition
8–8.30 pm Dance and text performance based on choreography by Nelly Bütikofer, in the foyer
Sunday, 16 November
11 am and 1 pm Public guided tour of the Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition
5 pm Dance and text performance based on choreography by Nelly Bütikofer

International Conference
Friday, 24 October 2014, 1.30 – 6 pm
Saturday, 25 October 2014, 9.30 am – 12.15 pm
The exhibition Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Today Is Tomorrow provides the occasion for a scholarly conference that, appealing to a broad public, aims to further the art historical analysis and categorisation of Sophie Taeuber- Arp’s oeuvre and promote critical reflection on the reception of her work. Co-organised by the Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstgeschichte SIK-ISEA, conference participants include experts as well as representatives of the various institutes that manage the artist’s estate. The Aargauer Kunsthaus invites all those interested in attending a major international exchange in the midst of the extensive work survey.

Art Education
The exhibition will be accompanied by numerous guided art historical tours and a wide-ranging programme of art education events for children, adults, families and schools (starting in August, detailed information will be available in the exhibition flyer and on our website, www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch/en/events)

For additional information please contact
Thomas Schmutz, Curator
tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 22, email: thomas.schmutz@ag.ch
Filomena Colecchia, Communication
tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 34, email: filomena.colecchia@ag.ch

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Docking Station
Contemporary Artists Work with Artworks from the
Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Nationale Suisse Collection

For the exhibition Docking Station contemporary artists were invited to work with historical artworks from the holdings of the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the insurance company Nationale Suisse. The results offer surprising and unusual perspectives on Swiss art and art history. A varied exhibition arrangement reveals the freshness and richness an artistically motivated «look back» can exude.

Contemporary art evinces a keen awareness of its own predecessors and pioneers. Young artists in particular are increasingly interested in art and cultural history, creating works that more or less explicitly reference practices and stylistic periods of the past. Conceived in cooperation with the insurance company Nationale Suisse, the exhibition Docking Station reflects this trend. Twelve Swiss artists - Marc Bauer, Bianca Brunner, Philippe Decrauzat, Klodin Erb, San Keller, Petra Köhle & Nicolas Vermot Petit-Outhenin, Zilla Leutenegger, Michael Meier & Christoph Franz, Giacomo Santiago Rogado and Francisco Sierra – were invited to work with art from the holdings of the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Nationale Suisse. In works that were conceived especially for this show they respond to selected artworks, casting them in a new light.

The Aargauer Kunsthaus strives to maintain active access to its collection and to build bridges between historical and contemporary art. The exhibition Docking Station is accordingly on view in the upper floor galleries.

Our partner in this project, the Nationale Suisse which specialises in art insurance, on the one hand promotes young artists who are at the beginning of their career through an art prize it has been awarding for ten years now. And on the other the insurance company owns an extensive collection of Swiss art that is celebrating its seventy-year anniversary. The two anniversaries led to the cooperation with the Aargauer Kunsthaus and to the exhibition Docking Station, which offers visitors a unique opportunity to discover two top-class collections of Swiss art through the lens of contemporary artistic work.

Artists:
Marc Bauer (b. 1975), Bianca Brunner (b. 1974), Philippe Decrauzat (b. 1974), Klodin Erb (b. 1963), San Keller (b. 1971), Petra Elena Köhle (b. 1977) / Nicolas Vermot Petit-Outhenin (b. 1977), Zilla Leutenegger (b. 1968), Michael Meier (b. 1980) & Christoph Franz (b. 1982), Giacomo Santiago Rogado (b. 1979), Francisco Sierra (b. 1977)

Historical Works by:
Eva Aeppli (b. 1925), Cuno Amiet (1868-1961), Albert Anker (1831-1910), Karl Ballmer (1891-1958), Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901), Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985), Caspar Wolf (1735 - 1783) and others.

Curators of the Exhibition
Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus, in collaboration with Thomas Schmutz, Curator / Dep. Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus, and Yasmin Afschar, Research Assistant, Aargauer Kunsthaus

Exhibition App
For the first time the Aargauer Kunsthaus is launching an app in conjunction with the exhibition that serves two purposes: it is an interactive guide to the exhibition and it features an abundance of images and texts that provide background information about the realized projects and selected works from the collections.

Preview for the Media
Thursday, 21 August 2014, 10 am
Introduction and tour of the exhibition with Madeleine Schuppli.
Followed by a reception in the foyer.

Exhibition Opening
Friday, 22 August 2014, 6 pm
6.15 pm speakers: Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus, and Dr. Hans Künzle, CEO, Nationale Suisse. Followed by a reception in the foyer.
5 – 6 pm preview for sponsors and members of the Aargau Art Association.

Artists’ Talks
Thursday 6.30 pm
28 Aug. The artists Marc Bauer, Zilla Leutenegger and Francisco Sierra in conversation with Madeleine Schuppli
2 Oct. The artists Bianca Brunner, San Keller und Petra Köhle & Nicolas Vermot in conversation with Yasmin Afschar
6 Nov. The artists Klodin Erb, Michael Meier & Christoph Franz und Giacomo Santiago Rogado in conversation with Thomas Schmutz

Art Education
Numerous art historical guided tours and a wide range of art education events for children, adults, families and schools accompany the exhibition. Please refer to the exhibition flyer or visit our website at www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch/en/events

For additional information please contact:
Madeleine Schuppli, Director, Aargauer Kunsthaus,
tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 30, email: madeleine.schuppli@ag.ch
Filomena Colecchia, Communication,
tel. +41 (0)62 835 23 34, email: filomena.colecchia@ag.ch

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CARAVAN 3/2014: Max Leiß
Series of exhibitions of young art

Image: Giacomo Santiago Rogado, Intuition, 2014. Mischtechnik auf Baumwolle, 300 x 220cm. Courtesy Galerie Mark Müller, Zürich © Giacomo Santiago Rogado 2014

Aargauer Kunsthaus
Aargauerplatz - 5001 Aarau
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Sunday 10 am – 5 pm, Thursday 10 am – 8 pm
Admission (Collection and Exhibitions)
Adults CHF 15.–
Children up to the age of 16 free
Trainees and Persons up to the age of 26 / IV CHF 10.–
School classes from the Canton of Aargau from 1st class to Sekundarstufe II free
School classes from other Cantons from 1st to 9th class free
School classes from other Cantons as of 10th class CHF 5.– / person
Kulturlegi CHF 10.–
Group rate adults (as of 10 persons) CHF 10.– / person
Group rate reduced admission (as of 10 persons) CHF 5.– / person

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