Avant-garde is a concept that stems from both warfare and art. Avant-garde flourished in a society in full transition. Artists anticipate social revolutions. In visual art the heyday of the avant-garde is situated between 1895 and 1920, with the First World War as an international fault line. But how relevant is this pioneering art today? Around 15 leading contemporary artists enter into dialogue with colleagues from the historical avant-garde, from Ensor and Munch to the new movements just after the war. Today’s artists often feel a strong affinity with specific avant-garde works of art. Their choice and the dialogue with their own work forces us to look at these key works from modern art in a different light. The power of the avant-garde seems to have plenty more in reserve.
With works by, amongst others, Alexander Archipenko, Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Kazimir Malevich, Franz Marc, Gino Severini in dialogue with David Claerbout, Marlene Dumas, William Forsythe, Gerhard Richter, Sean Scully and Luc Tuymans.
Curator: Ulrich Bischoff
BOZAR - The Power of the avant-garde - Now and Then - 29.09.2016 - 22.01.2017
