Art and Money, 2014
Goshka Macuga
Photo: Courtesy the artist
Collection
Collage on c-print
31 x 42 cm
In her practice, Goshka Macuga takes on the role of artist, curator, collector, and researcher. Her investigations during the production of a play staged for the 8th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art in 2014, "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy," culminated in a series of tapestries, collages, objects, and set pieces. Drawing on in-depth archival and historical research into German art historian Aby Warburg’s playlet, “Hamburg Comedy,” which was performed only once at a Warburg family gathering on December 31, 1896, the works in this series embody an examination of relationships between artists, institutions, politics, and social issues.
Throughout Macuga’s play, and the resulting works, a revolving cast of characters appears, including curator Richard Artschwager, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and his wife, collector Dasha Zhukova, Warburg’s psychiatrist Dr. Ludwig Binswanger, museum administrator Jan van der Marck, as well as artists John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Andrea Fraser, and Marina Abramović, among others. Through the characters, Macuga examines art historical relationships by rephrasing existing narratives in familiar language.
For Goshka Macuga’s collage, Art and Money, she delved into Aby Warburg’s archives to bring to life the unexplored meaning of his “Hamburg Comedy.” The story told by the collage is of the clash between artist’s generations and the dominating powers of the art world. At the forefront of the image is a bed, which is prominent in the third act of "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy." It is a symbolic element representing the entanglement of art and money as well as as a reference to “embedding,” a term Macuga uses to describe her research approach, similar to that of a journalist. The scene in the collage features a variety of characters including, among others, curator Dieter Roelstraete (who co-scripted the play with Macuga), oligarch Roman Abramovich, artist Marina Abramović,and Macuga herself. The disparate yet intertwined lives of the characters represented here create a narrative based on the complex relationship between art and society at the end of the nineteenth century, one that resonates even today. – Alicia Reuter
Please visit the MCA's website for more information about Goshka Macuga's project "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy".
31 x 42 cm
In her practice, Goshka Macuga takes on the role of artist, curator, collector, and researcher. Her investigations during the production of a play staged for the 8th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art in 2014, "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy," culminated in a series of tapestries, collages, objects, and set pieces. Drawing on in-depth archival and historical research into German art historian Aby Warburg’s playlet, “Hamburg Comedy,” which was performed only once at a Warburg family gathering on December 31, 1896, the works in this series embody an examination of relationships between artists, institutions, politics, and social issues.
Throughout Macuga’s play, and the resulting works, a revolving cast of characters appears, including curator Richard Artschwager, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and his wife, collector Dasha Zhukova, Warburg’s psychiatrist Dr. Ludwig Binswanger, museum administrator Jan van der Marck, as well as artists John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Andrea Fraser, and Marina Abramović, among others. Through the characters, Macuga examines art historical relationships by rephrasing existing narratives in familiar language.
For Goshka Macuga’s collage, Art and Money, she delved into Aby Warburg’s archives to bring to life the unexplored meaning of his “Hamburg Comedy.” The story told by the collage is of the clash between artist’s generations and the dominating powers of the art world. At the forefront of the image is a bed, which is prominent in the third act of "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy." It is a symbolic element representing the entanglement of art and money as well as as a reference to “embedding,” a term Macuga uses to describe her research approach, similar to that of a journalist. The scene in the collage features a variety of characters including, among others, curator Dieter Roelstraete (who co-scripted the play with Macuga), oligarch Roman Abramovich, artist Marina Abramović,and Macuga herself. The disparate yet intertwined lives of the characters represented here create a narrative based on the complex relationship between art and society at the end of the nineteenth century, one that resonates even today. – Alicia Reuter
Please visit the MCA's website for more information about Goshka Macuga's project "Preparatory Notes for a Chicago Comedy".
The Polish-British artist Goshka Macuga (born 1967) works in the field of installations, using media as varied as photo collage, sculpture, large-format tapestry, video and performance. She is known for her diverse approach that extends to the curatorial and the narrative. Using extensive artistic research, she develops storylines for her works and exhibitions in which she combines fiction and history. Her “materials” are pivotal moments in human history, as well as works by other artists, which she stages in playful displays.Macuga is interested in the myriad connections within cultural history, especially that of the international avant-gardes of the twentieth century.
This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.
This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.