Wednesday 3 August 2011

Kemzeke : E.L.T. Mesens


E.L.T. MESENS comme nous l'entendons...
Retrospective exhibition
Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke (B)
14.08.2011 - 16.10.2011
Curators: Geert Verbeke, Simon Delobel
URL: www.verbekefoundation.com/
Catalogue: download the catalogue (in Dutch; also in French)

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of E.L.T. Mesens the Verbeke Foundation organizes the first retrospective of his dadaist and surrealist oeuvre. The exhibition contains an exceptional selection of about 200 collages, posters, partitions, letters, magazines and books illustrating the diverse talents and activities of Mesens. He was not only a musician, composer, poet, photographer, collagist, editor and polemist but also a gallerist and art collector. In addition ninety-four window displays illustrate the personalities of as much acquaintances of Mesens: from Eileen Agar, Scottie Wilson and Salvador Dali to Desmond Morris and Peggy Guggenheim.

Monday 1 August 2011

Berlin : Lajos Kassák













Lajos Kassák
Ambassador of the Avant-Garde 1915-1927
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
17.06. - 17.10.2011
url: www.berlinischegalerie.de/

Lajos Kassák (1887-1967) was a key figure of the Hungarian avant-garde. The exhibition focuses on his years of exile in Vienna (1920-1926) and the theory of picture architecture which Kassák understood as an emancipatory form of perception and expression. In addition, it will show his journalistic activity in the circle of the internationally influential magazine MA [Today], which reflected on expressionist, dadaist and constructivist tendencies.

For the first time, the exhibition will be showing works from a private collection in Paris. Supplemented by selected works from the collection of the Berlinische Galerie, it will trace the manifold trends of the avant-garde. In the decade beginning in 1910, Kassak had already founded an international network, which he extended continually through his contacts in Vienna, Paris and Berlin. Besides literary, artistic and theoretical works by Kassák and his contemporaries, the exhibition also visualises the geo-cultural contexts within which Kassák‘s activity unfolded. Contemporary photos, documents and films present groups, centres, publications and famous artist personalities from that period, including Sándor Bortnyik, El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Kurt Schwitters, Tristan Tzara and Herwarth Walden. Source: Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.