franz gertsch in dialogue with thomas demand, on kawara, yves klein, wolfgang laib, roman opalka, gerhard richter, thomas ruff, piero steinle and robert zünd

"horizons" starts off the museum franz gertsch’s temporary exhibition program. The exhibition’s title is meant to be read in a figurative sense of the word: it is all about expanding one’s horizon by looking beyond the range of Franz Gertsch’s works from the museum’s collection. We invite visitors to a tour d’horizon establishing a connection between Franz Gertsch’s oeuvre and other related outstanding artistic positions. The exhibition’s range extends from 19th century naturalism (Robert Zünd) to artists of Franz Gertsch’s own generation, such as Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter or On Kawara, to most recent trends, including all media from painting to print and photography, to sculpture and video.

Five rooms establish distinct artistic dialogues. So Franz Gertsch’s large-scale Schwarzwasser-woodcuts confront two of Gerhard Richter’s Seestücke (sea-scapes) and a video by Piero Steinle. Gertsch’s large grass-paintings engage with photographic sculptures by Thomas Demand, and Gertsch’s grass-woodcuts encounter Yves Klein’s so far hardly ever exhibited grass-cosmogonies. Another room focuses on portraits and brings together Franz Gertsch and German photographer Thomas Ruff.

The largest room is dedicated to the notion of time. Gertsch’s monumental triptychs Das grosse Gras (The large Grass) are joined by a Wolfgang Laib-installation, On Kawara’s date paintings and Roman Opalka’s number paintings. Together, they thus form a poetic and philosophical reflection on standstill and progression of time in nature. Outstanding loans from various museums and private collections, set in the pure and light-flooded architecture of the museum franz gertsch, make this exhibition into an exquisitely delightful event for all lovers of art.

A catalogue published by the Atelier Verlag accompanies the exhibition. It contains numerous colour illustrations and photographs documenting the installative and dialogic character of the exhibition. Texts by Reinhard Spieler and Christin Markovic. 72 pp., CHF 48.-