The two-part group exhibition “REDEFINE RELIEF” picks up the art historical term relief and raises the question how far it (still) remains applicable to contemporary artistic work – going beyond the classic, pre-defined idea as a reference.
A deliberate loosening of rigid demarcations allowed the genres to flow increasingly into one another in artistic practice. The concept of the relief, which in any case moves between the two fields of painting and sculpture, had become blurred with the emergence of new art forms in the 20th century and the extension of the concept of art in the 1960s. In contemporary art it is less and less clearly defined or delimited from other artistic forms.
What can (precisely) be described as relief today? Is the term still applicable at all? Which criteria and characteristics are relevant for this? And where can differences and intersections be determined to the classical relief? The group exhibition “REDEFINE RELIEF” with disparate artistic positions would like to put questions such as these up for discussion.
In contrast to the classical relief as an architectural decoration or a partially plastic representation of the pictorial, the contemporary relief can be understood as the result of an artistic examination of the surface. In two group shows a total of nine artistic positions exemplify different forms of dealing with surface and materiality present in contemporary art, which can be more or less stringently linked to the concept of the relief.
Supported by
Stiftung Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst
Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung
Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur MV
Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin
Photo: Rainer Splitt, Goldgelb Berlin (Farbguss), 2005;
Pigment, PUR; 96 kg
The two-part group exhibition “REDEFINE RELIEF” picks up the art historical term relief and raises the question how far it (still) remains applicable to contemporary artistic work – going beyond the classic, pre-defined idea as a reference.
A deliberate loosening of rigid demarcations allowed the genres to flow increasingly into one another in artistic practice. The concept of the relief, which in any case moves between the two fields of painting and sculpture, had become blurred with the emergence of new art forms in the 20th century and the extension of the concept of art in the 1960s. In contemporary art it is less and less clearly defined or delimited from other artistic forms.
What can (precisely) be described as relief today? Is the term still applicable at all? Which criteria and characteristics are relevant for this? And where can differences and intersections be determined to the classical relief? The group exhibition “REDEFINE RELIEF” with disparate artistic positions would like to put questions such as these up for discussion.
In contrast to the classical relief as an architectural decoration or a partially plastic representation of the pictorial, the contemporary relief can be understood as the result of an artistic examination of the surface. In two group shows a total of nine artistic positions exemplify different forms of dealing with surface and materiality present in contemporary art, which can be more or less stringently linked to the concept of the relief.
Supported by
Stiftung Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst
Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung
Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur MV
Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin
Photo: Rainer Splitt, Goldgelb Berlin (Farbguss), 2005;
Pigment, PUR; 96 kg