Page 45 - EXPOTIME!Sept2017
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New exhibitions
Exhibition view at K20. Photo: Achim Kukulies © Kunstsammlung NRW
these artists made use of locally familiar motifs and in- 17, 2017 till March 18, 2018), and finally at the Moderna Mu-
corporated the subconscious into their artistic produc- seet in Stockholm (April 21 till Aug 19, 2018).
tion, for example through the use of meditative Sufi ex-
ercises as traditional Islamic elements.
The close interrelationship between the written word
and pictorial forms is another special trademark of this
artist's group, which operated two independent pub-
lishing houses. In the space of 10 years, they published
30 books by major authors such as Edmond Jabès and
Phillipe Soupault. Many Art et Liberté authors requested
illustrations from their artist colleagues for their books
or manifestoes.
With striking motifs, a number of Surrealist photogra-
phers left their mark on the circle around Art et Liberté.
Unmistakable here as well are the typical expressive re-
sources of Surrealist photography, including defamiliar-
ization affects achieved through collage, montage, and
solarisation. Moreover, photography provided a tool for
the critique of nationalism as evident in the rag dolls
and pharaonic heads of Ida Kar, Etienne Sved's fragments
of ancient Egyptian sculptures, or the bizarre desert
landscapes as depicted by the American photographer
Lee Miller.
Curators: Sam Bardaouil, Till Fellrath (Art Reoriented, Munich
and New York). Curator at the K20: Doris Krystof
After Düsseldorf, it will be shown at the Tate Liverpool (Nov
45
EXPOTIME!, issue August/September 2017
