New Zero
Exhibition View
Henk Peeters
Jef Verheyen
Jean Tinguely
Jesus Rafael Soto
Martial Rayisse
Piero Manzoni / John Nixon
special exhibition
"Piero Manzoni - John Nixon. Works from Herning/Denmark"Piero Manzoni (1933-1963) was invited by the clothes producer Aage Damgard to work in a studio in his factory in Herning. In the summer months of 1960/61, some of the most exciting works of 20th century art were created here: the achromatic - i.e. 'colorless' - pictures made of cotton wool, fabric, kaolin or plexiglass.Besides he creates the "Socle du Monde", the 'base of the world', which raise mankind and the world to be art objects.
Some four decades later and after extensive preliminary work, the Australian concept artist John Nixon was given the opportunity to work in Herning for several weeks. He selected some ten works of Manzoni to which he responded, argumenting individually, with monochromatic orange works from his "Experimental Painting Workshop (EPW)".
His credo, which also applies to the entire NEW ZERO exhibition, is "Radical modern art (historical avant-garde) us an un-endable project, expressing the desire for experimenting and the history of experimenting. My interest lies not so much in returning to history but in developing history. I see my work as a continuation of the radical modern art project."
Nixon explains his dialog with Manzoni as the "up-to-dateness of the material basis which I respect in Manzoni's work and to which I respond. The material reflects an attitude which is comparable to mine - the conviction that you are able to experiment within limits you have defined yourself and that by reducing color and material to the absolute minimum, both of these are paradoxically boosted in terms of impact. Neither Manzoni nor myself ever produced "pictures" or "stories". As artists, we both occupy ourselves with the radical nature of monochromatic painting; we developed projects we named ourselves and which distinguish us from other artists engaged in monochromatism. Yves Klein has created something similar with his 'International Klein Blue'. On the other hand, both Manzoni and I myself expand our pictorial projects by the addition of objects, actions, ideas, music, manifestos, etc. Manzoni is a pioneer in his field. I hope that my work continues this 'extended vision' into our present time."