JOSEPH BEUYS Greetings from the Eurasian

13.10.2017–21.01.2018

Presenting over one hundred and fifty works, the exhibition – Greetings from the Eurasian seeks simultaneously to consider Joseph Beuys’ activities in Antwerp during the 1960s and ‘70s, alongside his relevance to a new generation.

Joseph Beuys was one of the most significant and influential artist of the twentieth century, expanding the scope of art into the realms of politics, society and ecology. Beuys was active in Antwerp during the 1960s and 1970s through his relationship with the seminal gallery Wide White Space. Amongst his numerous exhibitions, it is here that he also made his performance Eurasienstab (Eurasian Staff) in collaboration with Henning Christiansen on 9 February 1968. Joseph Beuys – Greetings from the Eurasian will in the first instance look at Beuys as an artist that was not only active in Antwerp (where he met other figures of the Post-War avant-garde such as Marcel Broodthaers and Panamarenko) but was also deeply influential in Belgium more broadly, in a way that has been largely forgotten.

The exhibition also considers Beuys as a figure who worked in a way that was contrary to the logic and hegemony of Modernism. He was in a sense the embodiment of the anti-Modern - against greater rationality, individualism and the Eurocentric world-view. Using his Eurasienstab performance as a starting point, the exhibition will consider how Beuys’ use of the notion of ‘Eurasia’ was part of his anti-Modern sentiment, looking away from the grand-narrative and hegemony of the “West”, and towards a vision of affinity with the “East”, to the point of even removing such distinctions. It was a vision that was more attuned to cultural depth, mysticism and to nature. This anti-modern approach also echoed in his political engagement, with an approach to politics though a belief in discursiveness, latent energy and direct action.

Joseph Beuys – Greetings from the Eurasian presents numerous major works by Beuys, including a number of installations related to key actions, including Eurasienstab (Eurasian Staff) (1968) and Honigpumpe am Arbeitsplatz (Honeypump in the Workplace) (1977) that he activated at the 6 exhibition in 1977, as well as key works such as Infiltration homogen für Konzertflügel (Homogeneous Infiltration for Grand Piano) (1966) and Hirschdenkmäler (Monuments to the Stag) (1958/1982), amongst many others. The exhibition will also look at the activities of the Antwerp Free International University that was set up by proponents of the Antwerp artistic community during the early 1980s. Joseph Beuys – Greetings from the Eurasian will be the first major exhibition of works by Beuys in Belgium since the 1980s.

The exhibition is curated by Nav Haq, Senior Curator, M HKA

The exhibition will be the first in a series of monographic exhibitions at M HKA looking at key figures of the Post-War avant-garde who were active in Antwerp, locating the city as part of a network of scenes around the dense region of Benelux and the Rheinland. Subsequent exhibitions in 2018 and 2019 will focus on and Marcel Broodthaers respectively.

Greetings from the Eurasian, the major exhibition at M HKA devoted to Joseph Beuys, is accompanied by an English-language catalogue, published by Koenig Books. The richly illustrated catalogue contains many previously unpublished images, as well as new writing by Jean-Philippe Antoine, Bart De Baere, Anny De Decker, Clémentine Deliss, Helmut Draxler, Nav Haq, Johan Pas and reprints by Joseph Beuys, Henning Christiansen and . An abridged Dutch-language version will also be available.

ALSO AT M HKA

IN SITU: LIFEPATCH The tale of Lion and Tiger 16.09.2017–07.01.2018 The IN SITU programme offers medium-scale monographic exhibitions by significant early- and mid- career artists from around the world. It focuses on the commissioning of new works and foregrounding experimental practices in what is M HKA’s largest and most atypical exhibition space. The Lifepatch collective have been invited for a solo exhibition at M HKA. Lifepatch is a community- based organisation founded in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2012. They organise cross-disciplinary practices, bringing art, science and technology into dialogue in order to develop the useful presence of technological, natural and human resources in their region. As with many of the collective groups in Indonesia, self-practice, collaboration, interdisciplinarity and invention are at the core of Lifepatch’s work. Lifepatch are presented at M HKA within the framework of Europalia Indonesia. The exhibition is developed in collaboration with AIR Antwerpen and MAS – Museum aan de Stroom.

URGENT CONVERSATIONS: ANTWERP–ATHENS 16.09–12.11.2017 Urgent conversations: Antwerp–Athens is the second part of the cooperation between the M HKA and the EMST (Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens). In four episodes, work of a Belgian artist is each time linked to work by a Greek artist. And each time, a theme is linked to the works. Finally, these themes are challenged and enhanced by a third artist from either collection. The third episode shows work by Dimitris Alithinos, Luc Deleu, Allan Sekula, Costis, Paul De Vree, Sarenco, Jimmie Durham, Danny Matthys, Kostis Velonis, Vlad Monroe, Eleni Mylonas and Hugo Roelandt.

PHILIPPE VAN SNICK Ping Pong 16.09.2017–07.01.2018 For the exhibition Ping Pong, Belgian artist Philippe Van Snick brings together works from different periods in his oeuvre. The title Ping Pong refers, on the one hand, to the central work Ping Pong in the exhibition, on the other hand to the dynamics inherent in Van Snick's oeuvre.

JEF GEYS Names 16.09.2017–07.01.2018 Jef Geys was undoubtedly one of the first artists, starting in the 1960s, not only to identify the artwork with a proper name, but, moreover, to make an artwork out of the proper name alone – so, for example, Jef van Dijck, Marc Callewaert, Betty, Lola, Jef Sleeckx: as many proper names that sometimes refer to artworks, at other times to nothing other than their own name. Through the proliferation of proper names, Geys multiplied the ‘minor identities’ that are the very ‘matter’ of his practice. (Marie-Ange Brayer)

M HKA also presents a permanent collection with works by, among others Marina Abramović & Ulay, Dirk Braeckman, James Lee Byars, Thierry De Cordier, Raoul De Keyser, Lili Dujourie, Marlene Dumas, Jimmie Durham, Jan Fabre, , Jef Geys, Jan Henderikse, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Gordon Matta-Clark, Almagul Menlibayeva, Otobong Nkanga, Cady Noland, Panamarenko, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cindy Sherman, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Luc Tuymans and Jan Vercruysse. Permanently installed collection works can also be admired elsewhere in the museum.

PRESS INFORMATION

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For more information and photos, please visit: www.muhka.be/pers and www.ensembles.org, there you will find more information and documentation on artists, artworks and exhibitions in M HKA

Or contact: Bert De Vlegelaer Press Officer E [email protected] T +32 (0)3 260 99 91 M +32 (0)473 81 25 74