Todos nuestros catálogos de arte All our art catalogues desde/since 1973 MaxiMin MaxiMuM MiniMization in ConteMporary art 2008 El uso de esta base de datos de catálogos de exposiciones de la Fundación Juan March comporta la aceptación de los derechos de los autores de los textos y de los titulares de copyrights. Los usuarios pueden descargar e imprimir gra- tuitamente los textos de los catálogos incluidos en esta base de datos exclusi- vamente para su uso en la investigación académica y la enseñanza y citando su procedencia y a sus autores. Use of the Fundación Juan March database of digitized exhibition catalogues signifies the user’s recognition of the rights of individual authors and/or other copyright holders. Users may download and/or print a free copy of any essay solely for academic research and teaching purposes, accompanied by the proper citation of sources and authors. www.march.es Fundación Juan March 1 Fundación Juan March This catalogue, and its Spanish edition, are published on the occasion of the exhibition MAXImin Maximum Minimization in Contemporary Art Fundación Juan March, Madrid February 8 — May 25, 2008 Fundación Juan March MAXImin MAXIMUM MINIMIZAtion IN CONTEMPORARy ART Fundación Juan March Fundación Juan March ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Fundación Juan March would like to thank the Corporate Art Depart- ment of Daimler AG and especially Dr. Renate Wiehager and her entire staff – particularly Mathis Neidhart – for the help, understanding and ex- traordinary collaboration they extended to us at every phase of this exhibi- tion, all of which was truly decisive in its realization. We also would like to extend our gratitude to Susanne Bronner, Clau- dia Seidel, Claudia Grimm, Katrin Hatesaul, Nadine Brüggebors and Sabine Hofmeister, all from the Corporate Art Department, Daimler AG; Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros, President of Daimler Chrysler España, and En- rique Aguirre de Cárcer, for their support and help; Günay Defterli (Hessi- scher Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main); Teresa Salvador and Alex Marsé, from Album (Barcelona); Doris Dieckmann Hölzel, Dr. Alexander Klee and the Adolf Hölzel Stiftung, Stuttgart; Henriette Coray-Loewensberg and Elisabeth Grossmann, from Zurich; as well as Javier Rodríguez Marcos. We would also like to thank Corporación Alba and Banca March for their support of this exhibition project. Finally, we would like to express our thanks to the following artists, gallery directors, foundations and bequests for their willingness to grant us the right to reproduce their works: Absalon, SHUGOARTS (Are You Meaning Company), Rob- ert Barry, Hartmut Böhm, Stephen Bram, Archivio Castellani (En- rico Castellani), Robyn Denny, Liam Gillick, Frederick Hammersley, Hölzel Stiftung, Stuttgart / Doris Dieckmann-Hölzel (Adolf Hölzel), Bernhard Kahrmann, Sabine Kricke-Güse (Norbert Kricke), Tadaa- ki Kuwayama, Henriette Coray Loewensberg (Verena Loewensberg), Almir da Silva Mavignier, Galerie Chez Valentin (Mathieu Mercier), The Estate of Jeremy Moon, courtesy of the Rocket Gallery, London, John Nixon, Gal- erie Hans Mayer (Herbert Oehm), Philippe Parreno, Charlotte Posenenske, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Secretariat and Archive Oskar Schlemmer (Oskar Schlemmer), Atelier Soto (Jesús Rafael Soto), Stankowski Stiftung, Stuttgart (Anton Stankowski), Katja Strunz, Emilio Valdés and Andrea Zittel. 5 Fundación Juan March FOREWORD The exhibition MAXImin has been organized in close collaboration with the Fundación Juan March in Madrid. For the first time in Spain, one will be able to see a selection of works that represent the minimalist tendencies of the 1960s and ‘70s in the context of their historical roots as well as in contemporary interpretations of these diverse movements. Since 2000, selections of these works have been shown to an international public in a series of traveling exhibitions under the title Minimalism and After, following the manner in which the Daimler Collection has been presenting its works, particularly its new acquisitions, at its galleries in Stuttgart. In our ongoing work with the collection, Minimalism and After signifies much more than the title of an exhibition series. It also describes the extensive purview of this corporate collection, which is based on historical abstract avant-garde movements and follows their legacy in contemporary art. The catalogue, Minimalism and After (Renate Wiehager. Minimalism and After. Tradition und Tendenzen minimalistischer Kunst von 1950 bis heute / Tradition and Tendencies of Minimalism from 1950 to the Present [Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje & Cantz, 2006]), published in 2006, documents this main focus of the collection in even greater detail. Thus, the focus of the collection as well as the concept of its presentation directly influence one another, and in recent years have significantly shaped the collection. Dr. Renate Wiehager Daimler AG, Corporate Art Department 6 Fundación Juan March With an exhibition title that has its origin in modern theories of rational Soto, François Morellet, Charlotte Posenenske, Elaine Sturtevant, Jeremy choice and games, MAXImin, on view in Madrid from February 8 to May 25, Moon, Robert Barry, Shusaku Arakawa, Daniel Buren, Hanne Darboven, 2008, is the result of a collaboration between the Daimler Art Collection, Michael Heizer, Sean Scully, Julian Opie, Philippe Parreno and Liam Gillick. Stuttgart, and the Fundación Juan March, Madrid. MAXImin is, thus, the result of the productive symbiosis between The exhibition, conceived by both institutions, seeks to present to a German company with one of Europe’s most important extensive the public a methodical history focusing on minimalist art trends over international art collections and a foundation that conceives, organizes the past century within both the context of their abstract predecessors and presents exhibitions mainly dedicated to international art. The and their contemporary interpretations. Thus, it is a history seen Fundación Juan March also hopes that this symbiosis will be beneficial to from the perspective of the mutual “method” they share: that of the exhibition’s public, largely because we have counted on the support maximum minimization. The reduction of the figure, color and form; the and collaborative efforts of the partners and collection most suited to transformation from artwork to object; the shift from traditional art media this joint project. Removed from the policies of representation of other to industrial materials and mass production, all are diverse aspects of the corporate collections of modern and contemporary art, the Daimler Art same “methodical reduction,” which has been and continues to be a factor Collection has, since its inception in 1977, taken advantage of the company’s in modern and contemporary art. establishment in Stuttgart and has focused its collection on the origins of The exhibition, organized around a nucleus of works evidencing Abstraction. With selective criteria and growing internationalization, it has the minimalist trends of the 1960s and ’70s, has thus aimed to privilege a created a relevant collection currently comprised of 1800 works by 600 methodical perspective over that of a selection of representative works. artists, belonging to Abstract and Constructivist, Conceptual and Minimal It is guided by the idea that apart from the American birth of “classical” trends and movements. Minimal Art in the 1960s, perhaps “Minimalism” does not solely consist of MAXImin was preceded by a smaller exhibition organized for the one current, but rather of a method of maximum formal reduction. Museu d’Art Espanyol Contemporani de Palma (Antes y después del Based on that argument, the exhibition presents the formally minimalismo, May–December 2007). In line with previous exhibitions “minimalized” approaches of certain artistic trends of the 1960s and ’70s presented by the Fundación Juan March dedicated to modern trends and in a much larger context. To the extent that it contemplates these trends collections such as Minimal Art (1981) and Zero, un movimiento europeo. from a more methodical rather than thematic perspective, “Minimalism” Colección Lenz Schönberg (1988) or that were more thematic, such as no longer refers to a solely American movement of the 1960s, but emerges Estructuras repetitivas (1985-86), MAXImin offers a broader perspective on as a tendency shared by the work of artists from highly diverse eras and all of these trends without forgoing a substantive presentation of the works. places. Thus, the exhibition is comprised of works that include the distant It presents a systematic and genealogical vision of the direct and indirect ancestors of Minimalism in Central European Abstract painting of the early links between some of the manifestations and methods most relevant to 20th century – especially in southern Germany – as well as those who have non-figural international art from the past century, providing a clear view incorporated Abstract and Minimal Art trends and traditions throughout of their similarities, their historical antecedents and their relevance in the century and into the present day on four continents. contemporary art. MAXImin is comprised of more than 110 works by 82 artists from Accompanying the exhibition is this large-format bilingual catalogue Europe, the United States, Latin America, Australia and Japan. The (Spanish/English), whose design recalls that of the special editions of methodical history of minimalist art trends over the past century has broad major international magazines. It features an extensive