The group exhibition “Reduction & Suspense” rounds up current posi-tions of conceptual art production. The unifying thread here is the art-ists’s critical search for a reduction of forms in their work, while simul-taneously communicating a plethora of references. Since the decou-pling of form and content in minimalist art during the 1960s and 70s, historical, sociological, cultural and political themes are being increas-ingly articulated again behind similarly reduced surfaces, today. The focus here is less on aesthetic questions; rather, an attempt is being made to convey content in a visual manner. The viewer’s encounter with the work is based on the involvement of minuscule retinal sensa-tions. The involvement with the content of the references provided does, however, open up further discoursive horizons through each of the works represented in the exhibition.
Mental processes involving thought, memory and imagination are be-ing triggered, a network of references and associations is being estab-lished. All of the artists here brought together communicate complex thematic areas, employing methods that are directly documentary, narrative or representational. In so doing, the processes of perception are firmly positioned at the centre of the experience. |