Clegg & Guttmann
Variants of Aesthetic Collectivism
(i) In the aesthetic domain, individualism and collectivism stand for competing theories of artistic reception. The former view emphasizes the primacy of the experience of the single viewers, confronted with a work of art, whereas the latter, the manner in which they are constituted by it as parts of an aesthetic collective. For the aesthetic collectivist, you always experience art together with others; for the individualist, the art viewer is essentially alone.
Individualism is, of course, the more common sense view; all experience resides, after all, in the heads of single human beings. Collectivism points to the fact that an important aspect of the issue is ignored - that the sense of togetherness generated by common aesthetic experience is not an incidental phenomenon but part and parcel of the aims of all art, whether one experiences it in a concert hall, a cinema or a museum. Genuine art, as Kant reminded us, is not concerned with mere subjective gratification; art must always appeal to the viewer’s sensus communis and the development of sensus communis requires the experience of art.
(ii) The present exhibition of Clegg & Guttmann is conceived of as an essay on various concrete forms of aesthetic collectivism found in their recent works of art.
i. In „What can be expressed and what is always left out from the description“ the issue of aesthetic collectivism appears in a most transparent way. When the individual viewers contribute intellectual labor, drawing the different parts of the tree as it appears to them at various points of time, they are thereby engaged in a communal aesthetic project.
ii. „Constraint drawing“ is also clearly centered on the topic of multi participant action albeit in a somewhat different way. One could even say that the artwork is, essentially, a devise for collective creativity. Because the movements of the „model“ and the three „draftsmen“ who are included in the piece are mutually constrained and the drawings that result represent the sum total of the actions of a genuine aesthetic collective.
iii. „Our production/ the production of others“ is relevant to the present concerns because it is the terminal point of a sequence of events involving the photographers (Clegg & Guttmann) and their subjects (Melos Quartet). Clegg & Guttmann were asked to photograph the musicians. The photograph was used for a record cover of the late Beethoven string quartets. Finally Clegg & Guttmann „re-appropriated” the record cover image, re-photographing it and presenting it as their own work.
iv. “Cardinal Red” was made as a collaboration of Clegg & Guttmann and Franz Erhardt Walther – a work of art authored by, both, the photographers and their subjects. In so far as we see Franz Erhardt Walther demonstrating how to use the different parts of one of his works for a performance of sorts, the photograph is inherently concerned with his ideas. On the other hand, the work is also a portrait that employs various art historical conventions; in that regard, it is thoroughly consistent with the concerns of Clegg & Guttmann’s works.
v. „Rus in Urbis“ is an installation, which explicitly requires a collective aesthetic reception; the viewers are requested to syncopate with their dance movements to the beat generated by a mechanical bull.
vi. Finally, „The open Tool-Shelter of Toronto“ shows how the work of art can expands its influence beyond aesthetic concerns. Being a mechanism for recycling and sharing various work tools, the work aims to generate in its social surrounding an enhanced sense of a community.
To sum up, none of the works included in the show realizes an idea, which appeared, first, in the mind of a single creator. Most required a collaboration of a number of distinct individuals. All are open works, which must be completed by the viewers. Each in its own manner articulates a way in which the work of art casts the single viewer as a part of an aesthetically-generated collective which it helps create and sustain.
Biography
born 1957, live and work in New York, Berlin and Vienna
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019
The Early Phases of Italian Modernism, Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan/Napel
Follow the Rule, KOW, Berlin
2017
“Clegg & Guttman: 120 Jahre nach dem ersten Zionskongress in Basel“,Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel Clegg & Guttmann – Eye Contact: The Origins of Totalitarianism, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne
2016
MAK ART Salon #1, Geymüllerschlössel, Vienna
2015
Modalities of Portraiture, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Sieben Künste von Pritzwalk, BKV Brandenburg Kunstverein, Potsdam
Political Landscape, Institut für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Steiermark, Graz
Monument for Berg and the Second Viennese School, Proposal for the Alban Berg Stiftung
2014
Sieben Künste von Pritzwalk, Public Project, Pritzwalk
The Collector, His Father And Their Collection, Galerie Mirko Mayer / m-projects, Köln
Institutional Portraits and Spanish Libraries, Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid
2013
collaborative and commissioned portraits, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
Clegg & Guttmann, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin
Porträts – Modalitäten und Variationen, DKW Brandenburg Kunstmuseum, Cottbus
2012
Les Modalités du Portrait, Centre d’Art Passerelle, Brest
Humiliation, Temporary Installation, Kunstplatz Graben, Vienna
Ostwestlische Riesenrad, competition Monument for Freedom and Unity, Leipzig
Monument for the Jewish victims of the Nazi Regime in Saarland, competition Saarbrucken
Portraits and Other Cognitive Exercises 2001 - 2012, BAWAG Contemporary, Vienna
2011
Self Portrait with a Convex Mirror, Zusammenarbeit mit Fareed Armay, Pro Choice, Vienna
The Open Debate Station, New Delhi, in the Yamuna-Elbe Public Art project, New Delhi Monument of Monuments: Indoor and outdoor discussions around the Open Debate Station, GFLK
Die Offene Bibliothek, Salzburg, Salzburger Kunstverein (in ‘Sense and Sensibility’)
Monument for Historical Change, Reopening (with ‘Joy Religion’), Berlin
Measuring the World, Kunsthaus Graz
Monument of Monuments: Indoor and outdoor discussions around the Open Debate Station, at
Galerie für Landschaft Kunst und im Stadtraum Altona, Hamburg
From the Monumental to the Ornamental, Rotary edition, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
2010
Monument of Monuments for Unity & Freedom, Proposal for public competition, Berlin
The Open Debate Station, Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle (Playing the City II), Frankfurt
The Moderns, Revolutions in Art and Science 1890 - 1935, MUMOK, Vienna
The Open History Library, University Vienna
2009
Variants of Aesthetic Collectivism, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Portraits, FO.CU.S BTV Stadtforum, Innsbruck
The Mechanical Bull, Art Unlimited project, Basel
2008
studiolo nuovo, Lia Rumma, Milan
The Age of Syncopation, Wilkinson Gallery, London
Proposal for a memorial for the victims of the Nazi medical Crimes, Gugging, Vienna
Illustrations from the Social History of Reading, Project for the library, Innsbruck
2007
Temi ed elementi di un nuovo studiolo napoletano, Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples
Revolution of the Poetic Language (Establishment of Correlation) – A Cognitive Exercise for a Exercise for a Group of Four, Performance by Clegg & Guttmann, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Elemenatry Forms of Collective Behavior, in Demons, Magazine 4, Bregenzer Kunstverein
The Prisoners Dilemma, Henry Street Settlement, New York
2006
The Story Reader Library, Museion, Bozen
Social Sculptures, Community Portraits and Spontaneous Operas 1990 – 2006, Cornerhouse, Manchester
Mach vs. Boltzmann II, Kunstverein Braunschweig e.V - Haus Salve Hospes, Braunschweig
Mach vs. Boltzmann, Secession, Vienna
2005
Social sculptures, Community Portraits and Spontaneous Operas 1990–2005, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Franz West and Clegg & Guttmann, Galerie Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
2004
A Monument for Historical Change, permanently installed social sculpture, Berlin
Sha’at’nez oder die verschobene Bibliothek, Sigmund-Freud-Museum, Vienna
The Moebius Library, Waldzell Dialogue for Inspiration, Stift Melk
The Street and its double, Project of a monument for Rosa Luxemburg, Rosa Luxemburg Platz, Berlin
The Jewish Metaphysics of Death, Installation, Jüdischer Friedhof, Krems
Light, Photography, Portraiture and the Metaphysics of the Self, Performance, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna
2003
Decomposition/Reconstitution Berlin – 1918: Anti Capitalism, Avant-Garde, Art, Atonal Music, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin
2002
Negations of Strict Order: Anarchism, Cubism and Syncopated Music, American Fine Arts, New York
2001
Minister und Senatoren – Politische Physiognomische Fragmente, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
Knowledge Sculpture–False Perspective, Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan and the Valencia Biennal
Neuer Turmbau zu Babel, public project Stadtteil Riem, Munich
Die offene Bibliothek Augsburg, Gesellschaft für Gegenwartskunst e.V., Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg
Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan
2000
The Historical Soccer Stadium, Proposal for a permanent public sculpture commissioned by the Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt/Main
1999
Portraits, Still Lifes and Landscapes 1985 - 1999, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento
Die sieben Brücken von Königsberg, a temporary public project installation in Duisburg
Powerlines for an Urban Park, Project of Dreamcity, alter Botanischer Garten, Munich
1997
Michel Clegg & Martin Guttmann - Zionism as Separatism, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität Basel, Basel
The Sick Soul IV - An Auditorium for Film, a Runway for Fashion, a Stage for Music Performance,in cooperation with CCSIS, Mamacita Fashion, Mexico City
1897–The first Zionist Congress in Basel, Kunsthalle Basel
The Open Public Speaker’s Platform, Grieskirchen
1996
The Sick Soul III, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
The Sick Soul II, American Fine Arts, New York
The Sick Soul–Morbid Fascination and Behavioral Research in Micro Sociology, Reality TV and Avant-Garde Art, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
Holocaust - Mahnmal und Gedenkstätte für Jüdische Opfer, proposal for a monument for the Juden Platz, Vienna
1995
Breaking Down the Boundaries between Art and Life , The New School for Social Research, New York
1994
The Transformation of Data into Portraiture, Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg, Lunenburg
The Open Public Library Mainz, Landesmuseum Mainz, Mainz
Vérité, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
1993
The Open Public Library Hamburg, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg
The Open Public Library Graz, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum, Graz
The Firminy Music Library, a temporary public project, Unité, Firminy
1992
From the Index of Comissioned and Non - Commissioned Photographic Portraits: Gazes in the Direction Perpendicular to the Picture Plane, Placed in a Sequence According to their Intensity, and Accompanied by Varying Postures and Hand Arrangements, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
The Outdoor Exhibition Space, Munich - San Francisco, Kunstraum Daxer, Munich
The Outdoor Exhibition Space, Janacek - Hof, Vienna
The Salon of Rejected, Jay Gorney Art Modern, New York
1991
Printing and Framing, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
The Open Tool Shelter: A Model, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto
The Two and Four, Edition Julye Sylvester, New York
The Open Public Library Graz, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
Landscapes, Akira Ikeda, Tokyo/Nagoya
1990
A Model for a Free Standing Outdoor Library, Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven
Corporate Landscapes, Museum Schloss Hardenberg, Velbert - Neviges
The Free Public Library, Jay Gorney Art Modern, New York
Corporate Landscapes, Nordanstad-Skarstedt Galleri, Stockholm
Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
1989
FRAC Aquitaine, Centre Culturel, Dax
Corporate Landscapes, Kunstverein Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven
Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna
Galleria Giorgio Persano, Turin
Galérie Pierre Huber, Geneva
Portraits des Groupes de 1980 á 1989, CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux
International Landscape, XPO Galerie, Hamburg
1988
Portraits, Landscapes, Still Lifes, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Collected Portraits, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Landscapes and Still Lifes, Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
Galérie Hussenot, Paris
1987
Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
Petrified Forest Estates, Cable Gallery, New York (with David Robbins)
Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples
Clegg & Guttmann Works 1986 - 87, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1986
Clegg & Guttmann and Joseph Kosuth, Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
Galerie Christoph Dürr, Munich
Galerie `t Venster, Rotterdam Art Foundation, Rotterdam
1985
Einzel-, Doppel- und Gruppenporträts, Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach
Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
Still Lifes, Cable Gallery, New York
1984
Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne
Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
Portrait - Singles, Doubles and Triples, Cable Gallery, New York
Of Certain Men Who Ate Us, Eric Fabre, Paris
1983
The Desease of Reason, Galerie Achim Kubinski, Stuttgart
Allegories of Stock Exchange, Olsen Gallery, New York
1982
Galerie Michelle Lachowsky, Antwerp
1981
Group Portraits of Executives, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
True Stories, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Konzeptuelle Fotographie aus der Sammlung Falckenberg, Sammlung Falkenberg, Hamburg
2017
Extra Bodies – The Use of the «Other Body» in Contemporary Art, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich
Social Production Spaces – a self contextualisation after 14 years of Halle 14 Art center, Halle 14 Art Center, Leipzig
Publishing as an Artistic Toolbox: 1989-2017, Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier, Vienna
PRIVACY 40 Jahre Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
2016
Cumuli - Trading Places, Galerie 5020, Salzburg
Mit anderen Augen – Das Porträt in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie, Kunstmuseum Bonn und der Photographischen Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur Köln
2015
to Expose, to Show, to Demonstrate, to Inform, to Offer, MUMOK, Vienna
Perfect Likeness: Photography and Composition, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
FACES NOW. European Portrait Phoography since 1990, BOZAR, Palais des Beaux-Arts / Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels
Picasso in Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
After Picasso: 80 Contemporary Artists, The Wexner Center fort he Arts, Ohio State University
Freie Flusszone Süderelbe, Galerie für Landschaftskunst, Hamburg
2014
Now You See It – Photography and Concealment, Metropolitain Museum, New York
Ein Spiel mit der Bürde der Repräsentation. Sigmund Freud und die Kunst unserer Zeit. Eine Installation von Joseph Kosuth, 21er haus, Vienna
Corruption Feeds, Bergen Kunsthall
Texte in der Kunst, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Ware & Wissen, Weltkulturenmuseum, Frankfurt am Main
Artelier Contemporary Graz zu Gast bei Hilger NEXT, Hilger NEXT, Vienna
One shots and images, Downtown Photoroom, Los Angeles
Occupy painting, Autocenter, Berlin
Villa Romana 1995-2013, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn („The Italian Journeys of“ publication for Daniel Maier-Riemer, Sterenberg Press, Berlin)
2013
Where Narrative Stops, Wilkinson Gallery, London
Neue Ware, Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne
Vertical Club, curated by Will Benedickt, Bortolami gallery, New York
Photos - Points of view in Austrian Photography from the 1930s until today, 21er Haus, Vienna
‘Cultural Freedom In Europe’, Sint Lukas, Brussels, (Curated Filip Luyckx)
In the Shape of Things to Come, Verein für Raum und Form in der bildenden Kunst, Vienna
2012
The Feverish Library, Capitan Petzel Gallery, Berlin (Curated by Matthew Higgs)I Wish This Was A Song Music in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
25 Years of Talent, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (curated by Michelle Grabner Von Zeichen und Körpern. curated by _Thomas Locher, curated by_vienna 2012, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
WIR SIND DIE ANDEREN, DZ BANK Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt a. M
Commercial Psycho, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Deutsche Geschichte des 20 Jahrhunderts, in: Peripherie VII: Urwald, MK Fotografie; GFLK-Galerie für Landschaftskunst, Hamburg
2011
******STERNCHEN, Ausstellungsreihe seit 1994, WerkSTADT GRAZ, Gallery Grazy, Graz
X-mas Groupshow, Artelier Contemporary/Petra Schilcher, Graz
Hirschfaktor."Die Kunst des Zitierens", ZKM, Karlsruhe
Portraits and Power, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzino - Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Sense and Sensibility, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg
Vermessung der Welt: Heterotopien und Wissensräume der Kunst, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz
based in Berlin 2011, Berlin
The Library, University of Genève
Museum der Wünsche, MUMOK, Vienna
Allegory of Government, in ‘Based in Berlin’, Kunstwerk, Berlin (Curated by ‘After the Butcher’)
Edition / Non Edition, Meyer Kainer, Wien and at Schodendorf Kunstverein
2010
Portraits and Power, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzino - Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Pro Choice in Schattendorf, Kunstverein Schattendorf, Schattendorf Open Debate Station,
Playing the City 2, Frankfurt
Portraits and Power, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Florence
Vienna and Jerusalem, Pro Choice, Vienna
Photofestival Knokke-Heist ´10 Stars and Models, Cultuurcentrum Scharpoord, Meerlaan
Zeigen, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin
Peeping Tom, Vegas Gallery, London
originalfunktional, Kunstverein Wiener Art Foundation, Vienna
Continuous Drawing / Exquisite Corpse, Peckham Space, University of the Arts London
Macht Zeigen - Kunst als Herrschaftsstategie , Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin
2009
Männer Frauen & Porträts aus der Sammlung, SAMMLUNG GRÄSSLIN, St.Georgen/AT
Geld/Geschichte/Kunst. Eine Ausstellung zur Geschichte des Schilling in der Zweiten Republik, Präsidentschaftskanzlei Hofburg, Vienna
Echtwald Project, kuratiert von/curated by Thomas Grässlin, Nanette Hagstotz, Berlin
Der Schnitt durch die Oberfläche legt neue Obeflächen frei, Temporary Gallery, Cologne
Das Porträt – Fotografie als Bühne, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Bücher, Bücher, Bücher - Nichts als Bücher, Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal/DE
Sehnsucht nach dem Abbild - Das Portrait im Wandel der Zeit, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems
The Making of Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
Summer Exhibition, Wilkinson Gallery, London
2008
Versionen. Die Künstlerbibliothek, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig
narrative, RLB Künstbrücke, Innsbruck
Something Less, Something More, David Roberts Art Foundation, London
The Artist As Troublemaker, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York
2007
Social Sculpture / Social Design, Galerie Michael Hall, Vienna
Rückblende, Neue Galerie Graz
Die Dämonen, Magazin 4 Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz
Der Kontrakt des Fotografen, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Affinities. Deutsche Guggenheim 1997-2007, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
21 Positions, ACF - Austrian Cultural Forum, New York
New Visions - Sammlungen in Österreich 2007, ViennAfair, Vienna
2006
Neuerwerbungen für die Sammlung 2006, Hofgalerie der Neuen Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
Tuttolibri, Galleria Milano, Milan
Der Kontrakt des Fotografen, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Group Therapy, MUSEION - Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bolzano
Der Ficker II – Clegg & Guttmann, Lynne Cohen, Muntean/Rosenblum, Rudolf Polanszky, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Franz West, Haus Wittgenstein, Vienna; CAAM - Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas; De 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg (Kat.)
RISS/LÜCKE/SCHARNIER, Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
DISPOSITION, lukas feichtner galerie, Vienna
Freud and Contemporary Art - The Collection of the Sigmund Freud Museum Vienna, ACF - Austrian Cultural Forum, New York
Optik Schröder, Kunstverein Braunschweig e.V - Haus Salve Hospes, Braunschweig
2005
Temporary Import, Art Forum Berlin, Berlin
Der Ficker – Clegg & Guttmann, Rudolf Polanszky, Franz West,
Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
John Taylor: Imagination of things Imaginable, Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin
2004
Vienna Coffe Table, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
jetzt und zehn jahre davor, KW-Kunstwerke, Berlin
All creatures great and small, Salon d’art, Cologne
2003
Bright Lights, Big City, David Zwirner, New York
Cold Play, Fotomuseum Winterthur
Re-Production 2, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Adriano Olivetti Foundation, Rom
Les 20 ans du FRAC, FRAC, Paris
2002
Art & Economy, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
2001
Remake Berlin, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
2000
Remake Berlin, Fotomuseum Winterthur
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
1999
Surprise VI – Rollenwechsel, Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Nurnberg
Recollection, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
1997
Andere Räume. Öffentliche Räume und Kunst, Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau, Kartause Ittingen, Warth
1996
100 Photographs, American Fine Arts, New York
Everthing that’s Interesting is New: The Dakis Joannou Collection, DESTE Foundation, Athens and Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen
1995
Identità e Alterità, 46th Venice Biennale, Venice
1994
Neue Möbel für die Villa/New Furniture for the Villa, Villa Merkel, Esslingen
1993
Backstage – The Open Public Library, Kunstverein Hamburg
1992
Post Human, FAE Musée d’Art Contemporain Pully-Lausanne
Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1991
Metropolis: The Political Physiognomical Library, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin
1990
Art et Publicité, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
The (Un)making of Nature, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1989
Wittgenstein: The Play of the Unsayable, Secession Wien, Vienna, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1988
documenta VIII, Kassel
1987
Art against AIDS, Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
1986
Prospect 86, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main
1985
Rhona Hoffmann Gallery, Chicago
1984
The Self-Portrait in Photography, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
1981
Annina Nosei Gallery, New York
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