Mercedes Azpilicueta (DAI, 2013) describes herself as a “dishonest researcher” who operates between literature, folklore and street culture. The centrepiece of her current presentation at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is the installation Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries, created for the Prix de Rome in 2021: a gigantic tapestry with woven images, clothing, work tools and sound. Her interest in the lacunae of history and women shunted to the margins of society led Azpilicueta to an in-depth investigation of Austrian-Liechtenstein artist Anne Marie Jehle (1937–2000). Till 4 September 2022.
C4
Nazgol Ansarinia I Mercedes Azpilicueta I Invernomuto I Diamond Stingily
C4 or C(to the power of)4 celebrates the energy that contemporary artists bring into the museum. In her first show at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Director Letizia Ragaglia unites four solo presentations by Nazgol Ansarinia (Tehran), Mercedes Azpilicueta (La Plata, Argentina), Invernomuto (Milan/Vernasca) and Diamond Stingily (Chicago), which also engage with the museum’s collection. The three artists and the artist duo were invited to choose a work from the collection and integrate it into their display.
The resulting dialogue also sets the pace for the future orientation of the Kunstmuseum: ‘The aim is to research and invigorate our collection on an ongoing basis; it needs dialogues, challenges and the courage to open up new perspectives. This is C4: the collection is augmented, but also contaminated, by four younger protagonists. The ‘C’ prompts associations with ‘Contamination’, ‘Crossover’ and ‘Community’, given that the artists strengthen each other even though they are very different’, as Letizia Ragaglia observes.
What all the artists share is a distinct narrative manner. Opening up new perspectives on a time past, they demonstrate possible interpretations for today. Coming from different cultures, the artists explore exclusion and difference in social life, the history of subcultures, legends of the past and the transformation of urban spaces. Biographical elements and memories are interwoven in the exhibition to create a collective memory. In C4 visitors can expect an interdisciplinary crossover with performance and sound in four exhibition rooms that enables vital and surprising encounters with the collection.