EXHIBITION: A DISCONTINUED MODEL
“Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts; the book of their deeds, book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of these three the only trustworthy one is the last.”
— John Ruskin
Today when the flow of ideas and people with varied backgrounds and experiences have become a consistent driver of innovation and creativity in the arts, the history of modern art of great nations is a history of migration, transnational exchange and global turmoil. The book of art Ruskin talks about now goes beyond national parameters to include global flux, exchange and cultural variability.
A mega exhibition illustrates the internationalising of German artscape
This mutability and cross-cultural ethos underscored the IFA — Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen touring exhibition Artspace Germany shown at the VM Art Gallery. The show comprised works by 14 artists who have lived and worked in Germany but who were born in the Netherlands, England, Switzerland, Turkey, the US, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Belgium, Australia, Korea, Italy and Poland. This is the first IFA exhibition in a transnational form and portrays Germany as a ‘space of art’ — attracting and nurturing cultural diversity and new directions in art. Today German art is defined not just by German artists but also by those who immigrated to the country. The selected artists belong to the first generation of immigrants who voluntarily decided to live in Germany. They taught at German art institutions and put their stamp on the creative life, together with their German colleagues.