Exhibition Created by Peter Noever
Curated by Betty Kassis and Peter Noever
Opening Reception: Friday, April 19 at 6pm
All 12 films will be shown on a loop the final week of the exhibition August 12 - 18. The total run time of all 12 films is approximately 60 minutes.
With manifestos by:
Raimund Abraham, Vito Acconci, Günther Domenig, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Eric Owen Moss, Walter Pichler, Wolf D. Prix, Bernard Rudofsky, James Turrell, Franz West, and Lebbeus Woods
“The contemporary must be fought for!” is not only a statement of belief, but also an expression of a present that was fought for and experienced. It is a manifesto for a critical attitude toward contemporaneity in times of growing non-commitments. Obsessions in Focus is also an attempt to clarify the essence of contemporary art and architecture through a festival of contrasting positions in which each day one visionary artist or architect will be in focus.
Peter Noever is an Austrian designer, Ausstellungsmacher and curator–at–large of art, architecture and media. From 1986 to 2011 he was the artistic director and CEO of MAK—Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art, Vienna/Los Angeles. 1994 he founded the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, occupying three of the most important buildings designed by architect Rudolph M. Schindler.
Obsessions In_Focus is Noever’s attempt to put a clear emphasis on the essence of contemporary art and architecture. The multi-media exhibition will feature 3-channel video projections, a physical reincarnation of a seminal exhibition and land art project of Noever’s staged in Breitenbrunn, Austria, and text-based “manifestos” by giants in the fields of art, design, and architecture including Raimund Abraham, Vito Acconci, Günther Domenig, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Eric Owen Moss, Walter Pichler, Wolf D. Prix, Bernard Rudofsky, James Turrell, Franz West, and Lebbeus Woods.
Installed as a constantly evolving show, viewers are encouraged to visit the exhibition space each day for 12 days to become acquainted with the work and words of each artist and architect, as the materials and projections will be changed out daily to put the individual in focus.