The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg at The Hunter Museum
On View May 24, 2011 - October 4, 2011
In recognition of the new Volkswagen plant opening in Chattanooga this spring, the Hunter Museum is partnering with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany. Wolfsburg is the headquarters of the Volkswagen Corporation, and also the site of a major museum with an outstanding collection of contemporary art.
The exhibition will feature 40 photographs by German artist, Peter Keetman, a sculptural installation by American artist Nam June Paik and a series of video works by American artist Gary Hill.
Peter Keetman [b. 1916] spent a week at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg in 1953 capturing the production of the VW Beetle. His series has since become a classic of German industrial photography, and the standard by which others are measured. The VW Beetle was, and remains, an automotive icon, and Keetman’s images detail the intricate process of creating such a car. Many of the images appear as abstract compositions, paying heed to Minimalism with close-ups of sheet metal, heaps of bumpers, and wheel rims.
Sculptor, performer and composer Nam June Paik [1932-2006] was one of the most innovative artists of the twentieth century and is widely considered to be the first video artist, paving the way for the ‘MTV generation.’ Paik created several sculptural robots out of television sets. This piece references the work of pop artist Andy Warhol by incorporating one of Warhol’s actual Brillo Box pieces into the robot. Paik spent a good bit of his life in Germany, both as a student studying music history, and later, as a professor at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf.
Following in the footsteps of artists such as Nam June Paik, is Washington based artist Gary Hill who has worked with videos since the 1970s. Hill, a pioneer in the field of video art, creates pieces that critique our daily forms of communication, the media and television. Hill has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, most notably the prestigious Leone díOro Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant in 1998. His work has been included in six Whitney Biennial exhibitions since 1983.
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