Project: Curator
Matthias Wagner K
Matthias Wagner K, born in 1961 in Jena and now based in Berlin, is an independent curator who specializes in light-based art as well as Icelandic art and culture.
In the field of contemporary art involving light, Matthias Wagner K has curated exhibitions by Michel Verjux, James Turrell, Gunda Förster and Mischa Kuball, among others. He has also organized exhibitions on themes of cultural history, such as “Licht und Verführung” (Light and seduction) and “Licht – die Magie des Bühnenraums” (Light – the magic of the stage), both in collaboration with S. Schirdewahn. Since 2002 he has been artistic director of a presentation of light-based artworks in the Hellweg region of the Ruhr area. During the European Capital of Culture year in 2010 Wagner K will be artistic director of the first Biennale for International Light Art on the theme of “open light in private spaces”.
In 2005 Wagner K co--directed (with C. Stahl) the festival “ISLANDBILDER” (Images of Iceland), the most comprehensive presentation to date of Icelandic art and culture outside Iceland. This was followed by further exhibitions on contemporary Icelandic art and design, such as “ISLAND::FILM” (with S. Schirdewahn) – a presentation on Icelandic film from 1904 to 2008 that was conceived as a travelling exhibition, “Nordlicht – Mythos und Melancholie” (Northern lights – myth and melancholy) and “Icelandic Fashion & Design – inspired by nature”. In 2006 he assumed a curatorial post at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin, and in 2008 he was appointed curator of the artistic and cultural programme to accompany Iceland’s appearance as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011. In 2009 he was the artistic director of the first Nordic Fashion Biennale in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Mattias Wagner K, the artistic director of the biennale for light art.
In 2005 Wagner K co--directed (with C. Stahl) the festival “ISLANDBILDER” (Images of Iceland), the most comprehensive presentation to date of Icelandic art and culture outside Iceland. This was followed by further exhibitions on contemporary Icelandic art and design, such as “ISLAND::FILM” (with S. Schirdewahn) – a presentation on Icelandic film from 1904 to 2008 that was conceived as a travelling exhibition, “Nordlicht – Mythos und Melancholie” (Northern lights – myth and melancholy) and “Icelandic Fashion & Design – inspired by nature”. In 2006 he assumed a curatorial post at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin, and in 2008 he was appointed curator of the artistic and cultural programme to accompany Iceland’s appearance as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011. In 2009 he was the artistic director of the first Nordic Fashion Biennale in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Kuratorisches Statement
"Keynote of my curatorial work is that a sculpture, a photography, a film, a design object should not be viewed as an isolated and purely aesthetic article, but read as associated with its time and particular traditions in words and pictures, i.e. – according to A. Warburg – as psycho-historic symptoms abstracting the basic principles of human existence. This is why the designation of a theme and the curation of an exhibition on this very theme not only require precise observation and analysis of artistic productions at a given time, but also a knowledge of the respective background that arises from history, tradition and particular social, geographical and cultural factors.
I believe it is necessary in the curatorial work process for determined resistance to appear against reductive systems of analysis - be they formal, conceptual or cognitive ones – as well as against hegemonic attributions and definitions.
With a view to current statements, this means consistent negotiations about what art can be. Shifting and compression are applicable methods, so is the critical handling of economic parameters, social contexts and the presentation systems – such as event formats or creative production.
With a view to current statements, this means consistent negotiations about what art can be. Shifting and compression are applicable methods, so is the critical handling of economic parameters, social contexts and the presentation systems – such as event formats or creative production.
I see my task in supporting artists to the effect that scope for a critical, reflexive attitude towards the phenomena of our time can be maintained or created. This is why it is always a matter of establishing the framework that will enable an individual or a constellation of several persons to create avenues of thought that can be grasped with the senses – which is what distinguishes an art space – beyond everyday pragmatic circumstances and constraints, containing, at best, an inherent utopian moment."
