IRONISCH / IRONIC
27.6. – 9.8.98

One essential aspect of contemporary art is the artistic attitude which it conceals, which can only be taken interpretively from the finished product. This attitude represents a particular view of the world. In the late 1990s, this perspective is increasingly characterised by an ironic way of approaching reality. That is to say, that while it is certainly possible to discern references to reality, these are rarely one-dimensional, or over-determinative, but rather ambivalent, remote and/or playfully humorous. “Ironisch/Ironic” shows five artistic viewpoints which could hardly be more diverse. It would therefore be wrong to apply the label ‘ironic’ to the artists. Rather, the five viewpoints pick out five elements which are associated in five different ways with the term ‘ironic’.

Curated by Rein Wolfs