Rudolf Herz
Duchamp. La Patte
07.09.2024 — 10.11.2024Duchamp. La Patte
Rudolf Herz
Duchamp. La Patte
07.09.2024 — 10.11.2024Duchamp. La Patte
Duchamp. La Patte
Rudolf Herz
The conceptual artist Rudolf Herz from Munich had 17 street artists on Montmartre in Paris create drawings based on a photographic portrait of Marcel Duchamp. This was an ironic response to Duchamp’s decision to stop being a ‘painter in the professional sense’, a decision he made while staying in Munich in 1912.
The photographic portrait of Duchamp shows him in a sober objectivity and anticipates the development that became evident through his revolutionary idea of Readymades and his masterpiece ‘The Large Glass’. For Rudolf Herz, historical research and visual art go hand in hand. He not only published his research on Duchamp's enigmatic stay in Munich in the book ‘Le Mystère de Munich’, but also reconstructed Duchamp’s Munich residence as a life-size sculpture, placing it in front of the Alte Pinakothek museum. Herz considers the apartment to be the ‘cradle of conceptual art’.
When the Parisian artists, now commissioned by Herz, imprint their own styles onto Duchamp's portrait, they initiate a role-playing game — just as Duchamp did in his own way, presenting himself in various roles before the camera since the 1920s and avoiding any identity that might restrict his freedom. The street artists created a kaleidoscope of characters, scarcely more diverse. It was precisely Duchamp’s time in Munich, where the photo was taken, that led him to decide to free himself from any form of artistic signature, the ‘patte’, the ‘paw’.
This compact exhibition has been realized in collaboration with the FLUXUS+ museum in Potsdam, Germany. A catalog is published by Kerber Verlag to accompany the presentation, featuring contributions from Antje von Graevenitz, Rudolf Herz, Philipp N. John, and Marie-José Sondeijker.
Rudolf Herz
Exhibition
07.09.2024 — 10.11.2024
Opening
07.09.2024, 20:00
Location
West Den Haag in the former American Embassy, Lange Voorhout 102, The Hague
The conceptual artist Rudolf Herz from Munich had 17 street artists on Montmartre in Paris create drawings based on a photographic portrait of Marcel Duchamp. This was an ironic response to Duchamp’s decision to stop being a ‘painter in the professional sense’, a decision he made while staying in Munich in 1912.
The photographic portrait of Duchamp shows him in a sober objectivity and anticipates the development that became evident through his revolutionary idea of Readymades and his masterpiece ‘The Large Glass’. For Rudolf Herz, historical research and visual art go hand in hand. He not only published his research on Duchamp's enigmatic stay in Munich in the book ‘Le Mystère de Munich’, but also reconstructed Duchamp’s Munich residence as a life-size sculpture, placing it in front of the Alte Pinakothek museum. Herz considers the apartment to be the ‘cradle of conceptual art’.
When the Parisian artists, now commissioned by Herz, imprint their own styles onto Duchamp's portrait, they initiate a role-playing game — just as Duchamp did in his own way, presenting himself in various roles before the camera since the 1920s and avoiding any identity that might restrict his freedom. The street artists created a kaleidoscope of characters, scarcely more diverse. It was precisely Duchamp’s time in Munich, where the photo was taken, that led him to decide to free himself from any form of artistic signature, the ‘patte’, the ‘paw’.
This compact exhibition has been realized in collaboration with the FLUXUS+ museum in Potsdam, Germany. A catalog is published by Kerber Verlag to accompany the presentation, featuring contributions from Antje von Graevenitz, Rudolf Herz, Philipp N. John, and Marie-José Sondeijker.
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Herz (1954) is a conceptual artist known for his work that combines art and historical research. Herz studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich and at the Universität Hamburg. His oeuvre includes installations, sculptures, photographic works, and publications that reflect on historical and political themes. Herz is renowned for his in-depth research projects, such as his reconstruction of Marcel Duchamp's stay in Munich and his book ‘Le Mystère de Munich’. His work has been exhibited in prominent museums and galleries worldwide, and he has received various awards and honors for his contributions to contemporary art. Herz lives in Munich and teaches at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste there, where he continues to experiment with new forms of conceptual art.