Body Matters. Körperlichkeit in der Videokunst der 1970er Jahre

In the organizer's words:

At the end of the 1960s, video and film became formative forms of expression in contemporary art. The Ludwig Forum's video archive comprises around 200 works from the 1960s and 1970s, many of which are groundbreaking for the history of the artistic moving image. The 1970s are regarded as a pioneering phase in video art, in which artists experimented with video and film cameras and consciously set themselves apart from established art forms and television. Central themes were physicality, the experience of self and other, feminist criticism, reflection on the medium itself and socio-cultural analysis. Their aesthetic means included reflections, refractions, technical manipulations as well as playful moments, irony and humor.

Body Matters presents ten works that deal with corporeality in different ways. Hakudō Kobayashi and Bruce Nauman examine the body as an artistic medium, Nauman in particular in relation to space. John Baldessari and Jacques-Louis Nyst concentrate on simple gestures - interactions between a hand and a hat or a spiral spring. Ron Hays observes hands playing the piano, while Robert Morris captures the interplay of body, space and sculptural elements on 16mm film.

Under the influence of social movements in the USA, in particular the civil rights movement, the notion that bodies are political in many ways spread in the 1970s under the term body politics. The guiding principle of the women's movement at that time was: "The personal is political". A central concern was the right to self-determination over one's own body. Artistic feminism, as shaped by Joan Jonas and Ulrike Rosenbach, used the media of film and video to critically examine gender roles, patriarchal structures, stereotypical images of women and families, beauty norms and the objectification of the female body. Marina Abramović and Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen) also address interpersonal relationships, dependencies and power relations between men and women in their joint works.

With works by Marina Abramović and Ulay, John Baldessari, Ron Hays, Joan Jonas, Hakudō Kobayashi, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Jacques-Louis Nyst, Ulrike Rosenbach

Curated by Holger Otten

Price information:

Museum admission: Regular € 10.00 Reduced € 6.00