Riotous Baroque

From 1 June to 2 September 2012 the Kunsthaus Zürich (Switzerland) presents the thematic exhibition Riotous Baroque. From Cattelan to Zurbarán. Tributes to Precarious Vitality. The show brings together some 80 works of art from the 17th century and the present day.

The exhibition sets out to examine the concept of the Baroque in a context removed from the history of style. In so doing, it breaks with myriad clichés: here, the Baroque is not about pomp, ornamentation and gold, but rather ‘tributes to precarious vitality’ – vitality lost, projected, lived, recognized and ‘threatened’; a vitality in which, as the exhibition’s subtitle suggests, death is omnipresent.

The exhibition features the works of artists to whom the customary ‘Baroque’ label cannot be attached: Maurizio Cattelan, Robert Crumb, Nathalie Djurberg, Urs Fischer, Tobias Madison, Paul McCarthy, Boris Mikhailov, Marilyn Minter, Albert Oehlen, Cindy Sherman,
Jürgen Teller, Diana Thater, Ryan Trecartin, Oscar Tuazon, all of whom are showing new or recent works in the exhibition.

The 17th-century works selected are ones that, to this day, speak to the viewer with a conspicuous directness. They have been loaned by prestigious museums such as the Prado in Madrid, the National Gallery in London, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Dates: from June 1 to September 2.
Location: Kunsthaus Zürich, Heimplatz 1, CH-8001 Zurich. Switzerland
Opening hours: from Wednesday to Friday from 10am to 8pm. Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays from 10am to 6pm.

Enjoy some of the works of the exhibition in the following slideshow: