Artistic freedom and the scope of what artistic expression can entail expanded greatly in the course of the twentieth century, promising an infinite variety of possibilities.
Most artists of the period do not seem to have found this freedom threatening or provocative. Instead, they saw the tension between freedom and self-imposed limitation as an opportunity to be embraced as part of the creative process. Numerous twentieth century artists and scholars explored the nature of artistic expression and the types of authority to which it might or might not be subject.
With a mixture of irony, impudence, and enthusiasm, the artworks created in this atmosphere celebrated this newfound freedom and tested the limits of what can be considered art. This exhibition shows contemporary examples of the ways in which artists make use of the enormous freedoms available to them. Examining and questioning their own artistic motivations, they strive, directly or indirectly, to make the power structures of economic and social systems visible.
The installation "Falten for Percussion" by artist William Engelen can be seen at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst in Cottbus. As part of a concert, his scores filled the impressive hall of the imposing former diesel power plant with an interplay of rules, notation and coincidence.
An exhibition in cooperation with the Kunstfonds of the Free State of Saxony, the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, the Sammlung Hoffmann Berlin, and the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst and the Stiftung Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau.
