The presentation at Museum Kurhaus Kleve contains selected positions from the entire spectrum of Edition Block, from the 1960s to the present day, with international artists from Bosnia, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland and Turkey. Joseph Beuys and Dieter Roth are represented several times in the selection, as well as large-format works from Edition Block. These are Rosa Barba, Mehta Baydu, Joseph Beuys, KP Brehmer, Henning Christiansen, Robert Filiou, Mona Hatoum, Rebecca Horn, Šejla Kamerić, Jarosław Kozłowski, Alicja Kwade, Olaf Metzel, Bjørn Nørgaard, Navid Nuur, Sigmar Polke and Diether Roth.
The exhibition is a cooperation between the three Lower Rhine museums Museum Schloss Moyland, Museum Goch and Museum Kurhaus Kleve. It pays tribute to the gallery owner and curator René Block, born in Weeze in 1942, for his extensive and ongoing commitment to international contemporary art and to Joseph Beuys. With his Edition Block, René Block created an instrument for the “democratization and socialization of the art market” in Berlin in 1966. The 122 editions published by his publishing house include milestones such as the sculpture The Thinker (1976/78) by Korean media artist Nam June Paik, well-known multiples by Joseph Beuys such as Schlitten (1969) and Filzanzug (1970), the expansive object Hubwagen (2012/13) by Alicja Kwade, which gives the exhibition its name, as well as several graphic portfolios with contributions by international artists. Block, who worked primarily as a curator of large survey exhibitions in the 1980s and 90s, was artistic director of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel from 1997 to 2006.
Drei Hubwagen und ein Blatt Papier: Die Edition Block 1966-2022
Apr 26 – Sep 8, 2024
Museum Kurhaus Kleve
Kleve, Germany
