How is history written, who is appointed to write it, and which tools do historians apply to the study and evaluation of historical events and the communication of their findings? How about the objectivity of scholarly research and the historic documents on which it is based? What legitimizes visual artists who bring their own resources and unique approaches to the exploration of themes in history and recent historic events in their work?

The first thematic exhibition under the aegis of the museum’s new leadership initiates a debate over a central part of the institution’s mission: making history out of artifacts. Looking beyond the narrow confines of art history, it focuses on works with a specific frame of reference: art that reflects on history and contemporary events as well as its own involvement. With more than 230 works by around forty artists, the show spans the period from the 17th century to the present. It engages both the museum’s own and other local collections as well as a variety of perspectives and artistic practices, including the rules of the art world itself, in a dialogue. The exhibition thus presents art with distinctive views on history—and the artists behind it—in a larger historical framework and surveys its origins as well as its contemporary manifestations.

Curator: Sabine Breitwieser, Director; Curatorial Assistant: Christina Penetsdorfer, Museum der Moderne Salzburg

Artists: Kader Attia, Elias Baeck, Lothar Baumgarten, Alfred Baumgartner, Heimrad Bäcker, Michael Blum, Marcel Broodthaers, Johann August Corvinus, Alice Creischer, Gerti Deutsch, Otto Dix, Stan Douglas, Harun Farocki, Omer Fast, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Simone Forti, Andrea Fraser, Andrea Geyer, Dan Graham, Renée Gree, Ernst Haas, Jörg Immendorff / Felix Dröse, Jörg Immendorff, Sanja Ivekovi?, Kurt Kaindl, Gülsün Karamustafa, Anselm Kiefer, Käthe Kollwitz, Christoph Lederwasch, Deimantas Narkevi?ius, Walid Raad / The Atlas Group, Elaine Reichek, Aura Rosenberg, Martha Rosler, Anri Sala, Andreas Siekmann, Wael Shawky, Chen Shaoxiong, Johann Conrad Stapff, Danh V?, Lawrence Weiner, Akram Zaatari

Museum der Moderne Salzburg
Mönchsberg 32
5020 Salzburg
Austria

www.museumdermoderne.at