Museo d arte della Svizzera italiana Lugano +41(0)91 815 7971 info@masilugano.ch www.masilugano.ch From the Document to Large-Scale Photography 10 June 30 September 2018 Museo d arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano at LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura This exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Folkwang Museum of Essen, the Fotomuseum and the Fotostiftung of Winterthur Coordination and exhibition design by Guido Comis and Diego Stephani Press conference: Friday 08 June 2018, 12 a.m. Opening: Saturday 09 June 2018, 6 p.m. Press Release Lugano, Friday 08 June 2018 The Museo d arte della Svizzera italiana of Lugano is dedicating a monographic exhibition to the work of the Swiss photographer and artist (Berne, 1944-2010). The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Folkwang Museum of Essen, the FotoMuseum and the Fotostiftung of Winterthur, traces Burkhard's whole career, documenting both his activity as a chronicler of the international artistic scene between the 1960s and 1970s, and the works by means of which he contributed to revolutionizing the practice of photography. The exhibition. From the Document to Large-Scale Photography begins with the early images made when the artist was doing his training in reportage and documentary photography in the 1960s, and it traces, through a large selection of pictures, his work as a chronicler of the international artistic scene working alongside the famous curator Harald Szeemann. The memory of the exhibitions curated by Szeemann that marked an era, such as When Attitudes Become Form alla Kunsthalle in Berne in 1969 and Documenta 5 in 1972, and of the installations and performances that characterized them, can still be experienced today thanks to Burkhard's photography. Although he has worked as a photoreporter, Burkhard aspires to leave a mark as an artist. Together with his friend and fellow photographer Markus Raetz, he made his first photographs reproduced in large scale on canvas. The subjects a bed covered by a wrinkled sheet, a large sheet of paper on the floor, a window covered by a curtain create an interference between the image and the support canvas that is not stretched, but rather allowed to drop in gentle folds. In his unusual choice of the large-scale format, as well as his conceptual approach, his photography converses with other art forms from that day and age. Burkhard was in the United States between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s. When he returned to Switzerland in 1983 he was invited to show his work at the Kunsthalle Basel, and in 1984, along with Niele Toroni, at the Musée Rath in Geneva. Installations were conceived in which the body enlarged to monumental size morphed into a landscape or an architectural element. At MASI viewers will be able to see a series of legs, originally shown in Basel, that surround the room in the manner of three columns. The design that was conceived for the Musée Rath, where the abstraction by Toroni, characterized by the repetition of marks left by the paintbrush, is related to a series of large-scale 1/7
photos by Burkhard, is once again reproduced here. Photography thus frees itself from the traditional dimension, the manageable format, to become a spatial installation, almost as if to test like other forms from that period the architectural limits of traditional exhibition spaces. Over the course of his career, Burkhard had often devoted himself to the portrait. Whereas during the years he was working as a photoreporter his images focused on artists engaged in the creation of their owns works, later he preferred subjects that actually posed, be they people or animals. In the mid-1990s the latter theme led to an outstanding series of works in which Burkhard relives the classifying approach of nineteenth-century photography. Between the mid-1990s and the new millennium, Burkhard tried his hand at urban and natural landscapes, reproduced in a large-scale format and characterized by the velvety black and white that is the signature he places on most of his oeuvre. Through his photographs Burkhard appears to create a formula in which to enclose all manifestations, both human and natural: rocks and waves take on sensual connotations, architectural regularity is glimpsed in the desert; bird's eye views of megalopolises Tokyo, Chicago, Mexico City turn these cities into organisms that stretch for as far as the eye can see. The dimension of the images underscores their emotional rather that documentary meaning, while the use of black and white in shaded tones bestows them with an almost tactile nature. Viewers find themselves before photographs that are not merely images, but rather a whole new conception of photography set in the ideal context of MASI s large and versatile spaces. 2/9
MASI Lugano The Museo d arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano represents the point of arrival of an in-depth revision of the cultural policies that led to the merger between the Museo Cantonale d Arte and the Museo d Arte di Lugano as a single institution. The museum has two locations: on view at LAC are exhibits aimed at delving deeper into twentieth-century and contemporary art as well as the museum's permanent collection, while Palazzo Reali (temporarily closed for refurbishment) focuses on the history of art in the territory, and the valorization of specific groups in the museum collection. A main partner of MASI Lugano is Credit Suisse, which confirms its historical commitment in favour of art in Lugano. Current Exhibition Picasso A Different Gaze LAC, until 17.06.2018 Noi e il MASI Donation by Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati LAC, until 29.07.2018 Forthcoming Exhibitions Magritte La ligne de vie LAC, from 16.09.2018 to 06.01.2019 How Evil is Pop Art? New European Realism 1959 1966 Spazio -1, from 23.09.2018 to 06.01.2019 La Collezione LAC, from 02.10 to 16.12.2018 Vera Trachsel Premio Manor Ticino 2018 LAC, from 20.10.2018 to 24.02.2019 3/9
Information Venue LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura Piazza Bernardino Luini 6, 6901 Lugano Opening hours Tuesday - Sunday: 10 a.m. 6 p.m. Thursdays open until 8 p.m. Closed Mondays Admission Temporary Exhibitions Full: chf 15.- chf 20.- incl. entrance to the exhibition Picasso. A Different Gaze Reduced chf 10.- chf 14.- incl. entrance to the exhibition Picasso. A Different Gaze Free admission: the first Thursday of the month (5 p.m. 8 p.m.) The collection Free Guided tours and workshops +41 (0)58 866 4230 lac.edu@lugano.ch 4/9
Press contacts LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura Ufficio comunicazione +41 (0)58 866 4214 lac.comunicazione@lugano.ch French and German part of Switzerland Burson-Marsteller Timothée Beckert +41 (0)44 455 84 07 timothee.beckert@bm.com Italy ddl+battage Alessandra de Antonellis +39 339 3637388 alessandra.deantonellis@ddlstudio.net Margherita Baleni +39 347 4452374 margherita.baleni@battage.net Other Countries Neutral Zürich Michelle Nicol +41 79 642 0207 nic@neutralzurich.com Press kit and images: digital documents, images for use by the press, and further material can be downloaded at: www.masilugano.ch/press 5/9
Captions (in Italian) 01. Untitled (Richard Serra, Splash Piece) Allestimento della mostra When Attitudes Become Form Berna, 1969 J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles 02. Untitled (Michael Heizer, Bern Depression) Berna, 1969 J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles 03. - Markus Raetz Das Bett (Il letto) 1969/70 Fotografia su tela emulsionata 200 x 260 cm Elizabeth und Jacques Mennel, Zurigo Estate, 2018 04. Der Arm (Il braccio) 1980-82 Stampe alla gelatina d'argento Quattro elementi, ognuno 78 x 370cm Musée de Grenoble 6/9
05. Der Körper I (Il corpo I) Veduta allestimento Kunsthalle Basel 1983 Stampe alla gelatina d'argento Quattro elementi, ognuno 215 x 1320 cm Estate, 2018 06. Normandie 01 1995 Stampa alla gelatina d argento 115 x115 cm Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf Estate, 2018 07. Mexico City (Vulcano) 1999 Stampa alla gelatina d argento su carta baritata 136,7 x 267,7 cm Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris Estate, 2018 08. Klöntal 2002 Tre elementi, ognuno 224 x 102,6 cm Stampe alla gelatina d'argento Fotomuseum Winterthur 7/9
09. Strauss (Struzzo) 1996 Due elementi, ognuno 210 x 90 cm Stampa alla gelatina d'argento Collezione privata 10. Kamel (Cammello) 1997 Tre elementi, ognuno 250 x 300 cm Stampe alla gelatina d argento Collezione privata Estate, 2018 11. Jean-Christophe Ammann Untitled () USA, 1972 Stampa alla gelatina d argento 21 x 29,7 cm Estate, 2018 8/9
About the Artist is born in 1944 in Bern, Switzerland. His fascination with cameras begins early on while he is still at primary school. When he finishes his formal education, at his father s prompting he starts an apprenticeship with the eminent Bernese photographer Kurt Blum. In the mid-1960s Burkhard works as a photographer for Harald Szeemann, the up-and-coming curator of the Kunsthalle Bern, and comes into contact there with Switzerland s flourishing art scene. He associates with a wide variety of artists, engaging in cooperative projects and forming lifelong friendships. Burkhard s interdisciplinary way of working becomes apparent at an early stage of his career. A photo might be used to create installations, posters, collaborative artworks, or advertising campaigns for companies. In Jean-Christophe Ammann s group exhibition Visualisierte Denkprozesse at the Kunstmuseum Luzern in 1970, Burkhard successfully positions himself as an artist for the first time: together with Markus Raetz he exhibits large-scale photo canvases. In the 1970s Burkhard relocates to the USA and lives for several years in Chicago. He generates an income teaching at the University of Illinios in Chicago and is able to pursue his own projects. In the USA Burkhard toys with the idea of becoming a movie actor. He works together with Thomas Kovachevich to produce a series of portraits in the form of Polaroids and slides, which he puts in his Snakeskin Box, that serves as his actor s portfolio. He soon abandons his acting career but uses the pictures as a template for a new series of photo canvases. Burkhard moves back to Switzerland in 1982, and in 1983 in Basel he has the opportunity to demonstrate the genre-spanning breadth of his work in his fi rst major solo exhibition in the museum context, for which he produces room-sized images of body fragments. In the course of the 1980s Burkhard increasingly focuses on specific themes and takes to the road to execute his ideas. For example, he visits his old friend Jacques Caumont in Normandy to look for motifs corresponding to the work of French painter Gustave Courbet. In the 1970s Burkhard photographs modernist architecture designed by the Bernese firm Atelier 5. In the 1990s he takes on assignments for Herzog & de Meuron, which are among the works shown in the Swiss Pavilion at the 5th Architecture Biennale in Venice. The dimensions and spatial dynamic of the images also play an important role in these commissioned works. The successful children s book Click!, said the camera comes out in 1997 with texts by Markus Jakob. Burkhard s encyclopaedic animal portraits also find their way into the exhibition space as large-scale photographs. In 1995 Burkhard starts working as a photographer for the furniture company USM Haller, which enables him to realize new, elaborate projects. Aerial views now become a key interest. He photographs the metropolises of the world and the Namibian desert from a bird s-eye perspective. Burkhard travels extensively for the last ten years of his life, bringing numerous photos back with him. He visits Cuba, Japan, the USA, Brazil, Namibia, Scotland, and South Africa. Burkhard s last pictures are photogravures. His interest in this sophisticated print technique begins in the mid-1970s. His late landscapes and macro photographs seem to him to be suitable subjects on which to apply this elaborate printing process. Right up to the end of his life, he continues to experiment with the possibilities of the photographic medium. dies on 16 April 2010 in his native Bern. 9/9