This exhibition of the radical plastic oeuvre of the American artist Bill Bollinger (1939–1988), who almost slipped into obscurity, is the first of its kind since the 1970s.

In the late 1960s, Bill Bollinger was one of the foremost sculptors of his time, routinely mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Bruce Nauman, Robert Smithson, Eva Hesse and Richard Serra. By the mid-1970s, he had withdrawn completely from the international art scene and his name was all but forgotten. The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein now presents the first retrospective exhibition of his work. In his short life, Bollinger created an oeuvre that is complex, radical and intense – and well worth rediscovering. At the same time, the show aims to contribute to the current reappraisal of hitherto neglected art positions.

In this major retrospective exhibition, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein presents more than thirty of his sculptures and a hundred or so works on paper to a broader public, as well as showing many hitherto unknown documents that give an insight into this remarkable body of work. A typical hallmark of Bollinger's work is his subtle and sensitive treatment of even the simplest, industrially produced materials. His use of aluminium tubing, cables, hosepipes, wire mesh, lamps and wheelbarrows was as radical and direct as it was elegant.

Having studied aeronautical engineering at prestigious Brown University, Rhode Island, Bollinger later turned his attention to painting and embarked on a career as an artist. In the late 1960s, at the height of the space race, he was creating sculptures that explore the gravity, balance and specific properties of a wide variety of materials. The cosmos and water are key elements in the work of Bollinger, who was fascinated by curved space, the vertical and the horizontal, resulting in evanescent, purist, energy-laden works with a radical edge that still have the power to astound us, even today.

Inspired by a transatlantic crossing on a freighter from New York to Europe in 1968, during which he perceived the ocean as a slightly curved and seemingly planar expanse with a sharply defined horizon, Bollinger continued to consolidate and intensify this deep-rooted fascination, creating works in which water plays a crucial role: transparent tubing filled with water arranged in a line, a circle or interconnected configurations. In one work, in which seven painted drums are linked by plastic hosepipes that maintain equal water levels, the sculpture takes on an ornamental, floral quality.

The exhibition, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll in conceptual collaboration with Rolf Ricke, is a joint production by the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, where it will subsequently be shown, and The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

More pictures to this exhibition

  • Bill Bollinger
    Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2011
  • Bill Bollinger
    Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2011
  • Bill Bollinger
    Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2011
  • Bill Bollinger
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zürich © Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Opening
  • Thu, 3.2.2011
    18.00
  • Thu, 10.2.2011
    18.00
  • Guided tours
  • Thu, 10.2.2011
    18.00
  • Thu, 17.2.2011
    18.00
  • Thu, 10.3.2011
    18.00
  • Thu, 5.5.2011
    18.00
  • Thu 3.2.

    Opening

    Postponed: "Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective"
    -- Opening postponed by one week
  • Tue 8.2.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Introduction for Teachers: Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Wed 9.2.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Introduction for Teachers: Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 10.2.

    Opening

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    -- New opening date
  • Thu 17.2.

    Guided tour

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    with Denise Rigaud
  • Thu 17.2.

    Movie

    In the Shadow of the Moon
    by David Sington, USA 2007, 100’
  • Thu 24.2.

    Take Away

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Sat 26.2.

    Art on Suturday

    "Der sehende Körper - Konzentrierte Werkbetrachtung und Qigong Yangsheng"
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll, curator, and Hanni Schierscher, teacher for Qigong Yangsheng
  • Thu 10.3.

    Guided tour

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    with Denise Rigaud
  • Fri 11.3.

    Dialogical Discussion

    Bill Bollinger
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll, curator
  • Thu 17.3.

    "Art 60 plus"

    Discover the museum
    with Barbara Redmann, museum education officer
  • Thu 17.3.

    In cooperation with the Art Society

    A witness to history
    Talk with Rolf Ricke, collector and gallery owner
  • Thu 17.3.

    Movie

    Conceptual Paradise
    by Stefan Römer, D, 109’
  • Thu 24.3.

    Lecture

    The human body at the absence of gravity
    by Dr. Marcel Egli, head space-related biology research group at the ETH Zürich
  • Thu 31.3.

    Reading

    Reading for pleasure - Reading and imagination to Bill Bollinger
    with Heiderose Hildebrand, art and education, Vienna and Klagenfurt
  • Thu 7.4.

    Symposium

    In and Out
    The rediscovery of forgotten artists
  • Thu 14.4.

    Workshop for adults

    Straight line - curved surface
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 28.4.

    Take Away

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 5.5.

    Guided tour

    Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective
    with Christiane Meyer-Stoll