Since the dawn of industrialization in the eighteenth century the pace of life in Western societies has continued to accelerate, both in societies as a whole and for individuals. At the same time, the last two decades have also seen the emergence of world views and movements warning against this growing acceleration in all walks of life and offering alternative models. Slow food, slow city, slow medicine, slow sex and the like are enjoying increased popularity in all areas of culture throughout the world. Moreover, trade and industry and politics have recently recognized the necessity of a sustainable approach.
Since the late 1960s it has become apparent that a number of artists have held increasingly skeptical views concerning the acceleration in Western societies. Exponents of Arte Povera, Concept Art and other groups have focused increasingly on the losses that have accompanied this continual acceleration in the pace of life. They have been questioning our notion of history, the effects our civilization has had on the environment, social cohesion – indeed, even the basis of our relationship with the world, for example, our sense of time.
The young generation of artists builds on the basics devised in the 1970s and, since around 1990, has been continuing to develop them on a rather pragmatic level somewhere between the poles of political commitment and withdrawals to the private and intimate sphere.
This exhibition Timeout. Art and Sustainability illustrates the various ways in which art handles deceleration and sustainability. As part of an open narrative various topics and strategies are presented and confronted with one another. Artists presented: Lida Abdul, Giovanni Anselmo, Thom Barth, Michael Buthe, Thomas Feuerstein, Gloria Friedmann, Piero Gilardi, Henrik Håkansson, Laura Horelli, Jan Jedlička, Kerstin Kartscher, On Kawara, Kimsooja, Matt Mullican, Lia Perjovschi, Dan Peterman, Clemens von Wedemeyer.
The exhibition is produced by the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, curated by Friedemann Malsch. The Kunstmuseum St.Gallen is simultaneously showing an exhibition entitled In the Eye of the Storm dealing with a very similar subject: slowness in contemporary art.