10 October 2007 - 10 February 2008




joke, satire, irony and
serious meaning

This year, Murska Sobota is hosting its third European Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture, following the 13 preceding biennials of small-scale sculpture held between 1973 and 1997. Currently in Europe there are two important international triennials of contemporary smallscale sculpture: here in Murska Sobota / Slovenia and in Fellbach, Baden Wurttemberg Germany. In recent years, the end of small scale sculpture has often been proclaimed and several biennials and triennials followed this fickle Zeitgeist by giving up. Murska Sobota and Fellbach, however, have repeatedly proven that those proclaimed dead tend to have a long life. The Yugoslav biennial of Murska Sobota has evolved into a Slovenian triennial with a new, contemporary European profile, ready to confront the changing situation of the late, or so-called, postmodernism. Characteristically, the smallscale sculptures shown at the Murska Sobota Triennial reflect a selected theme chosen after observing the extremely varied small-scale sculpture scene. When the biennial was transformed into a triennial, Christoph Brockhaus, artistic director of the first two triennials, decided to choose small-scale sculptures from fundamentally traditional thematic realms: Architecture, 2001 and Renaissance of the Statuette, 2004. Quite surprisingly, despite the classical themes, the artists did not necessarily adhere to a traditional approach, often creating unusually new formulations. One thing is certain, however: small-scale sculpture is far from what it originally was, i.e. a reduced pattern, a sort of small and quite often cheap version of the large sculpture. Small-scale sculpture often finds itself in an ambivalent position between a work defined by its formal content, a quasiautonomous, small-scale work of art or multiple, on the one side, and souvenirs or cheap and kitschy trinkets on the other. For this reason each triennial theme has to be redefined and its selective criteria disclosed, because, however small the scale, it is about art. Thus, one cannot help but agree with American artist Ad Reinhard, who, by the way, was a superb caricaturist and satirist of art historical subject matter, when he maintained during the 1950s that »Art is art. Everything is everything else.« The chosen theme for the 2007 triennial is also about something else: artistic and formal boundaries are consciously called into question and even transgressed. Yet the primacy of art remains unwaveringly, as is evident in the selected works.
For this triennial, I have decided to follow my predecessor down new paths, inviting the artists to deal with a very current theme, one that has occasionally been discernible in earlier triennials. My chosen title, Humor, Irony, Satire and Serious Meaning, was originally the title of a sociocritical comedy by the German Romantic author, Christian Dietrich Grabbe (1801–1836), written in 1823, but seldom played these days. Grabbe was a contemporary during a very tumultuous epoch, in which political and social circumstances were rapidly changing, which meant that new, individual ways of thinking were feuding with the insistence on tradition; a new way of thinking was already on the horizon and was later recognized as the beginning of the modern age. This unknown new force had to forge its way through unexpected resistance and fight to question or possibly even overcome outdated rules. During such times protagonists have always used irony and satire and, of course, simple humor to resist the forces of insistence or to drive old rules to ad absurdum.
Today, from an artistic point of view (and perhaps not only artistic – given that the development of the post-modern age is unforeseeable – when viewed in hindsight), artists once again favor the use of ironical aloofness und satirical pointedness. The abundance of sculptural materials – the proneness to satire – demanded an exhibition of these works pars pro toto to incite public discussion.
The terms »Humor, Satire, Irony and Serious Meaning« have – at least in the German-speaking world – become household words. I can only hope that people in the rest of Europe will understand and adopt this as a comprehensible phrase referring to a specific artistic situation, a phrase which defines the, as yet, undefined borderline between art and life which constantly sway between the two extremes of humor and seriousness, a field in which artists critically come to terms with their own time by employing humor, irony and satire to attain a higher truth. Grabbe’s phrase appears very pragmatic, where artists, in a situation in which »everything is allowed« and »everything is possible«, often out of anger and despair in times of turmoil, seek a new set of values and images that could flourish on the ruins of the old.
It is clear that when dealing with the chosen theme, these artists do not solely focus on small-scale sculpture; most of the participants work in other fields of the fine arts as well, some of them even paint. The boundaries between the chosen media have become increasingly indistinct, as is evident in this exhibition. Small-scale sculpture also proves to be an exemplary field for contemplation. Its material presence may seem humble, but often is all the more subversive in impact – comparable to political cabaret or sociocritical theater, to caricature or to that sort of humor which unleashes itself during hard times, placing its demonstrative or subliminally subversive finger into an open wound or even one still festering under the surface. Behind most chipper appearances there often lies a serious meaning, guised in humour to facilitate a smooth passage towards hitting the nerve.
Ensuring that humor, satire or irony hits its mark demands that the target (object of ridicule) is thoroughly familiar to a wide audience. Irony or satire can by no means be an end in itself and although most potential power may possibly be limited to current issues and hence not of duration, it draws vivacity and acuteness by confronting the so-called Zeitgeist. Humor, satire and irony can only find nourishment to enflame and labor its tongue in the works and deeds of predecessors, whether they are of creative, historical, social or even political nature. So in truth, they reap from second hand, but are far from being second-class. But are not all forms of art dependent upon what has come before? In truth, all art evolves from other art, in that we study it, are drawn to or repelled from it.
The satirists and ironists, too, stand on the shoulders of their subjects, of those they hope to distance themselves from, but who simultaneously may offer a chance to open up new horizons.

»WHAT IS SATIRE ALLOWED TO DO? SATIRE IS ALLOWED TO DO ANYTHING!«
(KURT TUCHOLSKY)

Amongst these small-scale sculptures there are those that employ playful or even diabolical humor, and those full of political or social commentary. One can discover ironical analyses of philosophy, literature and art history, ranging from traditional monuments to fountain sculpture. There are comments on recently still avant-garde Minimalor Concept Art, now a bit out-dated, and works that deconstruct former sacrosanct isms or once highly-revered original creations. Some artists create bizarre or neosurrealistic installations, using children’s toys, knick-knacks, scale-model houses or animals to play their equivocal and sometimes even eerie games. One can be surprised by everyday objects placed in new contexts (their practical value questioned by the artists), by combinations in novel constellations or simply (!) through a reduction in scale of real and surreal situations. One is confronted with associative, decorative and, at times, even erotic connotations, or seemingly everyday objects in astonishing conditions or in unusual settings. As could be expected in this mobile, media-crazed age, there are also mechanically moveable works and virtual sculptures, their existence dependent upon electronic confirmation.
But nowadays, virtual images are often believed more real than life itself. And finally, there are those small-scale sculptures that move along the borderlines – not conceptually – but dimensionally: where the smallest can occasionally appear grand, and the largest suddenly quite small. Once again, one must question and constantly redefine where small-scale sculpture ends and large-scale sculpture begins.

BIOGRAPHIES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

The artists’ biographies are equally diversified and individual as the exponents presented in this exhibition are. We limited the text length, but left content and form open, foregoing a homogenous presentation. In this internet-age, anyone can acquire in-depth information about these artists and their work. Therefore, short biographical notes are only meant to facilitate urther discovery.

THE CURATORS

In our globalized world, it was more important for me to present a multitude of ideas and concepts than focus on the variety of all European countries. Inviting 31 artists to participate meant that all European countries could not possibly take part. This time, we invited artists from 8 European countries to come to Murska Sobota and present two works each. The curators from these 8 European countries were very supportive of this idea through their artistic proposals:
Dr. Tatiana Antoshina (Moscow),
Katia Baudin-Reneau (Strasbourg),
Prof. Bruno Corá (Florence/La Spezia),
Prof. Dr. Thomas Deecke (Berlin),
Dr. Andreas Hapkemeyer (Bozen),
Dr. Ulrich Loock / Ricardo Nicolau (Porto),
Mag. Franc Obal (Murska Sobota)
David Thorp (London),
Dr. Margit Zuckriegl (Salzburg).

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The Gallery of Murska Sobota
www.galerija-ms.si/