Between and Beyond INTERSPACES AND TRANSITIONS IN ART SINCE 1960

The spaces we inhabit shape our perception, our sense of place, and the ways we move through them. As viewers, therefore, we never experience art divorced from the surrounding space. Under the title Between & Beyond, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst at the Pinakothek der Moderne presents works from its own collection that explore both the aesthetic and social perception of the gallery space. On display are paintings, objects, and installations from the 1960s to the present day, examining the fluid relationship between the artwork, the space, and the viewer.

From the 1960s onwards, Minimal Art artists began to regard the surrounding space as an integral part of their works. Space is viewed as an ‘interstitial space’ (‘between’) that arises between the work and the viewer, or as an imaginary and transcendent space (‘beyond’) that can be experienced through light, shadow and movement.  

Pioneers such as Dan Flavin, Fred Sandback and the hitherto little-noticed Mary Miss used new materials and created spaces in their works that explicitly incorporated the experiences of the viewers. The exhibition space became part of the artwork. In painting, too, the pictorial space was increasingly questioned: Lucio Fontana cut up the canvas, Günther Uecker designed the picture surface with nails, and Ida Applebroog composed her works from several individual canvases with complementary motifs. The perspectives on an expanded pictorial space also influenced subsequent generations. Monika Baer questions viewing habits by breaking through her abstract painting with subtle signs. Victor Leguy and Roman Ondák expand the pictorial space to include a social dimension by sharing authorship with non-artists. 

The works on display from the Sammlung Moderne Kunst actively engage visitors and offer new ways of experiencing the museum space. Suspended moments, in-between states, and points of transition invite a different kind of engagement – with what is otherwise repressed or overlooked.

Works on display include those by Nevin Aladağ, Josef Albers, Carl Andre, Ida Applebroog, Monika Baer, Dirk Bell, Joseph Beuys, Martin Boyce, Alberto Burri, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Wade Guyton, Klára Hosnedlová, Donald Judd, Imi Knoebel, Victor Leguy, Mary Miss, Roman Ondak, Fred Sandback, Sean Scully, Augustas Serapinas, and Richard Serra. 

Curated by Verena Hein and Bernhart Schwenk, with Eva Schuster