18 July 2023

Preview Autumn Programme Luc Tuymans – Edith Clever

Exhibition, 15 September – 26 November 2023
Exhibition opening 14 September 2023
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz

The exhibition “Luc Tuymans – Edith Clever” marks the prominent start of a new series organised by the Visual Arts Section of Berlin’s Akademie der Künste, juxtaposing works by Akademie members of various artistic disciplines with one another. The Belgian painter and curator Luc Tuymans – who with his distinct figurative style assumes a central position in the art scene – has invited the German actress and director Edith Clever, who has become a remarkable figure of the stage through her roles portraying strong women. Against the backdrop of a digitally saturated world, the exhibition – with high-calibre loans, specifically designed works and performative interventions – will address the relevance and ambiguity of painted images and embodied texts. The exhibition explores the representability and the legacy of the past as well as the omnipresent atmosphere of dissolution.

In his paintings, Luc Tuymans uses motifs from existing images taken from a variety of historical, cultural and popular media sources and transforms them into a subdued colourfulness. Behind their serene appearance lies a subliminal moral complexity and the confrontation with mechanisms of violence – which is also evident in his reference to the history of the Akademie building. In a series created during the corona pandemic that is richer in contrast and colour than his earlier work, the increasing political uncertainty can be felt with a new sense of urgency.

Edith Clever’s work with language is based on a position of extreme restraint and the effort to achieve the openness needed to be moved and shaped by texts. By turning her body into an instrument, she makes the power, poetry and beauty of the texts tangible. In her long monologues, reduction of means stands alongside precisely measured excessiveness. The artist marks a course through her theatre and film work. Working with Clever’s voice recordings, the Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Akademie der Künste has developed a sound installation for the exhibition.

The exhibition is part of Berlin Art Week.

With the kind support of the Gesellschaft der Freunde der Akademie der Künste (Society of Friends of the Akademie der Künste) and the Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung

Exhibition information

Luc Tuymans – Edith Clever

Opening: Thursday, 14 September 2023, 7 pm, free admission
Exhibition duration: 15. September – 26 November 2023

Opening hours: Tue – Fri 2 pm – 7 pm, Sat + Sun 11 am – 7 pm

Admission: € 9/6, free for visitors up to 18 years, as well as Tuesdays and every first Sunday of the month

Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Tel. 030 200 57-1000, info@adk.de

Press contact on behalf of the Akademie der Künste:
ARTEFAKT Kulturkonzepte, Stefan Hirtz and Alexander Flöth
Tel. 030 440 10 -686 / -688, mail@artefakt-berlin.de