INSTALLATION EXPLORES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NATURE AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH THE WORK OF SIGNIFICANT CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

For Immediate Release October 7, 1997

The special long-term installation Positioning Nature and Industry: A Selection of Contemporary Art from the Busch-Reisinger Museum is on display at the Busch-Reisinger Museum through October 11, 1998. The installation, which opened on October 4, explores the break-down of the ideological boundary that separates nature from technology through the work of a handful of artists: Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), Konrad Klapheck (b. 1935), K.H. Hödicke (b. 1938), Franz Bernhard (b. 1934) and Per Kirkeby (b. 1938). Each artist presents a view of nature and industry that encourages us to critically examine how we perceive our physical surroundings. The installation is organized by Sara Krajewski, 1996-97 Werner and Maren Otto Curatorial Intern, Busch-Reisinger Museum.

"Industry alters nature," states Krajewski in her introduction to the installation. "The technological cultures of Western civilization position themselves against nature and harness natural resources for their own survival and advancement. In art and philosophy, too, past perspectives have defined nature and industry as polar opposites: Romantics who picture the sublime and beautiful in nature on one side and Realists who portray urban grit on the other. Yet the ideological boundary that separates the natural from the technological breaks down when we closely examine how we perceive our physical surroundings and what their actual state is. Now that we have moved into an era where human presence in industry is giving way to robotics and invisible computer technology, what is our relationship to past industries and ever present nature?"

By closely examining the works on display, such as Konrad Klapheck's Sketch for Hero's Song (1975), the viewer may be further prompted to reflect upon the question posed by Krajewski. In Hero's Song the artist depicts an old-fashioned thresher whose shape recalled for him an ancient hero's chariot. Through his paintings of machines, Klapheck refers to the past in order to confront contemporary social problems. Klapheck chooses titles that give the machine human characteristics or qualities unrelated to the machine's function. Words in the paintings, disguised as brand names, often function in the same capacity. In this work, the word triumph, spelled out on the thresher itself, signifies the Hero of the "hero's song"-and perhaps the triumph of the machine over the human. The artist creates a play on words: the title "Hero's Song" is in French chant heroïque which is phonetically like champs heroïque, a soldier's field. In a sardonic pun the thresher harvests the field where the heroes fell from their chariots and are buried. The dead heroes are ultimately just fertilizer for the fields that, combined with natural elements and human technology, provide us with nourishment.

A complementary selection of works on paper will be available for viewing in the study room of the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The study room is open to the public Tuesday through Friday 2:00 to 4:45 p.m. and by appointment.

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For general information on the Harvard University Art Museums, please call (617) 495-9400. For press information or photographs, please contact Kate McShea at (617) 495-2397. For more information on events, please contact the Friends, Fellows, and Special Programs Office at (617) 495-4544. World Wide Web: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu

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The Harvard University Art Museums comprise three museums (Busch-Reisinger Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum), all located on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, MA, at the intersection of Quincy Street and Broadway, adjacent to Harvard Yard. The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18 and on Saturday mornings. The Art Museums' facilities are wheelchair accessible. For special tour reservations, please call (617) 496-8576. General tours are offered Monday through Friday from September through June. The Fogg tour is at 11:00 a.m.; the Busch-Reisinger tour is at 1:00 p.m.; and the Sackler is at 2:00 p.m. 

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