Kunsthaus Zurch, 2004-2005

20 Years Parkett – the most complete museum exhibition to date presents all 150 works made by artists for Parkett since 1984
November 25, 2004 – February 2005

Press Release
To mark the twentieth birthday of the art journal Parkett, from 26 November 2004 until 13 February 2005 the Kunsthaus will show the complete collection of the artists’ editions first issued by Parkett in 1984. Up-and-coming de-signers at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst, Zürich, have created an unusual setting for this very special appearance.

Parkett had its origins in the idea of not just writing about artists but also of working closely with them. From the first, the main basis of these artists’ collaborations has been the limited editions which accompany each issue. In total 150 artists’ editions have been produced since 1984. In 2004, a private collector donated a complete set to the Kunsthaus. This set comprises very different art works, with photographs, prints, paintings and sculptures by leading contemporary artists such as Meret Oppenheim, Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, Alex Katz, Stephan Balkenhol, Pipilotti Rist, Olafur Eliasson, Daniel Buren, Gilbert & George.

Editions to take home

Both in terms of their size and their cost, the editions are intended to fit well into people’s homes. Art to have at home, in a manageable size, affordable, and easily transported – these are the distinguishing features of Parkett editions, even if they have long since also found their way into the collections of major museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The notion of privacy is crucial not only to the form but also to the content of the Parkett editions. Many works address topics such as the body and intimacy, or consciously break down the barriers between art and everyday life.

Musée en appartement

This exhibition is curated by Mirjam Varadinis and revolves around the notion of the ‘musée en appartement’ – an important aspect of the concept of Parkett. The exhibition architecture has been conceived together with design students from the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst, Zürich, and the renowned Swiss designer Alfredo Häberli, who has translated the best of the students’ ideas into finished plans. For the presentation of the 150 editions, the Kunsthaus exhibition space will become a virtual private home; individual rooms will have plinths and vitrines in the shape of abstract furniture, on and in which the art works will be displayed. At the conclusion of the exhibition there is a visitors’ corner with information on the artists who created the editions and on the history of Parkett.

Unpublished documents

On a more abstract level, the ‘appartement’ is also synonymous with ‘home’. For the present Parkett team – Bice Curiger, Editor-in-Chief and Curator at the Kunsthaus Zürich, Jacqueline Burckhardt, Editor, and the publisher, Dieter von Graffenried – this sense of ‘home’ also extends to Zurich itself, the city where Parkett was born. This relationship is chronicled in documents related to the Parkett editions which have never before been presented in public.

Oral history

For the first time the oral history recounted by the makers of Parkett is recorded in the exhibition catalogue – the stories and incidents ordinarily neglected in an objective account, although any record, and especially the history of Parkett, is not complete without a personal view. In addition the catalogue also includes documents from the extensive Parkett archives: letters and sketches by artists who have worked with Parkett over the last twenty years, many of whom are now major figures in contemporary art. The bi-lingual catalogue in English and German is published by the Parkett Verlag.

“… Parkett’s editions highlight the Zeitgeist, the hopes and fears of artists in the globalized world, their questions of identity, of past and future, their zest for life, and their creation of new utopias...”

NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)

“PARKETT has taken the pulse of our time and built a “Schaulager” for it in book form: it has turned the present into a lasting phenomenon.”

Stanislaus von Moos, Prof. emer., University of Zurich