STUTTGART, GERMANY.- The Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart presents Muntadas – Protocol, on view through September 10, 2006. Antoni Muntadas, born in 1942 and resident in New York since 1971, is one of the early representatives of international concept and media art. The Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart is presenting his work in a comprehensive solo exhibition.

Muntadas has entitled his exhibition Protokolle (protocols). The concept "protocol" marks the prelude to a new series of projects through which the artist seeks to examine the meanings, mechanisms and effects of protocols in terms of cultural regulations, which intervene in both public and private lives: from written records based on a specific formula and rules determining social conduct, through to diplomatic, military and religious behavioural codices or digital network protocols. The exhibition's point of departure comprises two works: A Recontextualized version of Muntadas' multimedia installation Stadium: Homage to the Audience (1989 - 2006) and the project On Translation: Die Sammlung (2006), which presents various works by artists such as John Cage, Dieter Roth or Francisco de Goya from quite a unique perspective.

In both works Muntadas examines the conditions that regulate our perception of and our attitudes towards culture: on the one hand, popular culture (the stadium) while, on the other, high-culture (the museum). Thus, the stadium and the museum are considered equally from the vantage points of the "protocols" each produce.

As a spatial as well as a contextual link between "On Translation: Die Sammlung" and "Stadium", Muntadas has developed a third space, which is dedicated to the farreaching appearances and impact of protocols. The documentary material presented here tracks both linguistic definitions as well as pictorial representations of protocols – at various times and in various places. Furthermore, Muntadas shows a series of recent works, here read from the point of view of the protocol.