VADUZ.- The exhibition Demons Are Tearing Me Apart blends conceptually rigorous contemporary art with a radical understanding of language. Berlin-based artist Henrik Olesen (born in 1967 in Esbjerg, Denmark) began deconstructing the dominant discourses that shape our perception of identity, the body and sexuality at a very early stage in his career. As part of the exhibition series In the Context of the Collection, he was invited to engage in dialogue with the Kunstmuseum’s collection. Olesen decided on Isidore Isou (1925 in Botoşani, Romania – 2007 in Paris), who would have celebrated his centenary this year. Isou is regarded as the founder of the Lettrism movement, which centred on the letter (in French lettre) as the fundamental, unadulterated and smallest unit of language. With great persistence, he demonstrated how language, categories and culture are not embedded in rigid grids but are rather based upon changeable processes.

Both artists share an interest in deconstructing established categorisations in our everyday lives and demonstrating a ‘culture of in-between spaces’ – be it in our dealings with language, images of the body or cultural ordering systems. Olesen has created more than ten new works themed around Isou especially for his show at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. The works are presented in dialogue with existing paintings, his series of boxes and the collection’s six works by Isou. The exhibition is replete with references and allusions to Isou and the Lettrists. The title itself – Demons Are Tearing Me Apart – is a nod to the pseudo-erotic tale Les Démons me déchirent! that Isou published in 1969. This reference is left deliberately abstract and underscores the ambivalence with which Olesen engages with this highly controversial artist – a figure who delighted in presenting himself as an ‘all-round genius’.

For the show, Olesen explores central Lettrist themes – particularly language and the voice, with speech balloons and tongues being elements that feature recurrently in his new works.

He also reprises various formats and colour choices seen in Lettrist works, such as Isou’s Untitled (La Vérité) [The Truth] from 1961, integrating them into his own visual language. The installation of the works takes Isou as a starting point from which to enter into dialogue with him – both at the level of form and content.

In his artistic research, Olesen engages in depth with the historiography of art. Appropriating various sources consisting of images and text, he adds queer – particularly gay – positions that in some cases are still marginalised, criminalised or rendered invisible, even today. The body and corporeality play a major role in this context. Olesen processes the resulting connections and references in his works, which since the mid-1990s have consisted of a blend of collage, sculpture and spatial intervention.

Organ Paintings

The Organ Paintings are a central body of Olesen’s work that strongly embody his exploration of corporeality. On canvas or hardboard, he uses thick layers of paint, viscous lacquer and scratched surfaces to create sculptural, organic forms reminiscent of internal organs. Often he accompanies his images with handwritten texts on adhesive tape or spray-painted power strips. His paintings formulate an appeal for a new understanding of the body that eludes cultural norms and is in a constant state of flux.

Boxes

Since 2018, Olesen has been creating a series of boxes – sculptural objects that are mounted on the wall and resemble display cases. These wooden boxes are open on one side and covered with Plexiglas, painted inside and out and printed with images, texts and photos. The making of the boxes can be seen as Olesen’s engagement with the recent history of art. In many cases, Olesen dedicates them to figures (such as fellow artist Paul Thek) or works that questioned social norms and were only later acknowledged. Themes such as sexuality, the body, consumption and transience appear recurrently in the works.

Staged in the artificial light gallery, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein presents exhibitions that offer new perspectives on the collection while also questioning traditional museum narratives. Olesen and Isou are represented in the collection with several works.

A Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein production curated by Letizia Ragaglia.

Henrik Olesen

1967 in Esbjerg, Denmark; lives in Berlin

In his work, Olesen examines questions of identity, language, bodies and their construction to describe power relations and social norms. Recent solo exhibitions include Den Frie Udstilling, Copenhagen (2025); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2019); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2017); Wolfgang-Hahn-Preis at Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2012) and Projects 94, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2011). His works have also been on show in various group exhibitions: Biennale de São Paulo (2016 and 2018); Punta della Dogana, Venice (2015); Venice Biennale (2013); New Museum, New York (2012); Generali Foundation, Vienna (2012) and Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2012).

Isidore Isou

1925 in Botoşani, Romania – 2007 in Paris, France

Born Ion-Isidor Goldstein in Romania in 1925, after the end of the Second World War Isou moved to Paris, where he founded the literary and artistic movement Lettrism in 1946, becoming its most important theorist. Considering language to be exhausted and feeling that words could no longer be trusted following the horrors of WWII, the Lettrists set out to devise new forms of poetry. Isou soon applied his ‘poetological’ principles to music, visual art and film, working as a writer, philosopher and artist. His starting point was to break down language into its smallest component parts, recombining signs, letters and images to create onomatopoeic visual poems and artworks that defy conventional language use and its meaningfulness. Isou’s works were gifted to the museum’s collection by Robert Altmann (1915–2017). Altmann was an influential figure in the Liechtenstein art scene as a publisher, artist, collector and ardent patron of the avant-garde.