MUNICH.- The spaces we inhabit shape our perception, our sense of place, and the ways we move through them. As viewers, therefore, we never experience art divorced from the surrounding space. Under the title Between & Beyond, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst at the Pinakothek der Moderne presents works from its own collection that explore both the aesthetic and social perception of the gallery space. On display are paintings, objects, and installations from the 1960s to the present day, examining the fluid relationship between the artwork, the space, and the viewer.

In the 1960s, artists associated with Minimal Art began incorporating the surrounding space into their works. The result was installations that engaged viewers in a physical and sensory experience and could only be fully appreciated in situ. Dan Flavin’s 1973 light installation “untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection)” bathes the exhibition space in coloured fluorescent light, dissolving spatial and architectural boundaries. Fred Sandback’s “Mikado (Sculptural Study for the Pinakothek der Moderne)”, 2003, is on display again for the first time since 2014. It creates shifting planes and volumes by using the most minimal of means. Equally expansive is Mary Miss’s large-scale installation “Knots” (1969), which was recently acquired for the collection. Its floor-spanning grid of knots opens up spaces for contemplation and imagination. In this way, the exhibition space itself becomes part of the artwork, acting as a ‘between’ that bridges the gap between the artwork and the viewer, or as a ‘beyond’ that reveals an imaginary, transcendent realm experienced through light, shadow, and movement.

After the shattering experiences of the Second World War, the traditional conceit of a pictorial space lying beyond the picture plane was fundamentally called into question. Lucio Fontana slashes his canvas to expand the pictorial space outwards, while Ida Applebroog assembles her compositions from several separate canvases, creating a juxtaposition of individual motifs that reveals an unsettling intersection between private and public realities. Imi Knoebel overcomes the dimensional limitations of painting and unveils a shadow space that points to what is hidden and repressed. Sean Scully blurs the boundaries of the picture plane in his monumental paintings.





These approaches to an expanded pictorial space influenced subsequent generations. Monika Baer challenges visual habits by puncturing her abstract paintings with subtle marks. Klára Hosnedlová combines two- and three-dimensionality in her whole-room installation – another recent acquisition by “PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.” Presented here for the first time, Hosnedlová’s work conveys a timeless sense of elusiveness through its atypical choice of materials. Victor Leguy and Roman Ondak expand pictorial space to include a social dimension. They address threshold moments in both individual and collective experience.

The works on display from the Sammlung Moderne Kunst actively engage visitors and offer new ways of experiencing the museum space. Suspended moments, in-between states, and points of transition invite a different kind of engagement – with what is otherwise repressed or overlooked.

Works on display include those by Nevin Aladağ, Josef Albers, Carl Andre, Ida Applebroog, Monika Baer, Dirk Bell, Joseph Beuys, Martin Boyce, Alberto Burri, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Wade Guyton, Klára Hosnedlová, Donald Judd, Imi Knoebel, Victor Leguy, Mary Miss, Roman Ondak, Fred Sandback, Sean Scully, and Augustas Serapinas, Richard Serra.

Curated by Verena Hein and Bernhart Schwenk, with Eva Schuster