13 Dec 2011

Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp: RUDOLF HERZ - Marcel Duchamp. Le Mystère de Munich: A Preview

Rudolf Herz's current project explores the background to Duchamp's period of stay in Munich and comes up with new images and reflections concerning the invention of conceptual art. During these three months in Munich in the summer of 1912 Duchamp went through a radical change that not only marked a new beginning but was also to make him the key figure of 20th century art. It was in Munich that his idea for the Large Glass (1915-1923) began to take shape, and most likely for his ready-mades as well.

Rudolf Herz has quite literally 'built' the thesis behind his project, for its focal point is a reconstruction of the since demolished apartment of the engineer August Gress, in which Duchamp had rented a small room barely larger than 10 square metres (top left in the model). The apartment (65, Barerstrasse – 2nd floor) was more than just a place to stay – it was the cradle of conceptual art, and August Gress was one of Duchamp's inspirations.
Herz has transformed the apartment into a sculpture. It will be reconstructed to the scale of 1:1, tipped through an angle of 90 degrees and presented after the fashion of an archaeologically excavated site. The sculpture will be erected in Munich's art district, on the south lawn of the Alte Pinakothek, in the summer of 2012. Accompanying the inauguration of the sculpture will be an artist's book (Moser Verlag Munich) in which Rudolf Herz gives a detailed account of his research and presents hitherto unknown documents.

The model of the sculpture will be making its début in the exhibition Marcel Duchamp. The Munich Mystery: A Preview. The exhibition spans the beginning and the end, so to speak, the time and space between the spring and the waterfall, between Munich, 'the scene of my complete liberation' (Duchamp), and Cully/Chexbres, the location of the Forestay Waterfall on which Duchamp based his very last work, Étant Donnés. 1° La chute d'eau, 2° le gaz d'éclairage (1946-1966).

Rudolf Herz (*1954) lives and works in Munich. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the Art Historical Seminar of the University of Hamburg. Numerous teaching posts and guest professorships. Prizewinner in 1995 (together with Reinhard Matz) in the competition for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. His works have iconoclasm, memory, oblivion and future visions as their themes. His last solo exhibition took place at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne in 2010 (Lenin on Tour).