Form Matters, Matter Forms

Ever since the invention of the readymade at the start of the last century, when everyday objects were selected to be shown as art objects, the differentiation between art and everyday life is no longer straightforward and now very much dependent on context. The public presentation of readymades and their appropriation in the context of Pop Art during the 1960s, a period of great economic prosperity, has considerably increased the influence of both product and advertising design on art. Aesthetics familiar from everyday life have brought about fundamental changes in art in terms of content. Art appreciation can no longer function without considering the interdependencies between the operating system of art and its development within consumer society. The appropriation of consumer goods has turned the microsystem of art into an actual zone of conflict between material and materialism, and works of art have thus become veritable fetish objects. These interdependencies form the point of departure for the exhibition and the accompanying book >> Form Matters, Matter Forms<< with works ranging from Marcel Duchamp to the present day.