Talk: Peter Pakesch

Photos: Arno Bergmans
 
 

“If we look back at the eighties, we see the beginnings of a change that has been much more far-reaching and radical than it was even conceivable at that time before the end of the Cold War.”
(Peter Pakesch in True Stories, Max Hetzler, 2018)
 

On Sunday 17 November 2019, Herbert Foundation is pleased to invite you for a Talk by Peter Pakesch.

When Peter Pakesch opened his gallery at Ballgasse 6 in Vienna in 1981, he found himself at the heart of a profoundly altered artistic landscape.

Alongside established names such as John Baldessari, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Sol LeWitt, his gallery allowed him to also underline the international importance of a younger generation of artists and worked closely with, among others, Mike Kelley, Albert Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger, Franz West and Heimo Zobernig. Pakesch’s gallery was not just an exhibition space, but also acted as a creative laboratory which evolved into an artistic hotspot during its 12 years of existence.

The work Ordinary Language (1993) by Franz West is both the setting and the starting point for Peter Pakesch’s talk at Herbert Foundation. From the perspective of his close contact with artists such as Franz West, Mike Kelley and Martin Kippenberger, Peter Pakesch will analyse the shift in the artistic attitude that occurred in the early 1980s, which also constitutes the context of the exhibition Distance Extended / 1979 – 1997. Part 1.

Peter Pakesch (°1955) has been chairman of the Maria Lassnig Foundation since 2015. He ran Galerie Peter Pakesch in Vienna from 1981 until 1993, where he presented work from, among others, Albert Oehlen, Günther Förg, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Franz West, Herbert Brandl and Heimo Zobernig. In 1996 he became director of Kunsthalle Basel and in 2003 he took over as director at the Universalmuseum Joanneum and Kunsthaus Graz until 2015. It was there that he organised the exhibition Inventur. Werke aus der Sammlung Herbert in 2006 for which Heimo Zobernig realised the scenography.

After the talk, the exhibition Distance Extended / 1979 – 1997. Part I is open for a visit.