„Noul romantism negru” @ Muzeul National de Arta al României

Bukarest- Opening May 10th, 2017
Muzeul National de Arta al României, Bucuresti
11.05 – 27.08. 2017

ARTISTS
Alexandra Baumgartner / Berthold Bock / Roland Boden / Sven Drühl / Martin Eder / Axel Geis / Anders Grønlien / Bertram Hasenauer / Gregor Hildebrandt / Tommy Høvik / Lisa Junghanß / Krištof Kintera / Andrey Klassen / Michael Kunze / Nik Nowak / Markus Proschek / Adam Saks / Sándor Szász / Jan Šerých / Moritz Stumm / László Szotyory / Philip Topolovac / Iris Van Dongen / Fabrizia Vanetta / Ruprecht Von Kaufmann / Jan Vytiska / Maik Wolf / Ralf Ziervogel

Something in this exhibition is not right. While everything around us is sinking into chaos, opportunities for art arise from sheer impenetrability. But in the same way that many people mistrust commentators and fact checkers, and instead prefer to believe in their own truths, artists too are playing cunning games with their audiences’ perception, if not fears, and with their collective fantasies. The images, objects and videos in this exhibition purposefully hint at dark secrets by merging real and surreal worlds in order to create a climate of uncertainty, doubt and approximation.

The 34 selected artists from Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, the USA and Great Britain address all the topics that move the world. The banality of evil. The simultaneously criminal and distinguished nature of power. The smooth surfaces of desire. The shady deals and amoral networks. By doing so, they show how the perpetrators merge with their abysmal deeds.
In the fall of 2012, the highly acclaimed exhibition Black Romanticism: From Goya to Max Ernst at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/Main explored the darker aspects of human existence through the obscure side of romanticism and its continuation in symbolism and surrealism.

New Black Romanticism is the attempt to look at contemporary artistic trends between progressive Dark Wave and strategies of obfuscation. From delicately intonated doomsday pathos to neo-baroque bombast, nothing seems too fraught for the artists’ merging of sentimental effusions galvanised by chilling undercurrents.

Curated by Christoph Tannert
Curatorial Assistant Miriam Barnitz

Video Programme
Curated by Robert Seidel
Greta Alfaro / Susann Maria Hempel / William Lamson / Bill Morrison / Quay Brothers / Jan Švankmajer

EXHIBITION DESTINATIONS
Muzeul Național de Artă al României, București
11.05.–27.08.17
Opening 10.05.17

Stadtgalerie Kiel
16.09.–31.10.17
Opening 15.09.17

Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin
17.11.–10.12.17
Opening 16.11.17

Galerie der Stadt Backnang
24.02.–22.04.18
Opening 23.02.18

Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis Bregenz
26.05.–01.07.18
Opening 25.05.18

Topičův Salon Praha
July / August 2018