with CAROLINE BACHMANN/STEFAN BANZ, RUDOLF BLÄTTLER, BERLINDE DE BRUYCKERE, ANTON EGLOFF, WALTER FÄHNDRICH, VALÉRIE FAVRE, EBERHARD HAVEKOST, ANTON HENNING, LORI HERSBERGER, ZHANG HUAN, ROSE¬MARY LAING, ALOIS LICHTSTEINER, URS LÜTHI, RÉMY MARKOWITSCH, TATJANA MARUSIC, ALOIS MOSBACHER, JUN NGUYEN-HATSUSHIBA, UGO RONDINONE, CHRISTOPH RÜTIMANN, ALBRECHT SCHNIDER, MIRI SEGAL, MINNETTE VÁRI, ROLF WINNEWISSER, ROBERT ZANDVLIET

On its Jubilee 10 Years of the Museum of Art in KKL Lucerne, the art museum is showing its new acquisitions in the field of the contemporary art of the last 10 years. The expansion of the collection throughout this period proves to be an attestation of the exhibition work going on at the same time, and provides an excellent document of the most recent developments in art. The sweep extends from positions in international contemporary art from Australia, Asia, Israel, South Africa and Europe to artists with Central Swiss roots who now belong to the international art scene.

It will become apparent that the reference to past (predominantly modern) art, but also to cultural or historical contexts is today more than ever part of the canon of art: artists are inspired, they recount, quote, cartoon and parody, but also, within this dialogue, they are always in search of their own personal language and the significance of the past for the present day. Their personal affinity with the sources is both a stimulus and a finally revealed component of the work. The term ‘aesthetic of reference’ aptly describes this artistic process. On the level of content the exhibition shows that the individual’s body, identity or relation to society remain central themes in the 21^st century. Painterly positions such as those of Anton Henning and Valérie Favre are prominently represented in the exhibition. Also on show are projects intimately related to the museum building, such as the videos for Christoph Rütimann’s 2002 performance Hanging at the Museum or Walter Fähndrich’s sound installation Ora, produced in 2006 for the outside space of KKL.