Lygia Clark

The Brazilian Lygia Clark (1920 Belo Horizonte - 1988 Rio de Janeiro) radically renewed the concept of art and is one of the most important artists in South America. As the main representative of "Neoconcretismo", founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1959, she called for a body-related art experience that involves people in the work and allows them to become part of the work themselves. With installations that can be activated, walked on and touched, Clark radically turned the conventional understanding of sculpture on its head and continues to expand this concept of art as a holistic experience to this day.

Despite the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and later Pop Art, Clark was able to assert herself with her unconventional ideas, which is remarkable given the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964 - 1985). Clark herself said: "For me, creating art is about developing myself as a human being, which is the most important thing of all. Art should not emulate any name or any concept." Today, in times of digitalization and globalization, her works appeal to all the senses more than ever. Our retrospective is the first in the German-speaking world and the largest worldwide since the one at MoMA in New York in 2014.

A retrospective in cooperation with the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in collaboration with the Associação Cultural Lygia Clark in Rio de Janeiro. It will be accompanied by a separate presentation in collaboration with Museum Haus Konstruktiv, focusing on the Swiss-Brazilian connection and in particular the influence of Zurich Concrete artist Max Bill on Lygia Clark and her generation, as well as her emancipation from Bill.

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Ill.: Lygia Clark, The I and the You: Clothes - Body - Clothes Series, 1967, Cultural Association "The World of Lygia Clark", © Estate Lygia Clark

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