Július Koller has „consistently developed his position up to the present day, and an oeuvre that in its stringency, obsession and peculiarity could well be called one of the most erratic and consistent of European contemporary art. It is perhaps most comparable with the universe of a Marcel Broothaer.“ (Georg Schöllhammer)
The first international, comprehensive solo exhibition of Július Koller at the Kölnischer Kunstverein deals with attempts of a utopian appropriation of space in the course of striving for new creativity, imagination and greater freedom. It was conceived together with the young artist Roman Ondák, who will be represented with a solo exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein himself in 2004.
Július Koller regards his artistic practice since the mid-60s as a „cultural process“, in which the self-initiative of the subject that is to shape future-oriented, cultural situations has a special significance. With his projects he has inscribed this kind of step-by-step, active transformation of real life into reality.
The exhibition shows a selection from Július Koller’s extensive work since the 1960s up to the present. It comprises text-pictures, objects, collages, photo works, manifestos and a video documentation.
Július Koller, born 1939 in Piestany (former Czechoslovakia), lives and works in Bratislava.
