Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich / Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York

2 x [ (2 x 20) + (2 x 2) ] + 2 = X x (desperately) trying to figure out the world

Curated by Konrad Bitterli

Part I: Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich
Opening Zurich: Saturday, October 25, 2008, 11.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
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Part II: Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York
Opening New York: Friday, November 7, 2008, 5.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.

What – apart from the use of language – connects Lawrence Weiner, the pioneer of
conceptual art who grew up in the New York Bronx, with the contemplative Swiss artist Ian
Anüll, who was born in Sempach and now lives in Zurich? What cross references of content
are revealed between the work of John Baldessari, born in 1931, and that of the Belgian artist
Koenrad Dedobbeleer, born in 1975, or Robert Mapplethorpe, who died in 1989, and Jitka
Hanzlová, born in 1958?

The work of these artists – drawn from a random selection – determines the art of the late
1960s to the present. They represent radical individual positions, they have developed an
unmistakeable artistic language and have thus not only made their appearance in
contemporary art, some of them have even made an important contribution to the history of
art. In spite of all the obvious differences in their attitudes and approaches, two things connect
these artists: on the one hand their investigation of the world, which issues from a sound
conceptual basis, and a permanent reflection of their artistic means, which contrasts with the
approach of pure 'L’art pour l’art'; on the other, entirely superficial, but by no means
insignificant, a common venue of production and mediation of art: the Mai 36 Galerie in Zurich.

The somewhat cryptic equation in the exhibition's title 2 x [ (2 x 20) + (2 x 2) ] + 2 refers to the
internationally active gallery. It was opened by Victor Gisler and Luigi Kurmann exactly 20
years ago with a solo exhibition of work by Les Levine in Lucerne, and it has since organised
over 150 exhibitions, at first in Lucerne and then in Zurich, with work by dozens of artists,
including those mentioned at the beginning and numerous other outstanding exponents of
contemporary art who figure in the gallery's permanent programme. Reason enough for a
jubilee exhibition that purports to be neither a transfigured view nor a nostalgic reflection, but
an unbiased view of the gallery's twenty years activity and thus of twenty years committed to
the mediation of international art.