Art, Awkwardness and Enthusiasm
Halle für Kunst Steiermark and Neue Galerie, Graz, Autriche
Opening Oct. 12th
From October 13th to February 25th
curateurs Cristina Ricupero et Jörg Heiser 

Avec Saadane Afif, Assumer Vivid Astro Focus, Dan Tao, Enrico Baj, John Baldessari, Judith Bernstein, Jean Luc Blanc, Anna & Bernhard Blume, Cosima von Bonin, Ulla von Brandenburg, Robert Breer, Pieter Bruegel D.A, Giorgio de Chirico, Yun Choi, René Clair, Pauline Curnier-Jardin, Jeremy Deller, Brice Dellsperger, Josef Dobner, Theo Van Doesburg, Rosie Dowd-Smyth, Marcel Duchamp, Mimosa Echard, Nicole Eisenman, James Ensor, Max Ernst, Qyvind Fahlstrom, Lara Favaretto, Hans Peter Feldmann, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Isa Genzken, Jef Geys, Martin Gostner, Nicholas Grafia, George Grosz, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, Georg Anton Gumpp, Ramin et Rokni Haerizadeh et Hesam Rahmanian, Hannah Höch, Heinrich Hoerle & Anton Raderscheidt, Marcel Janco, Alfred Jarry, Asger Jorn, Mike Kelley, Katia Kelm, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Martin Kippenberger, Jacob Lena Knebl, Jiri Kovanda, Peter Land, Maria Lassnig, Gabriel Lester, Eric Van Lieshout, Marco Lulic, René Magritte, Calvin Marcus, Fabien Marti, Paul McCarthy, Bjarne Melgaard, Nathaniel Mellors, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, John Miller, Mrzyck & Moriceau, Shana Moulton, Henrike Naumann, Francis Picabia, Wong Ping, Katrin Plavcak, Pierre La Police, Sigmar Polke, Rob Pruitt, Sun Ra, Roee Rosen, Mika Rottenberg, Sterling Ruby, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Andreas Schulze, Kurt Schwitters, Jim Shaw, Roman Signer, Cora Spassvogel, Erich Spiessbach, Sturtevant, Jeffrey Vallance, Jean-Luc Verna, Olav Westphallen, Ming Wong.

The feeling or attitude of enthusiastic embarrassment is undoubtedly associated with a notion of humorous light-heartedness – but just as much with a sense of earnest persistence, against all odds. It is certainly associated with irony – but also with a deeply unironic, rather enthusiastic belief in the necessity and possibility of persevering and continuing with something that has been recognized as unpleasant or embarrassing. One of the most important attitudes or feelings underlying modern and contemporary art is an enthusiastic silliness that does not shy away from the embarrassing, the unreasonably silly. The exhibition, which spans epochs, includes works by around 100 artists from all over the world and spans an arc from earlier centuries of artistic creation to the immediate past.