Library of Sculpture

The Swiss artist Vaclav Pozarek (1940-) installed his art project Library of Sculpture to define the formerly private character of the rooms in a new way with his personal collection on the history of sculpture. He has primarily become known through his sculptural work. This combines constructivist and conceptual elements with a frame of reference, which playfully dispels an all too strict logic and classification. He uses his magnificent archive on sculpture from antiquity to the present, which is at the centre of the exhibition. Pozarek has compiled this voluminous collection over many years. It not only places his own art in a larger framework, but establishes an actual musée imaginaire of sculpture. For the exhibition he builds a spacious library with all the associated facilities. His sculptural furniture creates a space-filling installation. On shelves, tables, lecterns and pedestals the artist spreads out his collection of books and photographs. Parallel to this he shows his own works relating to this context as well as models and drawings referring to a fictitious institution completely dedicated to sculpture. Therein a comprehensive concept of sculpture manifests itself, which brings together contrasting attitudes and languages of expression. Thus it contradicts modernism’s clear systems and ideals and confronts it with an open system of reference.