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Metzger GustavBorn in Nuremberg, to a family of orthodox Jews of Polish origin, in 1939 he was sent along with his brother to England, as a part of the Refugee Children’s Movement. He never accepted the citizenship of any country, and continues to live in the status of a stateless person. He takes on the topics of memory, the Holocaust, ecology, disasters, and tragedies that lead him to think in universal terms about the self-destruction of the world. At the core of his artwork he persistently presents the subjects of transformation and impermanence. He strives to draw the attention of the viewer to the self-destructive properties of every medium. Anti-capitalist, activist, creator of ecological projects, including many that have never been realised. The author of the Auto-Destructive Art manifesto (1959) and the ADA (Auto-Destructive Art) projects. In 1966 in London he organised the DIAS – Destruction in Art Symposium, to which representatives of the Fluxus group (including Wolf Vostell), Viennese action artists and German anti-establishmentarians travelled. The ideas presented there had a surprising impact, including the inspiration of Pete Townsend and his “direction” of his rock band The Who’s concerts, where they destroyed there own instruments. In 1974 he proclaimed Years Without Art (1977-1980) calling for a strike by artists. In 2008 he announced the RAF (Reduce Art Flights, 2008) project, to reduce the number of flights for the carriage of art objects and people associated with them. He took part in joint and individual shows at the most important museums and galleries all over the world. In Poland he has had one monograph show to date, organised at Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw in 2007, where his works produced between 1995 and 2008 were shown. |
Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)Metzger resumed his activity as an artist in the mid-1990s, and his work has been gathering greater and greater acclaim by academics, artists and critics, as well as museums and other institutions. Other than new works, he has been able to re-create works from the past which were not produced. Among them was the work Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1), the film documentation of which has been seen during the ArtBoom Tauron Festival.  The fascinating story of the creation of Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1) stretches back to 1970. It was then, in London, that this independent project Mobbile originated – the concept of which was the connection of a small car’s exhaust pipe to a transparent plastic box on its roof. The car was driven in the area of the prestigious Hayward Gallery, where a kinetic art exhibit was on offer. The box contained pieces of meat, vegetables, and fruits under attack by the accumulating exhaust. In 1972, Metzger further developed the concept for the London action – he was invited by Harald Szeemann to participate in Documenta V in Kassel, for which Metzger prepared his work Karba. This time, the work was to be made up of four vehicles, the exhaust pipes of which were connected to a nearby plastic pavilion. Unfortunately, due to an unfortunate coincidence that project was not completed, even though it was entered into the exhibition catalogue. At the same time Metzger worked on a similar, but much more spectacular, project for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which took place in 1972 in Stockholm. This was to be Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1). It was to use 120 vehicles, the exhausts of which was to be accumulated in a specially-created architectural space. The project again remained only in the conceptual phase, until in 2008, when it was realised at the Sharjah Biennale in the United Arab Emirates, where the exhaust of 100 vehicles was collected in a specially built “room”. The second unrealised phase of the project was to involve the massing of those same automobiles inside the same space filled with exhaust, the intended effect of which was to be the self-destruction of the automobiles through self-immolation in a process similar to that of a bomb. By the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, Metzger had raised the question of pollution, foreseeing our coming struggle with the ecological effects of the galloping advances of technology and automation. At the same time, Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1) could be interpreted in the context of the Holocaust, which had such a powerful effect on the artist. This work, despite the fact that nearly 40 years that have passed since its conception, remains current and relevant today. It points up the extraordinary creative consistency of the artist, and shows the characteristic antagonism that appears in his work. Picture: Weronika Szmuc Project curator: Joanna Walewska |
11/06/2010
Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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Project Stockholm, June, (Phase 1)
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