Exhibition history (Paul Thek at Moderna Museet 1971/72).
"Paul Thek in Process" evolved from the discovery of an unrealized publication project by the American artist Paul Thek, which had been discussed while he was installing his first space-filling environment, "Pyramid/A Work in Progress" in 1971, and which was to have been released for
documenta 5. For this project, around 800 images were taken capturing the progress of the installation, as well as the final form of this pivotal work of 1970s installation art, "Pyramid/A Work in Progress."
The book contains not only a large number of unpublished images, but also evaluates the complex organizational task of the installation's conception and eventual realization. It offers an exhibition history seen through the backdoor, with particular attention paid to the status of the ephemeral objects that remain as contingent representatives of the lost work. The selected and reproduced source material is understood as curated in terms of its re-incorporation of what has been left out of art and exhibition history. Consequently, the book takes a documentary and fragmentary approach, and reproduces numerous contact sheets and a large selection of the photographic images, all the remaining correspondence between the artist and the institution, the exhibition and work-related ephemera, as well as the press coverage of the show.
A recognized figure on the American art scene, Paul Thek (1933-1988) produced an astonishingly diverse body of work (drawings, sculptures, paintings, installations and environments) that is consistent with his image as an elusive artist, perpetually on the move. During his lifetime, Thek was exhibited by the most important New York galleries (Stable Gallery, Pace Gallery). His work was also presented at
documenta 4 and
5 in Kassel (1968, 1972), the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1969), the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1971), and the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne (1973). He was supported in particular by
Harald Szeemann and
Jean-Christophe Ammann. In 1977, Suzanne Delehanty curated
Processions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, marking the first solo exhibition of Paul Thek's work in an American institution. Following his death in 1988, his work was mainly shown in Europe. First in 1992, in Italy, with the
Paul Thek exhibition at Castello di Rivara. Then, in 1995,
Paul Thek – The Wonderful World That Almost Was opened in Rotterdam at the Witte de With and subsequently traveled to Berlin, Barcelona, Zurich and Marseille. In 2008, the ZKM in Karlsruhe programmed
Paul Thek Artist's Artist, which also explored how Thek's work has resonated in the contemporary scene. On the other side of the Atlantic, it wasn't until 2010 that the Whitney Museum in New York dedicated a remarkable retrospective to Thek, whose title,
Paul Thek: Diver, emphasized the artist's passion for the sea.
See also
Valérie Da Costa:
Paul Thek en Italie;
May #66 – Paul Thek.
