Christian Boltanski, born in France in 1944, is one of the most internationally acclaimed artists of our time. In 2006 he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, the Nobel Prize for the Arts presented by the Japanese Imperial Family.

Under the heading La vie possible, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is devoting the largest retrospective exhibition in the German-speaking area since 1991 to Christian Boltanski. It surveys the development of this artist's oeuvre since the mid-1980s, beginning with a series of the most famous Monuments. The main focus of the exhibition, however, is on his works of the past fifteen years. In a representative cross-section through all the groups of this time-period, plus works produced specially for the exhibition, La vie possible aims to facilitate an experience of the vitality with which the artist explores the possibilities of life itself, "real" life, but also collective life: la vie possible – not only is life basically possible, it is also full of potential for further development.

In the past three decades Boltanski has become an exponent of the "culture of memory" with his spacious installations and the very atmospheric settings of his works. The artist's images make a complex impact. His intention is not to erect permanent monuments, but to activate memory, i.e., to promote a culture of memory that constantly underscores the living in the face of what has been lost. The Les archives du coeur project in which the artist is in the process of installing an archive of humanity's heartbeats on the island of Ejima in southern Japan, is also to be seen in this context.

The exhibition illustrates the magnitude with which Boltanski's work has developed and changed over this period. Works on loan from different museums, but above all from the artist himself, demonstrate how strictly Boltanski has thematically re-oriented his work over about two decades. Very new and as yet unseen works are also on show in the exhibition, which is being produced by the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein and curated by Friedemann Malsch.
 

Publication
To accompany the exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the interview book La vie possible de Christian Boltanski, which appeared in France in 2008, will be published in a German translation (by Barbara Catoir) by Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne.

More pictures to this exhibition

  • Christian Boltanski
    Christian Boltanski, Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2009
  • Christian Boltanski
    Christian Boltanski, Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2009
  • Christian Boltanski
    Christian Boltanski, Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2009
  • Christian Boltanski
    Christian Boltanski, Exhibition view, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2009
  • Sun, 6.9.2009
    14.00
  • Opening
  • Thu, 14.5.2009
    18.00
  • Guided tours
  • Thu, 28.5.2009
    18.00
  • Thu, 4.6.2009
    18.00
  • Sun, 7.6.2009
    11.00
  • Thu, 18.6.2009
    18.00
  • Thu, 3.9.2009
    18.00
  • Thu 14.5.

    Opening

    Christian Boltanski
  • Tue 26.5.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Introduction for teachers
    "Christian Boltanski. La vie possible"
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Wed 27.5.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Introduction for teachers
    "Christian Boltanski. La vie possible"
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Thu 28.5.

    Take Away

    Take Away to "Christian Boltanski. La vie possible"
    short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 28.5.

    Guided tour

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    with Friedemann Malsch, director
  • Thu 4.6.

    Guided tour

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    with Doris Fend
  • Sun 7.6.

    Guided tour

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    with Christina Jacoby
  • Sun 7.6.

    Families

    Family Sunday
    for children aged between 5 and 10 years and their (grand)parents, with Doris Defranceschi
  • Mon 15.6.

    In cooperation with the "Feldkirch-Festival"

    Klangvermessung
    Kammerkonzert von Lars Mlekusch (Saxophon) und Grzegorz Stopa (Akkordeon),
    mit Werken von Erik Satie, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jacques Ibert u.a.
  • Thu 18.6.

    Guided tour

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    with Sandra Frimmel
  • Sun 21.6.

    Discussion

    Wer ist Christian Boltanski?
    with Heinz Peter Schwerfel, film maker, and Friedemann Malsch, director Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
  • Thu 25.6.

    Take Away

    Take Away to "Christian Boltanski. La vie possible"
    short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 9.7.

    Lecture

    Christian Boltanskis Inszenierung des Erinnerns und Vergessens
    from Dr. Aleida Assmann, professor for anglistics and general literature at the Unviersity of Konstanz, Germany
  • Thu 27.8.

    Take Away

    Take Away to "Christian Boltanski. La vie possible"
    short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 27.8.

    Film

    A la recherche de Christian Boltanski
    Alain Fleischer, France, 1989, 52’ (english)
  • Thu 3.9.

    Guided tour

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    with Friedemann Malsch, director
  • Sun 6.9.

    Finissage

    Christian Boltanski. La vie possible
    Guided tours, children studio and music