Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein is devoting the first comprehensive solo exhibition outside of Russia to the Russian-born artist (* 1959) who today lives in Cologne and Moscow.

"Is it possible to make an absolutely incomprehensible artwork?" Yuri Albert

Yuri Albert is one of the most important exponents of the second generation of the Moscow Conceptualists. Excluded from the state culture industry in the 1970s and 1980s, from the official infrastructure of museums and galleries, but also from the discourses of aesthetics and art criticism, the artists themselves were forced to take on the task of presenting, commenting on and reflecting theoretically on their activities. Marked by the historical experience of self-organisation in the late Soviet milieu, Albert arrived at his critical and, at the same time, (self-)ironic reflections on the art system.

The focus of the exhibition showcasing Yuri Albert's work for the first time outside of Russia in this fullness is on the Elitist-Democratic Art series (1987–2017). In this series the artist contrasts the language of art with the languages of blind or deaf people or also the terminology of sailors and stenographers in order to analyse the individual semiotic systems and the system of art as a whole, their comprehensibility and accessibility. The museum visitor is always an interlocutor in these studies of the relationship between artwork and interpretation, image and text, visibility and invisibility, original and copy. Yuri Albert's works draw us into a dialogue with and about art, inviting us to ponder the status of art: elitist or democratic.

The exhibition conceived in close collaboration with Yuri Albert is a production of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in cooperation with the ERC project Performance Art in Eastern Europe (1950–1990): History and Theory (University of Zürich), curated by Sandra Frimmel.

The show will be accompanied by a publication in German, edited by Sandra Frimmel and Sabine Hänsgen. It comprises a selection of the artist's texts and a comprehensive works section.

More pictures to this exhibition

  • Yuri Albert
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
  • Yuri Albert
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
  • Yuri Albert
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
  • Yuri Albert
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
  • Yuri Albert
    Exhibition view Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography, Zurich
  • Opening
  • Thu, 20.9.2018
    18.00
  • Guided tours
  • Thu, 27.9.2018
    18.00
  • Thu, 6.12.2018
    18.00
  • Thu, 10.1.2019
    18.00
  • Thu 20.9.

    Opening

    Yuri Albert
    Elitist-Democratic Art
  • Thu 27.9.

    Take Away

    Yuri Albert. Elitist-Democratic Art
    Short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Thu 27.9.

    Guided tour

    What did the artist mean by that?
    with Alex Hanimann
  • Thu 4.10.

    Lecture

    Wohnungsausstellungen, Küchengespräche und Reisen aus der Stadt.
    Yuri Albert im Kontext der inoffiziellen Moskauer Kunst
    by Sandra Frimmel
  • Wed 24.10.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Yuri Albert
    in Kooperation mit dem Schulamt Liechtenstein
    für Lehrpersonen aus FL, A, CH
  • Thu 25.10.

    Take Away

    Yuri Albert. Elitist-Democratic Art
    Short guided tour during the lunch break
  • Fri 26.10.

    Special Event

    Presentation of the publication «Yuri Albert. Elitär-demokratische Kunst» and artist talk
    Venue: Kunsthalle Zürich
  • Sun 4.11.

    One Hour

    Blindfolded tour of the museum
    with Didi Fromherz, in the presence of Yuri Albert
  • Wed 7.11.

    Introduction for Teachers

    Yuri Albert
    in Kooperation mit der PH Vorarlberg
    für Lehrpersonen aus A
  • Thu 6.12.

    Guided tour

    What did the artist mean by that?
    with Stefan Baltensperger and David Siepert
  • Thu 10.1.

    Guided tour

    Yuri Albert. Elitist-Democratic Art
    with Sandra Frimmel and Sabine Hänsgen