Game of Chance - selected prints
16.05 - 16.07.2026
Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) was one of the defining figures of Abstract Expressionism and the youngest member of what he himself called the “New York School.” In close collaboration with artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, he understood abstract painting as the direct expression of ideas and emotions—conveyed through bold forms, gestural lines, and a powerful visual language.
Trained in philosophy at Stanford University and in art history at Columbia University under Meyer Schapiro, Motherwell combined theoretical reflection with artistic practice. As a teacher at Black Mountain College and later at Hunter College, he influenced a younger generation of artists, including Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly.
His work encompasses painting, collage, and printmaking. Characteristic is his multi-layered use of the color black: in dense, unmodulated areas as well as in transparent veils that both conceal and reveal forms. Overlapping layers of color, differentiated surfaces, and powerful gestures define his compositions, which were often developed over long periods of time. The dynamic nature of this process gives rise to the powerful intensity of his oeuvre.
Cunnigham Capsule
16.05 - 06.06.2026
Merce Cunningham was born in 1919 in the U.S. state of Washington—two years before Joseph Beuys, seven years after John Cage, and nine years before Andy Warhol. He is considered one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century. His research and innovations in shaping and expressing meaningful movement of the human body are unique. His lifelong collaboration with the composer John Cage, as well as with numerous visual artists, is legendary. The dancers of his company honored him with deep respect and admiration. In total, Merce Cunningham created more than 180 choreographies and over 500 events.
The Merce Cunningham Dance Company was founded in the summer of 1953 at Black Mountain College. His approach was revolutionary—ideologically simple and at the same time physically highly complex. The opening of the body inward and into space, evident in his works, is still regarded as groundbreaking today. As Carolyn Brown, his longtime “top dancer,” put it: “Dancing is a spiritual exercise in physical form.”
Carolyn Brown’s perspective is brought to life in the exhibition, among other ways, through unpublished photographs by Saul Leiter from her estate. Her accounts of the time with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg, and Johns are fascinating testimonies of a monumental era of the 20th century that fundamentally transformed dance, art, music, and theater.
Carolyn Brown was a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and teacher. She was one of Cunningham’s most important collaborators and stood in front of Saul Leiter’s camera: “Remy suggested that I try high-fashion modeling. He brought along a friend—Saul Leiter, a painter who supported himself with commercial photography—and he took photographs of me.”
A little over a year ago, Carolyn Brown passed away. In her book Chance and Circumstance, she quotes a text by John Cage from 1955, written for the performance of Springweather and People. In it, Cage describes Merce Cunningham as a researcher and pioneer with a clear structure:
“…his own school of dance and choreography, whose continuity no longer depends on linear elements—neither narrative nor psychological—and not on movement toward or away from a climax. As in abstract painting, it is assumed that an element (a movement, a sound, a change in light) is expressive in itself; what it communicates is largely determined by the observer. It is assumed that dance sustains itself and does not require support from music. … As for the individual movements, they are both derived and discovered; derived from both ballet and modern dance, and discovered as results of Cunningham’s ongoing search and refinement of his sense of movement.”
Decades later, Carolyn Brown regarded John Cage as the best mediator and interpreter of Cunningham’s work. His words remain relevant even half a century later and must be continually reaffirmed, as audiences continue to be surprised and captivated by the creativity and artistic power of this choreographer.
One of the groundbreaking innovations in stage design is highlighted through Carolyn Brown’s descriptions:
“Space, as the title Summerspace suggests, was Cunningham’s central choreographic concern in this piece. In his explorations of movement, Cunningham sought steps and phrases that carry the dancers through space, not just into it. There were twenty-one different spatial pathways—horizontal, diagonal, or circular—leading from and to three entrances and exits on each side of the stage. The movements were mostly continuous and often fast. … In selecting the spatial possibilities for Summerspace, Cunningham avoided the center of the stage, except as an area the dancers might pass through.”
This revolution in stage spatial design continues to fascinate to this day. The artistic practice of Lena Grossmann is an independent reflection on this bodily intelligence. Her work Mimetic Practice is part of the exhibition and invites artistic engagement.
Merce Cunningham and John Cage were extraordinary contemporaries. It is therefore hardly surprising that Cunningham’s drawings predominantly focus on the animal world. Perhaps this also reflects his view of humans as beings who move between, occupy, possess, relinquish, and explore spaces—abilities that animals, as living beings in motion, also possess.
