Museion (Bozen)


The Museion is the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Bozen, in South Tyrol, Italy.
It was founded in 1985.
Since 2006 it has been managed by the Museion Foundation, founded by the Autonomous Province Bozen and the Museion Association.
On 24 May 2008 the Museion opened to the public its new venue, built by the KSV - Krüger Schuberth Vandreike architects in the center of Bolzano.

Collections

The Museion currently holds 4500 works of art, both from international and local artists, which are exhibited according to a theme-based rotation. Acquisitions often are made after temporary exhibitions. The displays of works of art in the collection are curated also by artists.
In recent years most acquisitions by the Museion have come from exhibitions on contemporary sculpture, and particularly by artists that conceive sculpture as a way to establish relationships between objects and spaces. During the opening of an exhibition by the American sculptor Carl Andre, the director of the Museion Letizia Ragaglia has declared: "The sculptures by Carl Andre are not objects meant to be contemplated, but a place to live in, where you can move, have experiences, and establish relationships through physical contact."

Main venue

The main building of the Museion is a cube measuring 54 metres long, 25 metres high and 23 metres wide, with transparent front and rear façades. The building is a physical and symbolic link between the two parts of the city of Bozen.

Other venues

Created in 2003, the Piccolo Museion – Cubo Garutti is a work by Alberto Garutti. Located in Via Sassari 17b, it functions as an outlying venue for Museion in the Don Bosco neighbourhood of Bolzano.

Library

Specialised in modern and contemporary art, Museion’s library holds 25,000 volumes, 50 subscriptions to art journals and 400 DVDs.

Programs, exhibitions and events

Since its opening, the Museion has focused its programme on research across diverse forms of artistic expressions, and has tried to develop close relationships with artists.
During the years the Museion has produced exhibition on the works of artists such as Sonic Youth, Mike Kelley, Rosemarie Trockel, Carl Andre, Danh Vo, and Martino Gamper.

Exhibitions

TitleOpeningClosingVenueCurated by
Peripheral vision & collective body24 May 200821 September 2008MuseionCorinne Diserens
Sonic Youth etc.: “SENSATIONAL FIX”'11 October 20084 January 2009MuseionRoland Grönenboom and Corinne Diserens
Mike Kelley – Educational Complex Onwards, 1995–200816 January 200919 April 2009MuseionAnne Pontegnie
Carl Andre17 September 20118 January 2012MuseionRoland Mönig and Letizia Ragaglia
Rosemarie Trockel: "Flagrant Delight"1 May 201312 January 2014MuseionDirk Snauwaert
Danh Vo. Fabulous Muscles18 May 20131 September 2014MuseionLetizia Ragaglia
Klara Lidén. Invalidenstraße14 September 201312 January 2014MuseionLetizia Ragaglia
When Now is Minimal. The Unknown Side of the Sammlung Goetz23 November 201312 October 2014MuseionKarsten Löckemann, Angelika Nollert, Letizia Ragaglia
Leander Schwazer. Bikini21 February 201425 May 2014Museion
Ceal Floyer1 February 20144 May 2014MuseionLetizia Ragaglia
Tatiana Trouvé. I Tempi Doppi24 May 20147 September 2014MuseionLetizia Ragaglia
Rä di Martino. Authentic News of Invisible Things27 September 201411 January 2015MuseionFrida Carazzato
Soleil politique. The Museum Between Light and Shadow27 September 201411 January 2015MuseionPierre Bal-Blanc
Solo Show Robbie Williams1 November 20141 March 2015Museion
Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa1 November 20141 March 2015MuseionHenry Moore Institute
Nanni Balestrini. Oltre la poesia15 November 201422 February 2015MuseionAndreas Hapkemeyer
Chiara Fumai. Der Hexenhammer31 January 201526 April 2015MuseionFrida Carazzato
Rossella Biscotti. The future can only be for ghosts31 January 201525 May 2015MuseionFrida Carazzato
Collecting for Tomorrow: new works at Museion21 March 201510 January 2016Museion
Martino Gamper. Design is a State of Mind6 June 201513 September 2015MuseionMartino Gamper
Maurizio Nannucci. Top Hundred18 September 20156 January 2016MuseionAndreas Hapkemeyer
Cerith Wyn Evans3 October 201510 January 2016MuseionLetizia Ragaglia
Marinella Senatore. Jammin’ Drama Project24 November 201513 December 2015Museion
Francesco Vezzoli. MUSEO MUSEION30 January 20166 November 2016MuseionFrancesco Vezzoli
Korakrit Arunanodchai2 June 201611 September 2016Museion
Judith Hopf1 October 20168 January 2017Museion
Lili Reynaud-Dewar28 January 20175 May 2017Museion
Irma Blank16 November 201723 September 2018Museion
Martin Kippenberger, Maria Lassnig. BODY CHECK3 February 20186 May 2018Museion
Diego Marcon10 April 20186 May 2018Museion
John Armleder''22 September 20186 January 2019Museion

Criticism

Right after the opening of the Museion's new venue, in May 2008, the first exhibition had on display, among others, the work "Zuerst die Füße" by the German artist Martin Kippenberger.
That work, coinceived as a 'portrait' by the artist in 1990, depicts a crucifixed frog holding a beer in one hand and an egg in the other. According to the Museion, the sculpture has "nothing to do with religion, and represents instead the inner world of the artist himself following a difficult rehabilitation process from drugs and alcohol abuse."
During a visit by the Pope some regional politicians declared that the sculpture should be taken down.
Sandro Bondi, then Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism
declared that the sculpture was "also an offense to common sense".