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MAMAC Celebrates Gustav Metzger, the Father of Auto-Destructive Art

FLORENCE DUBOSC14 February, 20171 Mins read94

The Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain in Nice (MAMAC), presents a retrospective of the work of Gustav Metzger, running until the 14th of May.

Gustav Metzger, best-known for his auto-destructive art and left-wing activism, was born in Nuremberg in 1926 to Polish-Jewish parents. For more than six decades, he has been using everyday materials like newspapers, cardboard, and paper bags to address issues close to his heart, such as extinction, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorist bombings, climate change and environmental pollution.

“The art, architecture and design world needs to take a stand against the ongoing erasure of species – even where there is little chance of ultimate success. It is our privilege and our duty to be at the forefront of the struggle. There is no choice but to follow the path of ethics into aesthetics. We live in societies suffocating in waste. Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature; to protect nature as far as we can and by doing so art will enter new territories that are inherently creative, that are primarily for the good of the universe.” – Gustav Metzger

Metzger’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions around the world, from The New Museum in New York (2011), to the Serpentine Gallery in London (2009), but calls for public participation are really what lies at the core of his artistic practice.

In 1961, for instance, wearing a gas mask, Metzger performed one of the most famous acts of auto-destructive art when he threw hydrochloric acid at a sheet of nylon on London’s South Bank.

This is why, in parallel with MAMAC’s main exhibition, Remember Nature, the public were invited to witness the reenactment of two are Metzger’s main creations. Aside from the aforementioned South Bank demonstration which was recreated earlier this month, students from the École de Condé also recreated Mobbile, a sculpture placed inside a clear Plexiglas box, affixed to the roof of a car that was driven through the streets of Nice for a week at the end of January.

Remember Nature runs daily from 11am to 6pm until the 14th of May (closed Mondays).

CONTACT DETAILS
MAMAC
Place Yves Klein
06364 Nice cedex 4

Lead image MAMAC Nice © RIVIERA BUZZ

Written by

FLORENCE DUBOSC

Born and raised in France, Florence lived in San Francisco for over 9 years before moving back to the French Riviera in 2008, where she works as a lawyer.