Artists’ Books from the Marzona Collection
To mark the 80th birthday of the collector Egidio Marzona, a special project from the collection will be presented to the public for the first time: 80 very first books by 80 artists from the 1960s and 1970s.
Image gallery
Joseph Kosuth, A Four Colour Sentence, 1966, verschiedenfarbige Neonröhren, Elektrokabel und Transformator
Mel Bochner, Working Drawings, Installationsansicht, New York 1966
Mel Bochner, Working Drawings, Installationsansicht, New York 1966
Louise Lawler, Cibachrome, Detail, 1986, Farbfotografie
Stephen Kaltenbach, Eye Disguise, Detail, 1967, Collage aus s/w-Fotografien
Edward Ruscha, Vanish, 1974, Bleistift und grüne Aquarellfarbe auf Papier
Mario Merz, che fare?,1967, Neonschrift, Elektrokabel, Trafo
Egidio Marzona, 2024
These Artists' Books reflect the great artistic upheaval associated with this era. In addition, a thematic selection of works of art from the Marzona collection will also be on display.
With this exhibition, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is honoring the collector and patron on the initiative of the Neue Nationalgalerie. It was created in cooperation with the Art Library and the Archive of the Avant-Gardes - Egidio Marzona, Dresden State Art Collections.
Collector out of passion
Egidio Marzona began in the early 1960s as a collector and publisher of the conceptual art ideas of his time. His guiding principle was an encyclopedic collection of all artistic media of conceptual art, minimal art, land art and Arte Povera.
His large collection of art from the 1960s and 1970s, with over 600 works of art and a comprehensive archive with many thousands of letters, books, posters, invitations and photographs, was acquired by the Berlin State Museums in 2002 and 2016.
Artists' Books
The collector has been searching for the very first books by artists presented in the exhibition for many years. As modest as these books may seem at first glance, they represent the great paradigm shift in art:
Books opened up an alternative space for art, they even became an exhibition space, like the legendary book object by the American conceptual artist Mel Bochner, which is on loan from the ADA Archive of the Avant-Gardes - Egidio Marzona SKD Dresden and is being shown for the first time since its first presentation in New York in 1966.
After the collection of art from the 1960s and 1970s came to Berlin permanently, the collector began an even more ambitious project: a collection of the many avant-gardes of the 20th century.
This immensely large archive was donated to the Dresden State Art Collections in 2016 and will be officially opened in 2024 with new rooms in the new building of the Dresden Blockhaus.
The exhibition
In correspondence with the Artists' Books, other works from the Marzona collection can be seen in the exhibition: neon lettering, picture postcards, written drawings and photographs that reflect the avant-garde projects and concepts in the art of the 1960s.
The book, with its 5,000-year history, proves to be an object of art that can be reinvented again and again in this diversity of ideas.
Matinee and event program
After the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, October 26, 2024, there will be a matinee on the Marzona collection in Berlin on Sunday, October 27, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.:
The Kupferstichkabinett and the Kunstbibliothek will present a selection of works in their study rooms and talk about their diverse stories together with the collector. An extensive range of guided tours and workshops accompanying the exhibition invites you to discover the exhibition through conversation and exchange about the artists' books.
Curatorial team
The exhibition is curated by Monika Branicka and Michael Lailach, Kunstbibliothek, curatorial assistant Ricarda Bergmann, Neue Nationalgalerie.
Film discussion and digital tool for the exhibition
The film discussion "The Very First Edition. Egidio Marzona in conversation about artist books” as part of “WE ARE AVANTGARDE!”, an oral history project conceived and directed by Monika Branicka and Pirkko Rathgeber by the Archive of the Avant-Gardes – Egidio Marzona (ADA) of the Dresden State Art Collections.
An xplayner will also be released for the exhibition. With this digital tool developed by Heine/Lenz/Zizka Projects, it is possible to experience the contents of some of the books on display.
A special exhibition by the New National Gallery and the Art Library – State Museums in Berlin in cooperation with the ADA Archive of the Avant-Gardes – Egidio Marzona, Dresden State Art Collections
Additional information
Price info: Museum ticket Neue Nationalgalerie + special Exhibitions
Kulturforum all exhibitions 20,00 €
Price: €14.00
Reduced price: €7.00
Reduced price info: Kulturforum all exhibitions 10,00 €
Kulturforum all exhibitions 20,00 €
Price: €14.00
Reduced price: €7.00
Reduced price info: Kulturforum all exhibitions 10,00 €
