[artinfo] An Imagined Museum

[e-flux]

An Imagined Museum

Works from the Centre Pompidou, Tate and MMK collections
Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main
March 24-September 4, 2016

The year is 2052. The museums are threatened with 
extinction and art is disappearing from society. 
In this scenario, more than eighty key works from 
three European collections-the Centre Pompidou, 
the Tate and the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst-are 
united in a temporary transnational museum. The 
show features works by prominent 20th and 21st 
century artists.

The exhibition was inspired by Ray Bradbury's 
science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, which was 
published in 1953. In that story Bradbury 
visualizes a future in which works of literature 
have been banned from society. The only means of 
preserving them for later generations is to 
commit them to memory. The show takes visitors to 
a future in which the artworks on display face 
imminent destruction. In nine thematic sections, 
it illuminates specific qualities and processes 
inherent to art-for example the transformation of 
everyday objects, the playful approach to 
perception, or travel through space and time-and 
finally concludes with an homage to the enigmatic 
and unexplainable aspects of art.

Just as Bradbury's "book people" are capable of 
saving literary works from destruction solely by 
memorizing them, the exhibition invites viewers 
to commit the artworks presented to memory. After 
the exhibition is over, it will open its doors 
once again for a major closing weekend on 
September 10 and 11. There the artworks will be 
replaced by people who, on the basis of their 
personal memories and interpretations, will bring 
them back to mind. These "art people" will 
transform the exhibition into a living museum.

The exhibition title refers to French author and 
politician André Malraux's (1901-76) "Musée 
imaginaire." Malraux introduced the idea that, 
thanks to the photographic reproduction of 
artworks, every person has the means of compiling 
his or her own personal imaginary museum 
independently of time and space. "The imaginary 
museum," Malraux explained, creates an art of 
fiction in which-as in novels-reality is 
dependent on fantasy.

A publication by Dora García will be published on 
the occasion of the exhibition.

MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main
MMK 2
Taunustor 1
60310 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

<http://www.mmk-frankfurt.de/en/home/>www.mmk-frankfurt.de
<http://www.mmk-notes.com>www.mmk-notes.com

The exhibition is organized by Tate Liverpool, 
UK; MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am 
Main, Germany; and Centre Pompidou-Metz, France.

Curated by:
Francesco Manacorda, Darren Pih, Lauren Barnes, Tate Liverpool
Peter Gorschlüter, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main
Hélène Guenin, Alexandra Müller, Centre Pompidou-Metz