MAMCO, from Memory
MAMCO will begin a new chapter in its history when the building it occupies goes into renovation. This exciting development project—the biggest in the museum’s history—is scheduled to start in 2025 and will last for at least three years. Before the renovation begins, however, one last exhibition has been curated by all of you: visitors, members of the Friends Association, members of the museum boards, partners, and other interested parties, with works chosen among the museum's collection.
The MAMCO collection has changed beyond recognition since 2016. Today, it contains more than 6,000 pieces, divided into several solo and group sub-collections. While Minimal and Conceptual art remain the basis of the collection, works from other geographies, cultures, and eras have been added in recent times. Our Concrete Poetry room—initially based on the collection acquired from Steven Leiber—has been considerably expanded in the past few years. That’s also true of our collection of works by artists associated with the Fluxus movement, which also incorporates the Ecart Archives. The 1980s are represented through creations by members of the “Pictures Generation,” as well as by artists associated with the “Neo-Geo” and “Institutional Critique” movements. Moving forward in time, the collection includes a body of works attesting to the “Relational Aesthetics” trend of the 1990s, while pieces by US artists from the early 2000s bear witness to the impact of digital technology on image production and distribution practices. Meanwhile, some of our recent acquisitions touch on new and emerging issues in contemporary art such as gender, identity, and cultural diversity, the revival of figurative and expressive art, and the geopolitical implications of the modern global age.
MAMCO is home to the largest collections of works by artists such as Siah Armajani, John M Armleder, Collection Yoon-ja & Paul Devautour, Noël Dolla, Guy de Cointet, Sylvie Fleury, Marcia Hafif, Julije Knifer, Silvia Kolbowski, Olivier Mosset, Steven Parrino, Mai-Thu Perret, Présence Panchounette, Royden Rabinowitch, Sarkis, Philippe Thomas (and his agency, readymades belong to everyone©), and Franz Erhard Walther.
The collection also includes substantial bodies of work by Vito Acconci, Francis Baudevin, Marion Baruch, Walead Beshty, Etienne Bossut, Nina Childress, Natalie Czech, Peter Downsbrough, Robert Filliou, Christian Floquet, Vidya Gastaldon and Jean-Michel Wicker, General Idea, Guerrilla Girls, Fabrice Gygi, Thomas Huber, IFP, On Kawara, Piotr Kowalski, Mike Lash, Louise Lawler, Renée Levi, Verena Loewensberg, Christian Marclay, John Miller, Anita Molinero, Maurizio Nannucci, Richard Nonas, Amy O’Neill, Roman Opalka, Dennis Oppenheim, Nam June Paik, Claudio Parmiggiani, Carmen Perrin, Bernard Piffaretti, Vaclav Pozarek, Arnulf Rainer, Christian Robert-Tissot, Denis Savary, Julia Scher, Jim Shaw, Anselm Stalder, Tatiana Trouvé, Hannah Villiger, Patrick Weidmann, Moo Chew Wong, and Heimo Zobernig, as well as important pieces by Adel Abdessemed, Helen Frankenthaler, Bertrand Lavier, William Leavitt, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Morris, Martial Raysse, George Segal, Avery Singer, Frank Stella, and Xavier Veilhan.
Our team of curators, led by Julien Fronsacq, has then arranged the requested works throughout the museum, which is devoted entirely to this special exhibition. And since next year marks our 30th anniversary, MAMCO will be offering free admission to the exhibition and running a series of public activities and events.
For more information please visit MAMCO Geneva.