Ars Viva: Laboratory

Since the 19th century, the natural sciences determine the discourse on what reality is. Artists have paid their tribute to this development by adopting practices and ideas from the natural sciences, or by commenting on them or by constructing counter-images to this field of knowledge. This exhibition enquires into recent approaches in art that artistically explore the »laboratory conditions« of knowledge. The exhibiting artists are art award winners of the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI, which is working in collaboration with the Kunstmuseum for this event. Since 1953, this art award includes prize money of 5,000 Euros and is granted to three or four young artists living in Germany. The winners of the Ars Viva exhibition 2010 / 2011 are Nina Canell, Klara Hobza, Markus Zimmermann and Andreas Zybach. The award is conferred annually according to a specific »search term« – in this year it was the term »Laboratory«. The selection of works shown at the Kunstmuseum was put together especially for Stuttgart. Before, the »Ars Viva« exhibition linked to the award was presented at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz and the SALT Center in Istanbul.