ANDREA CUSUMANO. RAUMDRAMATURGIE
RETROSPECTIVE 1993–2023
03.03.2024–20.05.2024
Opening: 2 March 2024, 6pm
Curators: Giulia Ingarao und Fabio Cavalucci
Two major solo exhibitions are planned for 2024 at the nitsch museum Mistelbach. The Italian-British artist Andrea Cusumano, a former assistant to Nitsch and long-time musical director of the Orgien Mysterien Theatre, whose work was strongly influenced by Hermann Nitsch, will kick things off. The exhibition “Andrea Cusumano – Raumdramaturgie” will open on 2 March 2024 in cooperation with the Italian Council (XI Edition, 2022), an international funding programme for Italian art under the direction of the “Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity” of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
From 9 June 2024, the museum will be showing a juxtaposition of Hermann Nitsch and the Danish artist Asger Jorn, a member of the COBRA Group. The exhibition is curated by Florian Steininger, Artistic Director of the Kunsthalle Krems. At the same time, a solo exhibition by Hermann Nitsch can be seen at the Asger Jorn Museum in Silkeborg/Denmark.
Quote from Michael Karrer
“Andrea Cusumano creates theatre-referenced spatial dramaturgies. His work touches, captivates and draws the viewer into the maelstrom of the transformative. ”
Quote from Andrea Cusumano
“Hermann Nitsch died on Easter Monday, 18 April 2022. He was my mentor and inspiration for 30 years of my life. Every day is a day of resurrection, immersed in the joy of being. This exhibition is dedicated to Nitsch. My entire philosophy and work is a constant dialogue with his work and thinking.”
Andrea Cusumano (born 1973) is an international multimedia artist, performer, composer, painter, director, dramaturge, author, curator and art director of Italian-British origin. His work utilises various media and moves across borders between several individual artistic disciplines. All these components complement each other and form a coherent intermedial work construct. His work – the artist likes to speak about “his experiments and research” in this context – focuses on the dramaturgical potential of objects and spaces. Cusumano ultimately creates theatre-referenced spatial dramaturgies. Their central themes range from death and transcendence to a possible catharsis that art can actually trigger. The art experiment is complex and multi-layered, conceptually based on and related to the work of Hermann Nitsch, but at the same time it is independent, it speaks a significant language and impresses in a very special way. The performative component creates stage dramaturgies and panel paintings, intermedia installations, intense fragments of thought and memory.
Cusumano presents us with real events in dramaturgically constructed spaces, spaces without time, spaces without place. This work could also be described as a “laboratory for intermediality and existential dramaturgies”.
Andrea Cusumano is not only an award-winning Italian artist, but was also a student of Hermann Nitsch at a young age, later becoming his assistant and musical director of the Orgien Mysterien Theatre. He taught performance art at the renowned Goldsmiths University in London, was a councillor for culture in Palermo, director of Manifesta 12 and founder and artistic director of the BAM – Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo, Palermo.
www.studioandreacusumano.com
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press enquiries:
SKYunlimited, Elke Weilharter, MAS, MAS
e: elke.weilharter@skyunlimited.at
t: +43 699 1644 8000
nitsch museum
Waldstraße 44–46
2130 Mistelbach
Tel. +43 2572 20719
www.nitschmuseum.at
opening hours:
03.03.2024–20.05.2024
Tuesday to Sunday 10 am – 5 pm
open on Mondays on public holidays
guided tours:
Every 1st Sunday of the month at 2 pm and by arrangments for groups.
event announcement:
18 May, 2024, 6 pm
Live performance by Andrea Cusumano with Marino Formenti
anmeldung@nitschmuseum.at