The premise of the US Pattern and Decoration movement (1975-1985) was “ornaments as promises”. The mumok exhibition with the same name brings together the rich collections of the collectors Peter and Irene Ludwig for the largest presentation of Pattern and Decoration in the german speaking world since the 1980s.

There will be works by the artists, Brad Davis, Frank Faulkner, Tina Girouard, Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Kim MacConnel, Miriam Schapiro, Kendall Shaw, Ned Smyth, Robert R. Zakanitch and Joe Sugar shown. In the 1970s, for example, feminist artists such as Miriam Schapiro, Joyce Kozloff, Valerie Jaudon and Robert Kushner pursued the goal of bringing color, variety of forms and emotion back into art with oriental-like mosaics, monumental textile collages, paintings, installations and performances. For the questions posed by the artists are experiencing an explosive update today in a world that is even more globalized and characterized by power asymmetries. At a time when ditches deepen and boundaries close, Pattern and Decoration reminds us of what to win if the channels remain open.

Combining ornaments, showing craftsmanship and creativity, different ornamental traditions – from Islamic to North American-Indian to Art Deco – found their way into the works and opened the view beyond the geographic and historical horizon. The proximity to folklore was explicitly sought, contrary to the “purism” of the art of the 1960s.

This exhibition is curated by Manuela Ammer

Pattern and Decoration. Ornament als Versprechen