Talk Matt Mullican

Talk series organized by the Departement Kunst & Medien, Bachelor Medien & Kunst, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste

THAT WORLD AND MY WORK

MATT MULLICAN presents a lecture in three parts demonstrating the sequences coming out of ‘that world’. This lecture encompasses the evolving of Mullican’s work and cosmology from 1972 on.

Since the 1970s, US artist Matt Mullican has been interested in models for explaining the world. He has developed a complex system of symbols consisting of various pictograms and colors as a means of tackling the question of the structure of the world, and with his system he aims to portray in symbols every aspect of the human condition in different combinations. The model of perception that Mullican calls the theory of the five worlds serves him as a system of order for his method of working as an artist. It illustrates the relationship between the world and its representation. The artist is particularly interested in how we charge symbols and systems of symbols with meaning. Mullican’s parallel universe encompasses a vast range of media and forms of expression extending from fragile models to heavy iron and glass sculptures, from cycles of drawings and photographic works via collages and light boxes with computer-generated images of imaginary cityscapes to videos and films. He assembles them into installative works reminiscent of interpretive classifications, and he designs and presents virtual worlds, often in connection with hypnosis and performances.

Matt Mullican was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1951 and lives and works in Berlin and New York. He has had many solo exhibitions at important international museums including Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2016), Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2011), and Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne (2010), among many others. The artist's works can be found in major public collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, and many more