MISFITTING TOGETHER. Serial Formations of Pop Art, Minimal Art, and Conceptual Art

“I was reflecting that most people thought the Factory was a place where everybody had the same attitudes about everything; the truth was, we were all odds-and-ends misfits, somehow misfitting together.” (Andy Warhol)

Pluralistic diversity has been governing the methodical understanding of Pop Art, Minimal Art and Conceptual Art since the 1960s. Referencing Mel Bochner’s article “The Serial Attitude” (1967) and the show Serial Formations (1967), curated by Paul Maenz and Peter Roehr, the collection exhibition MISFITTING TOGETHER explores the serial order as the connective tissue between these three movements. The presentation demonstrates how strongly they have influenced each other and how hard it is to pigeonhole them art-historically.
 

In their “mutual nonconformity,” the works in MISFITTING TOGETHER represent the basis for this fall’s Warhol exhibitions, ANDY WARHOL EXHIBITS a glittering alternative and DEFROSTING THE ICEBOX. Guesting at mumok: The Hidden Treasures of the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Weltmuseum Wien.
 

Andy Warhol’s last exhibition at mumok was in 1981, when he was still alive. Some forty years later, it is long overdue to present his oeuvre in a comprehensive art-historical context. This is why MISFITTING TOGETHER not only situates Warhol in the field of Pop Art but also paints a more nuanced picture of the times by including works of Minimal and Conceptual Art—all of which are collection emphases of Peter and Irene Ludwig.

Artists: Lutz Bacher, Alighiero Boetti, Daniel Buren, Hanne Darboven, Jan Dibbets, Heinz Gappmayr, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Dóra Maurer, Claes Oldenburg, Friederike Pezold, Larry Poons, Charlotte Posenenske, Peter Roehr, Robert Smithson, Daniel Spoerri, Andy Warhol