reinhard mucha exhibits over 60 long-unseen sculptures in his first major show since 1987

reinhard mucha’s ‘der mucha – an initial suspicion’ surveys his four decades of installations including his work for venice biennale in 1990.

matthew burgos January 23, 2023 4 min

Reinhard mucha in Der Mucha – An Initial Suspicion

Sculptures becoming sculptures themselves pin down the enigma behind the range of artworks Reinhard Mucha has created for over four decades. In the first major exhibition of the Düsseldorf-based artist since the double exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern and the Kunsthalle Basel in 1987, Mucha’s sculptures underline how his works were considered ahead of their time for the artistic developments of the 1980s and beyond.

A Ferris wheel stacked with plastic chairs that are anchored by steel ladders sits beside a carousel of black tables that resemble flat-screen TVs. Stools act as containers for power sources, poles for wires, or canvases to mimic tube TVs while either out in the open or enclosed with a glass case.

Der Mucha – An Initial Suspicion explores the multifaceted oeuvre of Murcha in relation to the genre of installation. His sculptures reflect on the art exhibition industry and museums, the handling of material in art, as well as the awareness of history and the reflection of society.

A tinge of contemporary and industrial history with a sliver of pop culture is echoed throughout his works and becomes intertwined with the artist’s biography, who was born post-World War II.

‘This major survey exhibition is long overdue’

Reinhard Mucha’s Der Mucha – An Initial Suspicion – a reference to the restaurant guide DER MUCHA, which was widespread in Austria in the 1980s – is stationed in Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Museum in Düsseldorf, Germany. For the director of the museum, Susanne Gaensheimer, Reinhard Mucha is one of the internationally most important artists of the 1980s, having contributed significantly to the current conception of sculpture, installation, and conceptual art.

‘With key works from his student days at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in the late 1970s, he fundamentally expanded the conceptual notion of what sculpture is and can be. To this day, his works have lost none of their significance, so that Mucha can thus be described as both a historical and contemporary artist,’ says Gaensheimer. ‘This major survey exhibition is long overdue and was, therefore, an essential desideratum for me when I came to Düsseldorf, a city with a lively art scene with numerous important positions since Joseph Beuys. For me, Reinhard Mucha is at the forefront of this’

image © muchaArchiv / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022

Reinhard Mucha’s oeuvre, with its redefinition of sculpture, photography, and installation, is considered one of the most important artistic positions from the 1980s to the present. With the exhibition dedicated to the artist, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen will unite long-unseen installations – including his work for the German Pavilion at the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990 – with works from all creative phases at its two venues, K20 and K21.

While the K20 location offers Reinhard Mucha the opportunity to combine three large-scale installations and several multipart works into a self-contained overall installation, the second floor of the K21 area presents a parcourse of twelve rooms with more than sixty carefully selected works spanning more than forty years. The museum extends the exhibition in K20 until May 7th, 2023.