Björn and Dieter Roth, Selbstturm (1994-2013), via HangarBiocca

HangarBicocca, Milan’s 12,000 square meter former industrial space turned gallery, is the perfect place for Björn and Dieter Roth’s Islands exhibition. The huge interactive installation, curated by HangarBicocca’s Artistic Advisor Vicente Todolí (the former Director of the Tate Modern in London), interacts with the space beautifully, creating a unique environment defined by the artists. Visitors are drawn into the artwork as they walk through the several “islands” created by groupings of work: walls of paintings and prints, sculptures, an installation of repurposed materials, musical instruments, furniture, screens and household items that visitors are encouraged to interact with, including the 131 screens of Dieter Roth’s well-known video diary, the floors from the artists’ studio, and their sculptures: Zuckerturm (Sugar Tower), 1994-2013 and Selbstturm (Self Tower), 1994-2013. (more…)

Dieter Roth, Snow, (1964-69) courtesy the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Focusing on the period between the late 1950s into the early 1970s, when artist Dieter Roth produced his most innovative works, MoMA is currently presenting wait, later this will be nothing, a show documenting the artist’s unique book works. The show is titled after a phrase Roth used in Snow (1964-1969), an early book project that represented a turning point in Roth’s style, and which was highly influenced by James Joyce’s  The Dead.

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