Sonsbeek 1993
2 July – 29 August 1993, Park Sonsbeek and other locations, Arnhem
Inleiding
With every new Sonsbeek exhibition, the question arises: how do you present art in the park? For Sonsbeek ’93, the American curator Valerie Smith developed a completely unique vision. She decided to expand the park to include Arnhem’s city center and surrounding outskirts, a threefold approach also reflected in the logo of this edition. Smith’s guiding principles were identity, publicness, and process.
In total, 73 artists from around the world were commissioned to create site-specific artworks. Smith wanted them to explore the identity of a place, often in relation to its inhabitants. What is the function of a public space? Who uses this place? And how can it be critically examined? The result was a diverse range of artworks: some were enigmatic, others provocative and controversial. A well-known example is 12% Proof by Marc Quinn: a sculpture of a man with an erection in a phone booth next to the Koepelkerk. The work attracted significant attention but was also vandalized.
For Smith, Sonsbeek ’93 was often more about the process than the final product: the collaboration between curator and artists, the ways ideas emerged, and the reactions the works provoked. The exhibition catalog reflected this approach: it focused primarily on the collaborative process and largely left out the artworks themselves.
Although the media were critical of Smith’s approach at the time, Sonsbeek ’93 is now seen as a key contribution to more socially engaged forms of art. Writer and curator Jens Hoffmann even calls this edition one of the fifty most influential exhibitions of the past 25 years.
Artists
- George Adé
- Mario Airó
- Juan Vicente Aliaga
- Pawel Althamer
- Fareed Armaly
- Art Orienté objet
- Michael Asher
- Christina Assmann
- Yves Aupetitallot
- Miroslaw Balka
- Geert Bekaert
- Cornel Bierens
- Blue Funk
- Michel Barthassat
- Alighiero e Boetti
- Jean-Baptiste Bruant
- Tom Burr
- Maurizio Cattelan
- Thierry de Cordier
- Patrick Corillon
- Jef Cornelis
- Dorothy Cross
- Stephan Dillemuth
- Mark Dion
- Gilles Dusein
- Kate Ericson & Mel Ziegler
- Pepe Espaliù
- Anna Gudjónsdóttir & Till Krause
- Kenn Hardy
- Ann Hamilton
- Damien Hirst
- Irene and Christine Hohenbüchler
- Zuzanna Janin
- Elfriede Jelinek
- Kamagurka
- Mike Kelley
- John Körmeling
- Inez van Lamsweerde
- Liz Larner & Susan Narduli
- Yuri Leiderman
- Mark Manders
- Paul McCarthy
- Thomas McEvilley
- Misha Mengelberg
- Eva Meyer
- Annette Messager
- Stuart Morgan
- Jos de Mul
- Juan Muňoz
- Christian Philipp Müller
- Max Neuhaus
- Jan van de Pavert
- Vong Phaophanit
- Keith Piper
- Mark Quinn
- Allen Ruppersberg
- Eran Schaerf
- Wim T. Schippers
- Cindy Sherman
- Andreas Siekmann
- Valerie Smith
- subREAL
- Filip Turek
- Carel van Tuyll van Serooskerken
- Bart Verschaffel
- Dirk van Weelden
- Lawrence Weiner
- Ruud van de Wint
- Rémy Zaugg
Locations
- Park Sonsbeek
- Arnhem Centrum
- Museum Arnhem
- Meijnerswijk (Arnhem-Zuid)
- Koepelgevangenis
Facts and figures
73 artists · 12,000 visitors
Publications
— Catalog · Sonsbeek ’93, 1993 · Design: Wigger Bierma · Publisher: Snoeck — Mike Kelley: The Uncanny, 1993 · Design: Wigger Bierma · Publisher: Gemeentemuseum
