Opening performances: Laura Rambelli, NOIMA
On 29 February 2020, Art Quarter Budapest presents a high-scale, thematic group exhibition focusing on the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. It is safe to say that our concepts of logic, language and image as well as their correlations would look fundamentally different without one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, that of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Owing to constant proofreading and rewriting, as well as the detours of his oeuvre, Wittgenstein published only one of his philosophical works, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: an early opus that was literally scribbled down in the trenches of the First World War.

This book, finished in 1918, inspired Denise Parizek, the curator of this exhibition to present some of the intersecting points of wittgensteinian philosophy and contemporary artistic practice in the form of a travelling exhibition. The exhibition, featuring internationally established artists and ones making their debut, can be said to follow the footsteps of the Austrian philosopher, since after its first show organized in the Haus Wittgenstein in Vienna, it travels between the exhibition spaces of the former Monarchy. In 2019, the collection (expanded with the works of local artists) was presented in Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria to great acclaim. This could be seen as an homage, because the unique villa designed by Paul Engelmann and Wittgenstein for Margarethe Stonborough gives home to the Bulgarian Cultural Institute since 1975.

This year the locations of the travelling exhibition are Budapest and later Belgrade. The tour is expected to end in 2021 in Timișoara, Romania where the works are going to be exhibited in the Muzeul de Artă within the framework of the European Capital of Culture programme.

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a legendary personality famous for radically turning his back to traditional, ex cathedra philosophy; an art connoisseur scientist; someone who gave up his bourgeois existence to become an elementary schoolteacher at the end of the world, practicing the most progressive pedagogical methods and disciplinary caning simultaneously.

In order to reflect upon this duality, this exhibition is structured along the lines of the most diverse themes and media of fine art: personality and seemingly impersonal philosophical theses, language and silence, communication and noise, manual working methods and digital images, paintings and installations, sculptures and movies, humor and pathos. The opening of the exhibition is in fact a double event: those visitors, who decide to spend the last afternoon of February in the Art Quarter Budapest have the chance to experience the performances of the Italian Laura Rambelli and the NOIMA Group from Romania.

The intention of the exhibition is not to present a catalogue of the Wittgensteinian philosophy, nor does it aim to enlist Wittgenstein-inspired artistic movements such as minimalism and conceptualism. It defines itself as an interpretation of ideas, thoughts and visions, as well as their artistic embodiment; a gradually developing loose network of languages and cultures, which is able to inspire the study of the texts of Wittgenstein, and to present the inspiring and fulfilling playground of contemporary fine art.

Supported by BKA Kunst, Österreichisches Kulturforum Budapest, ICR Budapest, Italian Embassy Budapest, Katona Winehouse, Michaela Stock Galerie, 12-14 contemporary
http://pogmahon.com/exhibitions/wittgenstein-2020-aqb/