As part of its “Archives in Residence” series, Haus der Kunst is presenting the euward Archive. The euward is the first art award of international standing in the context of cognitive impairment. The exhibition series explores the relationship between archives and the formation and representation of history, and features independent archives as alternative sites of knowledge production.
Since 2000, the Augustinum Foundation in Munich has conferred the “euward” (European Art Award) to support artists with cognitive disabilities and to establish and grow a broadly recognized forum that understands the artistic work of these creators as more than a fringe cultural phenomenon. With the exhibition at Haus der Kunst, the euward Archive is making part of its holdings accessible to the public for the first time.
The euward Archive, which contains applications, documents, work photographs, film material, and press articles, is an important source of art history(ies) that have not yet been told. It documents the work of actors whose presence is largely overlooked by the art world and scholarship but is receiving increasing public attention. Consequently, the exhibition is also an invitation to put our cultural self-image to the test, to reflect on our ideas of inclusive culture and diverse society and to reassess established interpretations of normality and otherness.
The euward Archive is presented in Haus der Kunst’s Archive Gallery in the context of the history of the exhibition location. The highlight of the show is a video projection based on images from the euward Archive. It presents an important selection of nominated works from the years 2000 to 2018. Members of the Freie Bühne München ensemble, the first inclusive theater in Bavaria, read quotations by the artists for the projection.
Curated by Sabine Brantl