A pre-project that adds important aspects to the research on Johannes Itten (1888-1967) as a significant proponent of European modernism. Especially the colonial and national self-concepts and concepts of the other that are associated with Itten’s activities as an exhibition-maker and museum director are in need of a critical review. The project takes place in the context of Curatorial Studies / ZHdK and provides prospective exhibition-makers and cultural mediators with relevant ideas regarding the self-critique of the profession.
Recently, Johannes Itten’s (1888-1967) artistic and pedagogical practice has become the subject of numerous publications, media formats and exhibitions in the context of the Bauhaus anniversary. As for Switzerland, worth mentioning are the first volume of the catalogue raisonné (Wagner 2018), the film “Johannes Itten – Bauhaus-Pionier” (Rumjanzewa 2018) and the exhibition “Johannes Itten: Art as Life” (Kunstmuseum Bern, 2019), which focus on his artistic activities up to 1938, particularly his diaries and sketchbooks that grant new insights into theosophic, racist and “elitist thought patterns” (Wagner/Zimmer 2019). What has hardly been taken into account by the research on Itten is his work as director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich (KGMZ: 1938-1953) and the Museum Rietberg (1952-1956). In both functions, he was responsible for exhibitions that lastingly shaped the profile of these institutions. The examination of his exhibition activities at the KGMZ – with shows dedicated to Asian and African art that can be understood as a prehistory of the Museum Rietberg – appears promising: Based on a reconstruction of the concept, production and reception of selected exhibitions such as “Schweizer Kunstgewerbe 1914-1939” (“Swiss Arts and Crafts 1914-1939”, 1939), “Deutsche Wertarbeit” (“German Workmanship”, 1943), “Rumänische Volkskunst” (“Romanian Folk Art”, 1943), “Afrikanische Kunst aus Schweizer Sammlungen” (“African Art from Swiss Collections”, 1945) or “Formschaffen in England. Künstlerisch geformte Erzeugnisse aus Industrie und Handwerk“ (“Design in England. Artistically Designed Products from Industry and Crafts”, 1953), the aim is to explore how pivotal concepts of modernity such as “Volk” (“the people”), “Heimat” (“homeland”) and “Nation” (“nation”), or also ”Kunst” (“art”), “Kunstgewerbe” (“crafts”) and “Industrie” (“industry”) are (re)presented. Thus, concepts of modernity as they are associated with keywords such as Bauhaus, Werkbund, White Cube, and Documenta are taken into consideration. A further interesting question is how the totalitarian modernism of National Socialism in Germany and the hegemonic concept of the so called “Geistige Landesverteidigung” (spiritual defense of the nation) in Switzerland influenced the development between the 1930s and 1960s. Here, the focus is on aspects that appear particularly relevant in view of the challenges facing curatorial and museum-related practices aiming at decentralization, decolonization and (re)politicization.