Peter Friedl

3 Texture museum, Noordstraat

tue-sun 13h-17h (mon closed)

In many works, from La Bohème (1997) and Peter Friedl (1998) to Report (2016) and Teatro Popular (2016–2017), Friedl refers to the history of theatre and theatricality.

When Friedl was invited for a retrospective in 1998 by the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, he proposed only one work. He asked sixteen members of the personnel – from the director to the electrician – to name an animal that they would like to be, and to think of a name for it. Animal costumes were then produced, some in adult size, some for children and laid out in the exhibition space as an invitation to the audience to dress up and play. On the walls were listed the names that the members of the personnel had given to their animals.

In Peter Friedl, the visitor or member of the personnel assumed the role of an actor and the institution became a stage. Narration, identification and performance form the structure of this project. By turning the art institution into a temporary zoo, Friedl questions the mechanisms of art in its contemporary, institutional context. He also questions and explores the concept and possibilities of a ‘retrospective exhibition’.