When art collector Francesco Conz died in Verona in 2010, he left behind warehouses, barns, apartments and a secret museum, full of artworks classified as Fluxus. Conz tirelessly collected special works from this art movement, which cannot really be described as a style or movement but as a movement in the direction of anti-art. Over the years, he collected works by friends and people he admired. In Berlin in the seventies, he met artists Hermann Nitsch and Günter Brus. In New York, he socialized with John Cage, Allan Kaprow, Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono, who were working on a new concept of art. His archive is one of the largest Fluxus collections in the world and is now looked after and researched in Berlin. It is now being exhibited for the first time in a special location. St. Matthew Church at the Kulturforum is once again transforming its nave into an exhibition space. In addition to sculptures, paintings and text-based works, Conz’s collection is known for the numerous musical instruments, designed, painted and inscribed by artists. Discover a converted piano by Carolee Schneemann, while a winged cello hangs from the ceiling. The “Holy Fluxus” show is accompanied by a concert series, with the next taking place on 13.08.2024 at 19h. Miroslav Beinhauer and Petr Bakla will perform works by Fluxus composers such as Milan Knížák. Conz would have liked St. Matthew’s Church as an exhibition venue. Originally a Catholic, he moved away from the church over the years. Instead, he declared the artists as his saints and their works his devotional images.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Giorgia Palmisano, Archivio Conz
St. Matthew Church, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin–Tiergarten; map
Holy Fluxus. From The Collection Francesco Conz, until 08.09.2024
@archivioconz
@stiftung_st.matthaeus
