Ken Lum: The End of Art

Diane Arbus / Francesco Borromini / Vincent van Gogh / Arshile Gorky / Ernst Ludwig Kirchner / R.B. Kitaj / Wilhelm Lehmbruck / Mark Rothko / Kay Sage / Nicolas de Staël /

29 February 2012 – 29 February 2016

My proposal for an imaginary exhibition at the Hayward Gallery plays on an idea dating back to Hegel about the death of art. The lack of a future for art was in Hegelian terms something to be sought, as it would signal a point in the development of art whereby spiritual individuality would no longer be represented but rather embodied in a transcendent realm of absolute spirituality. I propose The End of Art as a fictional exhibition about the immolation of the artist, the sacrifice of artists to art and to history, and how such sacrifices become enfolded in the romantic narrative of artistic creativity. All ten artists in the exhibition experienced profound moments of suffering in their personal lives, so much suffering that not even art could save them. In many ways I feel the distance between what one sees and feels in the world and what one sees and feels in art has reached the point of a chasm.

This project is part of Hey We're Closed! Hayward Gallery Closure Programme.