L' amour du risqué / Love of Risk

Until June 17th, Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art will feature the unique event of the season – a large international exhibition, “L' amour du risqué”, in which numerous international artists will present their expressions of risk as an art form, and offer visitors an array of provocative, subversive, and sometimes completely bizarre works of art.

Until June 17th, Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art will feature the unique event of the season – a large international exhibition, “L' amour du risqué”, in which numerous international artists will present their expressions of risk as an art form, and offer visitors an array of provocative, subversive, and sometimes completely bizarre works of art.

Love of Risk – “L' amour du risqué”, is the title of the latest exhibition at Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which will be presenting provocative works of art by eminent international artists, with the theme of risk as an art form. No matter whether it is the risk of pushing boundaries or the risk of everyday living, this theme seems to have preoccupied numerous controversial artists around the globe. This large international project, organized in Zagreb for the first time, was undertaken with the goal of bringing those artists together in one place. If you are interested in art that provokes and artwork which is so bizarre yet somehow very real in the contemporary world, or subversive and controversial themes, make sure to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art as it features a truly exceptional project which has brought together some of the biggest stars of controversial art today.

Among them are: Agnès Accorsi, Bas Jan Ader, Francis AlAlÿs, Leonardo Boscani, Larry Clark, Jocelyn Cottencin, Elie Cristiani, Simone Decker, Marcel Dinahet, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Carsten Höller, Christian Jankowski, Žilvinas Kempinas, Natacha Lesueur, Claude Lévêque, Gordon Matta-Clark, Paul McCarthy, Aernout Mik, Anita Molinero, Moser & Schwinger, David Nebreda, ORLAN, Steven Parrino, Lucien Pelen, Gaël Peltier, Sigmar Polke, Adrien Porcu, Julien Prévieux, Claude Rutault, Alain Séchas, Atelier Van Lieshout, Jean-Luc Verna, Clemens von Wedemeyer and Erwin Wurm.

Among the aforementioned names, many of them have contributed to the global movement of artistic controversy in a truly bizarre, shocking and, above all, provocative way. For example, an artist known as Orlan used aesthetic surgery as an artistic medium. Her complete transformation was recorded in an array of documentary films. Bas Jan Ader is an artist who uses shocking methods to test the limits of his body, literally giving himself up to gravity by falling off rooftops; while French artist Lucien Pelen uses similar methods on himself and documents his dangerous exploits in an array of photographs.

The exhibition also features works which provoke and force the audience to consider their environment. Paul McCarthy has gained fame with sculptures of seemingly innocent children’s toys which contained erotic associations. Natacha Lesueur presents consumerism and the obsession for spending in a humorous and erotic way by using the female body as a plate for serving food.

The human body, the risks of living, diseases, self-harm and the general examination of the limits of the human body, as well as art, are the main themes of most of the presented artists.

The exhibition was organized in cooperation with the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art and Platform Paris – the French Regional Contemporary Art Funds (FRAC).