Maik and Dirk Löbbert

Merano, May 2008 The Cologne-based artists Maik and Dirk Löbbert became internationally known in the nineties through their subversive interventions in public space and their photographic works. Their location-specific and context-reflective works have moved the concept of structure in new directions and expanded the contemporary notion of sculpture beyond its conventional limits. They thus belong to the most important representatives of so-called Kontextkunst [context art].

Ever since they started working together roughly 25 years ago, the artistic focus of Maik and Dirk Löbbert has mainly been on the ordinary, the unnoticed, and the banal. Most of their works consist of minimal, hardly visible interventions that call attention to existing elements of an ordinary environment in a surprising way. Often, the two artists combine non-art contents with art problems. Their aim is always to show the viewer new perspectives of reality and art in order to break habitual thought patterns and definitions.

The exhibition entitled insideoutside shows the many facets and the complexity of the Löbbert brothers’ oeuvre. Location-specific bulk garbage works from the eighties, photographic works, drawings, unpublished videos, and documentations of architectural interventions in public space will be presented. They include numerous works made specifically for the exhibition inside-out. A space-related intervention that extends over the central atrium of Merano arte will be a special highlight.