CALDER: Fluid modernity

The exhibition CALDER Fluid Modernity is the first of four exhibitions that offer a re-reading of selected works from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje.

Curator: Nada Prlja

Artists: Robert Adams, Ay-O, Bob Bonies, Alexander Calder, Nicola Carrino, Dorit Chrysler, Ángel Duarte, Herbert Feurlicht, Yvonne Kracht, Borko Lazeski, Géza Perneczky, Bridget Riley, Zsuzsa Szenes, Miroslav Šutej, Žaneta Vangeli and ictor Vasarely, with works from the collection of MoCA–Skopje

Special guest artist: Dorit Chrysler with the sound piece “Calder Plays the Theremin.”

Our contemporary society, marked by rapid change, uncertainty, and instability in social, cultural, and economic domains, is often interpreted through the prism of “liquid (fluid) modernity.” (1) The term fluid highlights how social institutions—such as the family, work, and other structures—are becoming increasingly malleable (flexible working hours, less coherent family relationships, etc.). In this context of rapid change and instability, a question arises concerning the role and interpretation of twentieth-century art collections, such as that of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje, which encompasses over 5,300 works, predominantly reflecting the modernist heritage from 1945 to 1989.

How do contemporary generations, shaped by fluid modernity, approach twentieth-century artworks, and how do they interpret them? Which concepts, ideas, and, in turn, artworks truly resonate with present-day perspectives?

By exploring the still-present magnetism and appeal of the reductive approach in abstraction, (geometric abstraction and Op Art), conceptual art, and other non-figurative art, this exhibition serves as an open invitation to view and interpret selected works from MoCA-Skopje’s twentieth-century collection through the lens of fluid modernity.

Calder / Chrysler

In 1964, Boris Petkovski, MoCA-Skopje’s inaugural director, visited Alexander Calder’s studio in France to select an artwork for the Museum’s collection. Among the exhibited pieces, Red Polygon (1961) immediately caught Petkovski’s attention. Presented here, in this exhibition, the piece does not merely serve as a historical artefact, but also as an exploration of fundamental artistic communication, prompting questions about levitation, motion, luminosity, and geometry. While small metal components within the sculpture’s structure create their own distinct kinetic patterns, the Red Polygon thus embodies an ethos of fluidity in both its form and its meaning.

Accompanying Calder’s sculpture is Dorit Chrysler’s sound piece Calder Plays Theremin. Chrysler’s primary instrument, the theremin, was activated by the movements of Calder’s mobile, with the resulting sound serving as the foundation for the audio work. Together, these pieces occupy a central position in the exhibition, extending modernist concepts into contemporary practice. The interaction between the works not only pays homage to Calder’s lasting influence, but also invites visitors—through Chrysler’s sound piece—to reflect on the ongoing dialogue between modernism and the fluid, more playful, yet simultaneously unstable nature of our time.

Ay-O / Vangeli

Аy-O, Perneczky, Szenes and Vangeli practices are directly related to conceptual art and Fluxus, the presence of their works within this exhibition invites viewers to explore how those modernist movements can be reread from a contemporary perspective. Revisiting Marcel Duchamp’s radical proposition from the early twentieth century—that the meaning of an artwork should deliberately remain enigmatic—this segment, balancing between the visual aspect, the titles of the works, and even the artists’ names (Ay-O), explores how the dissolution of fixed interpretations in conceptual art empowers both the artist and the viewer to continually redefine the work’s significance and interpretation. In this regard, Žaneta Vangeli’s piece Autoreferential Plastic or Chao refuses to conform to a single, unambiguously defined narrative, allowing it to remain in perpetual flux— a condition that resonates with the ongoing need to reassess values and identities from the position of fluid modernity. 

From Calder’s “geometry” in motion to the unpredictable explorations of Vangeli and Ay-O, the exhibition affirms that the legacy of the twentieth century remains vital precisely because it paves the way for the fluid, the mutable, and the elusive.

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Footnotes:
1. Zygmunt Bauman, a renowned sociologist and philosopher, developed the concept of “liquid modernity” to describe the instability and constant change in contemporary society.
2. The term “mobile”, a play on words in French meaning both “movement” and “motive”, was coined by Marcel Duchamp to describe Alexander Calder’s abstract sculptures.

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Media relations: Angelika Apsis; Conservation: Jadranka Milčovska; Coordination of artwork selection from the MoCA Skopje collection: Iva Petrova Dimovski, Blagoja Varoshanec, and Vladimir Janchevski; Technical preparation: Ivančo Velkov, Jordan Arsovski, and Toislav Karevski. MoCA–Skopje expresses its gratitude to the students from NOVA International Schools, who assisted with the installation of this exhibition, and to the Austrian Embassy in Skopje for their ssupport of Dorit Chrysler’s work.