Friedrich Kiesler:

Frederick Kiesler has made a deep impact on architects and designers, artists and theoreticians from the twenties until present times. Himself a versatile artist and architect, Kiesler witnessed the 20th century from the rise of the Avant-Garde in Europe to its progress in America, and played a key role in the international discourse on art. In 1942, the New York art collector Peggy Guggenheim commissioned Frederick Kiesler to design a gallery museum - Art of This Century - for her collection of surrealist and abstract art. Today Kiesler's exhibition design, his kinetic devices as well as his biomorphic furniture, are undoubtedly among the most exceptional methods of exhibiting and creating art. This book presents a selection of drawings, gouaches and various other materials from the archive of the Frederick Kiesler Center Vienna. This rich material allows us to reconstruct the origins of Kiesler's design and presents an almost flawless outline of the Art of This Century project. The texts and research material on which this book is based provide us with new information on the gallery's spatial structure and the features of its visual design. These new insights could serve as a source of inspiration for further research on this crucial work by Frederick Kiesler. Exhibition Schedule: Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt/Main September 13, 2002 - March 16, 2003