The 2019–2020 Out of the Box exhibition series was dedicated to the works of trained architect and conceptual artist Gordon Matta-Clark, whose writings, photographs, films, correspondence, and select artworks, produced between 1969 and 1978, were donated to the CCA by the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark in 2011. The series is now being expanded through a new installment, created in dialogue with the Generali Foundation Collection at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg.

Originally structured as a study in three acts, Out of the Box: Gordon Matta-Clark brought together invited curators from different disciplinary backgrounds to present new readings on the range of archival materials held at the CCA. The three exhibitions, curated by Yann Chateigné (Brussels), Hila Peleg (Berlin), and Kitty Scott (Ottawa), now travel to Salzburg, to be presented alongside a new selection of materials from the Generali Foundation Collection made by visual artist Hans Schabus (Wien). By foregrounding predominantly unpublished archival materials, including correspondence, sketchbooks, video footage, and private photographs, this curatorial collaboration reflects not only on the criticality of Gordon Matta-Clark’s practice but also on the fragmented nature of archives in general.

While Matta-Clark’s work was a clear product of New York City in the 1970s—a period of political and economic flux and therefore urban transformation in the city—, the themes he addresses in relation to architecture and urbanism are as relevant today as ever. In particular, Gordon Matta-Clark remains a key reference for how architects can critique and shape understandings of the environment and of what constitutes public space and who has access to it.

Exhibition opening: 12 November, 2021 Francesco Garutti, CCA Curator, Contemporary Architecture, and Martien de Vletter, CCA Associate Director, Collection will speak at the opening event

Curators: Yann Chateigné, Hila Peleg, Kitty Scott
Project direction: Francesco Garutti
Curatorial research: Megan Marin, Louise Désy, and Helina Gebremedhen, with Laura Aparicio Llorente

Generali Foundation Collection
Artist: Hans Schabus
Curator: Jürgen Tabor