The Heidelberger Kunstverein presents AMATEURISM an international group exhibition with participation of fourteen artists. The exhibition examines the phenomenon of amateurism in contemporary art, in which artists go beyond the boundaries of existing categories, disciplines, and institutions, navigated by their curiosity. In association with a tradition of dilettant, the ›amateur‹ has been considered one of those cultural figures whose ›pure‹ and selfless love for particular objects, or arts. By contrast, professionals are those who are ›only in it for the money‹. However, society has gone through a significant transformation over the last centuries, brought by the influence of the global mobility, of capitalism, and the development of different forms of industries and technologies with network connectivity. This certainly affects a dichotomous concept such as that of amateur/professional. The exhibition begins with the pre-avant-garde works created by the Incohérents Art Movement (1882–1896 / France), which manifested ›Do what you are not professional in!‹ Taking an analytical look at use of the notion of amateur, the exhibition juxtaposes the works by the movement with the ones by contemporary artists from the 1950s to the present. A unique assemblage of objects and art works creates a dialogue, which indicates the different use of the notion, and it is simply not possible to categorize what amateur/professional is by existing standards. The exhibition presents a shift of meaning of amateur in the past and an expansion of imaginations about what amateurism could mean in contemporary society, by situating itself in between disciplines, fields, categories and norms.

Exhibition with Heike Bollig, Jan Bünnig, Luis Camnitzer, Sister Corita, Heike Klussmann+ Bau Kunst Erfinden, Toru Koyamada, Annette Krauss, Melton Prior Institute, Toshiko Okanoue, Lucy Powell, PROVENCE, Jewyo Rhii, curated by Dr. Miya Yoshida and Susanne Weiß.

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