Instructions for the Relief of the Black Square, 2017

Until the end of April 2017, the Mannheim Art Society is showing Ottmar Hörl's Handlungsanweisung zur Erlösung des schwarzen Quadrats [Instructions for the Relief of the Black Square]. The exhibition refers to a work by Kazimir Malevich, whose compositions on the black square paved the way to monochrome painting in modern art.

"Where would an exploration of Malevich's Black Square, created a hundred years ago, make more sense than in Mannheim, the "city of the squares", right in the cube-shaped exhibition hall of the Kunstverein Mannheim art society? Whereas the protagonists of concrete art in Zurich had reduced the square to representing their sacrosanct canon, a group of younger artists started, in the 1980s, to use the square in a more and more playful manner. Hörl's installation is a way of consistently thinking ahead, a way of releasing art from the rigid canon of abstraction, and unlocking it for the future."

Dr Martin Stather, director of Kunstverein Mannheim art society

"This is an attempt to create something new rather than being caught in the dilemma of having to make a creative proposal. It's not just a challenge for me as an artist. Every individual is faced with the requirement to go beyond existing concepts, to reinvent themselves, even though there are tried and tested solutions available," says Ottmar Hörl.