For the show at the MMK 2, Kostas Murkudis has moreover explored the connections between his designs and major works in the MMK Collection and curated a presentation of those works on that basis. He features concepts and forms of painting, performance, the ready-made and sculpture, as well as further approaches that have preoccupied artists such as John Chamberlain, Jack Goldstein, Steven Parrino or Yves Klein since the 1960s. Photographic works by Mark Borthwick and Juergen Teller, but also artistic concepts that explore textiles in a wide range of different ways, for example works by Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke and Franz Erhard Walther, will also be showcased in dialogue with Murkudis’s collections.

In 2013, Kostas Murkudis donated large parts of his archive as well as original designs and prototypes to three international museum collections: the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, the Palais Galliera – Musée de la mode de la ville de Paris, and the Kyoto Costume Institute, Japan. His gift to the MMK marks the point of departure for the extensive show at the MMK 2.

Artistic outlooks and ways of working have had a decisive influence on Murkudis’s work. This circumstance is manifest particularly in his sculptural approach, his investigation of three-dimensional materials, his creative praxis, but also in the presentation of his designs in a manner distinctly different from the ordinary fashion show. By addressing social, sculptural and participatory issues, he changes our conceptions and perceptions of the medium of fashion. Comprehensive research and perceivable architectural influences are further aspects that permeate his oeuvre.

The exhibition will showcase Murkudis’s work in selected collections, workgroups and prototypes. With the aid of additional material, it will also take a more in-depth look at several aspects of his œuvre, allowing visitors literally to “experience” it within the framework of various presentation forms.
For the exhibition at the MMK, Kostas Murkudis will also examine the relationships between his designs and prominent works from the museum’s holdings, thus curating a presentation of the collection. The latter will encompass concepts and display forms, performance, the ready-made, material aesthetics and many other phenomena and approaches with which artists have concerned themselves since the 1960s. Artistic oeuvres in which textiles play an important role will moreover enter into dialogue with Murkudis’s collections and individual pieces.