About Burger Collection and Quadrilogy

Burger Collection is a private collection of contemporary art. Monique Burger and her husband have been developing the collection, which unites many media, since the early 1990s, with emphases in Euro-American, Indian, and Asian art. Currently, it includes more than 1100 works by some 200 artists. Since 2005 the works of Burger Collection have been available for view online on the website www.burgercollection.org. In 2009, Burger Collection began the multi-regional exhibition and research project entitled Quadrilogy under the curatorial direction of Daniel Kurjaković.

 

Since 2009 and in the years to come, temporary exhibitions loosely based on the aesthetic key ideas of subjectivity, narration, history, and language are held at different locations around the world. This marks a new phase in the Burger Collection, to the extent that it involves turning towards a broader public with a new curatorial concept of its own. Quadrilogy manifests itself in different regions around the world, and in so doing places the works in specific geo-cultural zones; Quadrilogy oftentimes re-introduces works in their initial cultural context of production, and sometimes it creates new site-specific works. Research on-site, co-operations with institutions, exhibition sites, and additional local and international partners deepen the knowledge about the artworks in the collection and illuminate some of the transcultural dimensions of contemporary art. The aim of Quadrilogy is to generate different perspectives on both the existing and potential functions a private collection within the contemporary art system.

 

The global surge of private collections during the 1990s has put the question of how collections should position themselves in a period of heightened cultural and economic globalization. What is the private collection’s role in the present art system? How does the collection define its relationships to artists, intellectuals, art institutions and audiences? As art collections work with the premise that art—and artists’ ideas—represents one of the vital ways to relate to people and society, how does a collection itself advocate the perspectives of artists and cultural practitioners?

 

Travelling without Moving: Funding / Works on Loan

One of the key concerns of the collection is the cultivation of artistic dialogue by attracting an interested audience, maintaining a responsible and dynamic approach to the works, and developing a future vision for the collection. Not just an ensemble of works, Burger Collection also engages in arts patronage, and has helped make possible the realization of various outstanding endeavors. The following are a selection of these projects:

the publication Art Spaces Directory published on the occasion of the exhibition The Ungovernables (the second iteration of the New Museum’s Triennal) in 2012

the AAA Burger Collection Keynote Lecture during ART HK, with guest speakers such as Sarat Maharaj in 2011 and Okwui Enwezor in 2012

the cross-cultural program Art Hotpot by C & G Artpartment between Sopot (Poland) and Hong Kong in 2011-2012

the publication Tradition Transformed: Tibetan Artists Respond, published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title at the Rubin Museum in 2011

the video and live multi-media performance by Doug Aitken entitled Black Mirror, performed in Athens and Hydra in June 2011

Philippe Parreno’s exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2011

the independent platform Writing Fotan, a seminar in the Fotanian artist studios in Hong Kong in 2011

Matt Saunders’ exhibition at the Renaissance Society in Chicago in 2010

the light installation Public Notice 3 by Jitish Kallat on the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase at the Art Institute of  Chicago in 2010

the video The Distance from Here by Bani Abidi in 2010

Action Script, the Asia Art Archive podium discussion on performance with artist Tehching Hsieh in 2010

the AAA Backroom Conversations during the ART HK fair (from 2007 to the present)

Urs Fischer’s exhibition Marguerite de Ponty at the New Museum in New York in 2009

Pak Sheung Chuen’s solo presentation Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams at the Hong Kong Pavilion during the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009

the work Wille, Macht und Wandel by Herlinde Koelbl at the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus des Deutschen Bundestages in Berlin in 2005

Hubbard / Birchler’s video House with Pool in 2004

Julian Opie’s Motion Pictures project, 2003/04

 

Burger Collection is the patron of Para/Site (Hong Kong), KHOJ Alternative Space (New Delhi), Kunsthalle Zürich, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong Museum of Art, C&G Artpartment and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center.

 

In recent years, works from the Burger Collection have been lent amongst others to institutions such as Fundacio Antoni Tapiès, Barcelona, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, The Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, North Carolina, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Hamburger Kunstverein, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, Serpentine Gallery, London, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, National Gallery, London, Tate Modern, London, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Art Space, New Zealand, Venice Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Singapore Art Museum, São Paulo Biennial, Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Art Institute of Chicago and Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo MUAC, Mexico.