Max Bill: The Master’s Vision

Max Bill: The Master’s Vision (1908-1994), a film by Erich Schmid, moves between the dynamic fields of art, aesthetics, and politics. Max Bill was probably the most important Swiss artist of the 20th century and the most famous student to come out of the legendary Bauhaus in Dessau. He was an ardent anti-fascist and all of his work as an avant-garde artist, sculptor, architect, and typographer showed a social responsibility and environmental awareness throughout his entire life. His views have become incredibly topical.

Dr. Marek Bartelik teaches modern and contemporary art at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He has also taught art theory at Yale and MIT. He has published articles on such artists as Cai Guo Qiang, Ilya Kabakov, Orlan, and Francisco Vezzoli and regularly contributes to Artforum. He is the Co-President of AICA USA and Vice President of AICA International. Dr. Bartelik is also a poet. His volume of poetry in English, East Sixth Street, was released in Brazil in 2007.

Dr. Bartelik will discuss the life and art of Max Bill in the context of the Swiss artist’s role in spreading the ideas of modernism, particularly those related to art and science, around the world. Bill will be presented as a “diagonal artist,” who both belonged to his time and remained outside of it.

For more information on the film please visit www.maxbillfilm.ch.

Please note: Fifteen minutes prior to the event, Watermill resident artists Sarah Ortmeyer and Alexis Kunsak will do a short reading of their work in progress, KANT ELEGANT.