ARTIST ACTIVIST ARCHIVIST

Since his first trip to Australia in 1974, Bernhard Lüthi has been documenting cave art and forging strong friendships with Aboriginal artists and activists, shaping a commitment that still resonates today.

Gradually abandoning his own artistic practice in favour of curatorial work for the Aboriginal Arts Board, Lüthi made a major contribution to raising the profile of Aboriginal art in Europe through pioneering exhibitions that shook up the codes of contemporary European art: MAGICIENS DE LA TERRE in 1989 in Paris, ARATJARA, ART OF THE FIRST AUSTRALIANS in 1993-94 in Düsseldorf, London and Copenhagen and the retrospective exhibition RARRK, dedicated to John Mawurndjul at the Museum Tinguely in Basel and in Hanover in 2005-06.

At the heart of the exhibition ARTIST ACTIVIST ARCHIVIST is Bernhard Lüthi's archive, a scrupulously documented record of four decades of commitment, matched by an art installation created in situ by Wiradjuri artist Brook Andrew. The exhibition presents a selection of works by Lüthi himself, as well as works by artists who have marked his career, critically addressing the themes of colonialism, Eurocentrism and racism that are still prevalent today, in the visual arts and in society in general, both in Australia and in the West.

Beginning as a tribute to one of the most dynamic defenders of the art and culture of Australia's First Peoples in Europe, this exhibition takes a look at some of the most important milestones in the history of Aboriginal art in Europe, and explores the intimate mechanisms that drive people to take a stand against injustice.