Artists

Gordon Matta-Clark

Press release

On the occasion of Berlin Art Week, a temporary exhibition will be on view for the first time on the construction site of berlin modern from 10 to 13 September 2026: Neue Nationalgalerie presents five selected works by Gordon Matta-Clark, one of the most influential artists of the 1970s. They will be shown in one of the central exhibition spaces of the new Museum of 20th-Century Art, berlin modern, which is currently being built in Berlin. Located at the Kulturforum Berlin between Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berlin Philharmonic, the new building will house the Nationalgalerie's treasured collections of 20th-century art from German Expressionism, French Cubism, and Surrealism to US and international Western art after 1960, film, media and performance art from the 1970s to the 2000s. Gordon Matta-Clark The US-American conceptual artist and architect Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978) is best known for his radical “building cuts,” in which he physically cut into buildings slated for demolition, slicing, deconstructing, and carving geometric forms into them. He was the son of Chilean Surrealist painter Roberto Matta and US-American artist Anne Clark Sohn. Through these large-scale architectural interventions, he directly engaged with the urban environment and the communities within it. His works read as a critical commentary on the urban and economic issues of his time, from social exclusion, the neglect of neighbourhoods, the demolition of housing complexes, speculation, and gentrification. Merging a wide range of media, his artistic approach transcended the boundaries between architecture, sculpture, conceptual art, as well as performance and social practice. This singular artistic approach made him one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation, and a central figure of New York’s art scene in the 1970s. Exhibition „Gordon Matta-Clark. On Site“ The exhibition features central pieces from the most vital period of his oeuvre in the 1970s, including Clockshower (1973), Splitting (1974), Conical Intersect (1975), City Slivers (1976), and Office Baroque (1977) — realized in New York, Paris, and Antwerp, among others. Most prominently presented is Conical Intersect, a site-specific work with the Centre Pompidou still under construction in the background. The work was part of the Paris Biennale in 1975. Presented in this homage-like exhibition, his work creates a striking encounter with the artist's unique and radical approach that inspires generations of artists until today. First Exhibition at berlin modern The construction site of the new museum berlin modern, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, offers a unique temporary exhibition context and dialogue for Matta-Clark's work. The area for social practice planned in the lower level of berlin modern takes also inspiration from Gordon Matta-Clark’s work and his approach to social practice. Matta-Clark explored social and urban themes through projects such as his SoHo restaurant Food (1971–73) in New York and his “building cuts”. Visitors will experience the works amid the still-unfinished berlin modern construction site. Their own physical presence becomes part of this unusual spatial setting. It is the first exhibition in Berlin’s new museum. Curators The exhibition is curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Director of Neue Nationalgalerie, with Ricarda Bergmann. The exhibition is made possible through the support of the American Academy. A project at berlin modern by Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz