Gustav Metzger Quotes

“What is the significance of viewer participation in your work?”

Gustav Metzger

Context: What is the significance of viewer participation in your work?
It has to do with kinetic art. Kinetic art has very much to do with the interaction between spectator and art. In the second half of the ’50s, this became a big international movement. When I moved from painting to connections within media, this came through in the first work, which was an exhibition of found cardboard pieces. It was a turning point for me. The world itself, the industrial fabricated world, could stand for the man-made world of art.

“Auto-destructive art is conceived as a desperate last-minute subversive political weapon used by artists. It is an attack on the Capitalist system and the production of war materials. It is committed to nuclear disarmament and people's struggle.”

Gustav Metzger

Source: Ark, Nr. 30-37, 1962.

“Facing up to the Nazis and the powers of the Nazi state coloured my life as an artist.”

Gustav Metzger

Gustav Metzger: 'Destroy, and you create', 2012

“Atomic physics, was the worst thing that happened in the 20th century.”

Gustav Metzger

Gustav Metzger: 'Destroy, and you create', 2012

“At the beginning I was confronted with a choice: move into art or revolutionary politics,… I took the path of art at the age of 18…. I could see this possibility of using the ideas of social change within art.”

Gustav Metzger

Gustav Metzger: 'Destroy, and you create', 2012

“I don't want my image to appear in the mass media, since it would detract from the project.”

Gustav Metzger

Gustav Metzger: 'Destroy, and you create', 2012