Argos - Open Lounge

Villa Merkel is home to the municipal galleries of the city of Esslingen, near Stuttgart (Germany). In this neo-renaissance building dating back to 1873, exhibitions of photography, painting and installation works are held. Argos is the first institution to receive carte-blanche to conceive an exhibition focusing on video art. As a result, Argos will project works by Manon de Boer, Peter Downsbrough, Michel François, Johan Grimonprez and Vincent Meessen; in addition, Peter Downsbrough will create the Room-piece SEIT/ ... (2009, tape and adhesive letters) for the light-flooded Atrium in the entrance area of Villa Merkel; a laboratory-like situation similar to that found in Argos’ media library. In this way, visitors are able to consult a selection of works from Argos’ distribution catalogue, shown on two screens. On conclusion of the exhibition a catalogue will be published.