Group Material
About
An artist collective active in New York between 1989 and 1996 that was established by Julie Ault, Tim Rollins, and Mundy McLoughlin, among others, and later joined by various other artists, including Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Members generally expressed their disenchantment with the contemporary dominance of Neo-Expressionist painting and the increasing dependency of artists’ livelihood on the art market (and accordingly, the making of their artworks as easily-consumable commodities). Championing collaborative exhibitions instead of individual artist shows, community engagement over exclusivity, and alternative spaces in lieu of the customary white cube gallery, Group Material asked "everyone to question the entire culture we have taken for granted.” Group Material’s exhibitions adopted activist stances towards sensitive issues, exemplified most in their AIDS Timeline project, which sought to illustrate the complex political and cultural reception of the disease.
