Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Marks 300 Years with Exhibition 'The Great Michelangelo Is Dead!'

Key facts

• The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is celebrating its tercentenary with the exhibition 'The Great Michelangelo Is Dead! Avant-Garde and Academicism.'
• The exhibition aims to reframe the debate between avant-garde and academicism, avoiding pejorative uses of 'academicism' and rejecting the avant-garde's monopoly on novelty.
• It explores the creative dynamic between the two poles from a deep historical perspective and in relation to contemporary art positions.
• The tercentenary commemorates the drafting of the academy's statutes in 1726 by Jacob van Schuppen, modeled on the French academy's statutes.
• The exhibition is not a detailed history of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna but a journey through the history of academies and their anti-academic adversaries.
• It is structured in fifteen chapters that pinpoint key junctures.
• The show also frames a new perspective on the academy's current role and its position in the contemporary art field.
• The exhibition is on view at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.