THE MERZBARN PROJECT
AND KURT SCHWITTERS IN ENGLAND

Kurt Schwitters at Cylnders, 1948

Kurt Schwitters spent the last years of his life (1941-48) as a refugee from the Nazis in Britain, working in relative obscurity. After he was released from internment in the Isle of Man he went to live in the English Lake District, where he began his last great Merzbau project in a farm shed at Cylinders, near Ambleside, in 1946. Schwitters' two other Merzbau installations, the original one at his home in Hanover, and a second in Norway, were both destroyed at the end of the war. The Cylinders MerzBarn remained unfinished at the time of Schwitters' death in 1948. The partly completed wall installation was removed from Cylinders to the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, in the mid 1960s, in order to preserve it.

It is recognised by many artists, art historians and curators that the importance of Schwitters' work in Britain has never been fully acknowledged or commemorated. New research and archiving is required to document and interpret the significance of the artist's late work in England, in particular, the extraordinary breakthrough he achieved with the MerzBarn at Cylinders. In many ways Schwitters either pioneered or was in the vanguard of contemporary art movements that gave rise to installation art, new architecture/sculpture fusions, radio/audio arts, mixed media art, performance art, and concrete poetry, producing works which, even today, are infused with extraordinary authority and originality.

The Merzbarn at Cylinders. Archive photo.

In 1999 Littoral/Projects Environment organised the MerzBarn: Kurt Schwitters in England conference at Cylinders and Ambleside, to draw attention to the gap in the understanding of Schwitters' work in England. We also wanted to demonstrate that there was considerable international interest in the MerzBarn, and in the work Schwitters had produced in England. We are hoping that a new body of exhibitions, publications, research and artists projects about Schwitters and the MerzBarn will eventually follow.

Kurt Schwitters and the Merzbarn project

Kurt Schwitters, one of the leaders of the German Dadaist group, was well known for the extraordinary range of his art works, media, and ideas. He is credited with having pioneered audio art, installation, performance, new typography, as well creating a continuous output of paintings, sculpture and collage.

Schwitters fled to Norway in 1937 to escape from Nazi persecution, and arrived in Britain as a refugee in 1940. He was interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man, but was later released and went to live in the Lake District, near Ambleside. From 1947 until his death in 1948 Schwitters worked on what he described as his greatest "lifework", the Merzbarn project.

The Merzbarn was constructed by Schwitters from found materials in a disused straw barn at Little Langdale in the Lake District. Although unfinished at the time of his death in February 1948, the Merzbarn survived intact until the mid-1960s, when Richard Hamilton and others arranged for its careful dismant-ling and safe storage. One large section of the main wall relief was later reinstalled at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle. It is likely that the Merzbarn relief at the Hatton will undergo restora-tion in 1999. The Merzbarn is still considered one of the key works in the development of 20th century sculpture.

The Merzbarn and the sculpture projects carried out by Schwitters in a building in Norway (the Lysaker Merzbau), and the Merzbau at his apartment in the City of Hanover, have inspired generations of postwar artists, and many leading international artists acknowledge the influence of Schwitters on their work. Artists and critics also point to the contemporary relevance of Schwitters' work and life, in particular his experiences as an anti-Fascist and as an immigrant artist in post-war England. For these and other reasons many artists want to join the ArtBarns project in paying tribute to the memory of this major, but still under-rated, artist of the late twentieth century.

Merzbarn: Kurt Schwitters in England:

International scholars, artists and curators spoke on the work of Kurt Schwitters, the Merzbarn project and its critical legacy. The conference began with a one day visit to the artists' ArtBarns research projects in the Forest of Bowland (Thursday 16th Sept.). Conference venues included Ambleside and Langdale, Cumbria. A visit to the original Merzbarn site at Langdale was proposed for Friday 17th. Sept.

Speakers

Project supported by: The Arts Council of England (A4E), the Elephant Trust, North West Arts Board, Lancashire County Council, The Henry Moore Foundation, the Goethe Institut, Cumbria County Council.

Kurt Schwitters in England project

Possibilities include:

1. Creation of a new MerzBarn study centre near the site of the original MerzBarn in Elterwater, as an international resource centre for scholars, curators and artists interested about the work of Kurt Schwitters in England, and as an archive and documentation centre specifically devoted to new work and research about the MerzBarn installation.

2. Commissioning new publications and research about the MerzBarn project and its critical legacy, and about the work and life of Kurt Schwitters in England.

3. Establishment of an international Schwitters artists' fellowship and a programme of commissions to be offered to artists of international status who may be refugees or exiles from their home countries.

4. An international Schwitters Summer School and conference, to be held in the Lake District, near Ambleside or at Elterwater every two years, to address particular aspects of Schwitters' work, and to encourage artists, scholars, curators and art historians to exchange information about Schwitters.

5. Kurt Schwitters in England foundation, through which to commission new curatorial projects, research, artist's projects and exhibitions, and publications about Kurt Schwitters and the MerzBarn project in England.

MerzBarn:
Kurt Schwitters in England Working Party

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