Exhibition

Sammlungsflügel

The title spot on stands for a new series of exhibitions at museum kunst palast, with the involvement of several project rooms at six-month intervals. To reflect the vitality and openness of our art gallery, we do not want to limit the programme to the contemporary period or indeed to specific genres. Each room provides space for presentations of certain groups of works from our collection, showing important new acquisitions and making them available for discussion, while also presenting small exhibitions of artists who either live in Düsseldorf or who have a special relationship with the city. This includes the latest research results and successful restorations of works as well as "re-runs" of important exhibitions which took place in the past and indeed also video programmes and performances.

In the first cycle of spot on we are pleased to present a work that has been with us on loan for quite some time but which has finally been acquired by us. The large sculpture "Eurasian Staff II" by Joseph Beuys is a central item created by the Düsseldorf artist in 1968, a piece he had used in Antwerp, for a performance of the same name. The work is supplemented by a special performance film by Joseph Beuys and Henning Christians as well a several photographs by Ute Klophaus, taken during the event.

In 1988 Felix Droese designed his "House of Weaponlessness" for the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennial. The piece was shown no more than twice, immediately afterwards, and has not been on public display again since then. 20 years after the creation of the work, Droese is now presenting this room installation at museum kunst palast, having adapted it to the special conditions of a different locality.

Viewers are tempted to touch the work as they are faced with prickly creatures and objects made of glass - items that seem to have been obtained and detached from well-known pieces in art history, including our own collection. Yet the delightful animals in Marta Klonowka's "Cuddle Zoo", as shown in the project room of Glasmuseum Hentrich, have razor-sharp edges, thus combining both danger and beauty. The "Cuddle Zoo" also forms part of our exhibition "Fragile Beauty - Glass as Seen by Art".

Forming part of a long-term joint venture with museum kunst palast, Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf (a bank) is planning to build up a collection of contemporary art which will be given to museum kunst palast as a permanent loan. The first item that was purchased for the collection is a room installation entitled "Düsseldorf 2001-2007" by the internationally renowned photographic artist Wolfgang Tillmans. It will be presented at museum kunst palast for the first time.

The Chilean artist Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, who lives in Düsseldorf, applies a coat of wax to the paper she uses in her art. This adds a certain depth to her lines that corresponds to the unfathomable character of her drawings. Dreams and traumas seem to be captured on paper. museum kunst palast acquired a cycle of drawings last year which will be presented alongside other works by the artist, from different collections, together with corresponding works from the private Hanck collection. This makes it possible to trace the different paths pursued by artists as they take an in-depth interest in related issues and stories.

The exhibition Zero in Photography combines photographs which artistically reflect a wide range of events captured by the Zero group of artists, from portraits through studio photos to installations and performances. The photographs, which cover a period from 1957 to 1972, belong to the Artistic Photography Archive of the Rhineland Art Scene (AFORK), built up and supported by museum kunst palast. Zero in Photography takes place alongside a special exhibition, presented to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Zero Group at museum kunst palast.

In our second cycle of spot on, scheduled for the end of November, we will also be presenting works by Olaf Jernberg, David Rabinowitch and Julius Weiland.

Each room will be accompanied by a publication, and the various monographs will eventually be compiled into a single volume.



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