kunsthaus nrw
kornelimünster

lab k

November 1, 2015 – September 18, 2016

Insights into the collection of artist fund. Heike Kathi Barath, Lothar Baumgarten, Boris Becker, Hubert Berke, Peter Brüning, Natalie Czech, Björn Dahlem, Thea Djordjadze, Danica Dakić, Sebastian Freudenberger, Sebastian Freytag, Gerhard Hoehme, Alfonso Hüppi, Seb Koberstädt, Gereon Krebber, Mischa Kuball, Ewald Mataré, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Martin Pfeifle, Sigmar Polke, Emil Schumacher, Thomas Rentmeister, Gerhard Richter, Klaus Rinke, Thomas Ruff, Rainer Ruthenbeck, Alfred Schmela, Fritz Schwegler, Günther Uecker, Timm Ulrichs, Gerd and Uwe Tobias, Hann Trier, Günter Weseler, amongst others.

Is it still possible to recount a development of the arts in a single region? The narration mode of the exhibition “collection with lose ends” comes close to the style of an experimental novel. Each room picks up the loose ends of a different story. Lothar Baumgarten’s tropical landscapes set in a German forest meet young refugees standing in front of a tropical wallpaper and a motorway junction, depicted by Danica Darkić. Identities and identifications are caught between self-narration and integration. Thomas Ruff’s “an other portrait” is presented next to Gerhard Richter’s blurred portrait of Dieter Kreutz while images of the abbey building’s owner and his ancestors hang in the same room. The modern works meet the baroque rooms with irony, posing questions. Fritz Schwegler’s ambiguous paintings from his series “Abuvalenz” hang in the former prince abbot’s cabinet, which features as a ceiling fresco the allegory of justice. Seb Koberstädt’s wax sculpture, reminiscent of a Brancusi, also stands here. Like on a candlestick, the artist placed the sculpture on deer antlers. In another room, Sebastian Freytag pursued the materials of modernity. He opens up series of installations in which the artists whose works have been purchased in the last years can present a deeper insight in their work.