With major shows on Keith Haring and Martin Kippenberger
Essen 45128
Germany
Hours: Tuesday–Wednesday and Saturday–Sunday 10am–6pm
Thursday–Friday 10am–8pm
In 2020 Museum Folkwang presents an extensive and interdisciplinary program of exhibitions and events. Socially relevant topics such as the urban society, migration, AIDS, cybercrime and data security shape the 2020 program. In addition to a major retrospective of Keith Haring and the presentation of Martin Kippenberger's large-scale installation The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika', Museum Folkwang shows the photographs of Aenne Biermann and the graphic work of filmmaker Federico Fellini. The show Keith Haring is accompanied by an exhibition of international posters against AIDS. Furthermore, the young artist Mario Pfeifer presents a newly produced video installation on cybercrime.
From May 29, 2020 to September 20, 2020 Museum Folkwang holds a major retrospective on American artist Keith Haring. The exhibition Keith Haring considers the artist’s oeuvre against the backdrop of global interconnectedness and contemporary social changes. These are themes that Haring began to tackle early on in his career and which he promoted through both artistic and commercial strategies. The show brings together early drawings, experiments with video and performance art, and large-format paintings on paper, canvas and vinyl, including many of his most iconic images, as well as numerous examples of Haring’s social engagement and his work in product design. The show also illustrates the performative aspect of Haring’s work, from his chalk drawings in the New York subway to his collaboration with artist and photographer Tseng Kwong Chi, who documented Haring’s approach.
The show is realised in collaboration with the Keith Haring Foundation, Tate Liverpool, and BOZAR/Centre for Fine Arts Brussels. The main sponsor of the exhibition Keith Haring at Museum Folkwang is E.ON.
From November 20, 2020 to February 14, 2021 Museum Folkwang presents Martin Kippenberger’s late magnum opus The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience this large-scale installation—originally developed by the artist in 1992–94 and with the dimensions of a sporting arena—in its impressive entirety. In developing The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’, Kippenberger worked together with numerous artists—such as Cosima von Bonin, Michael Krebber, Tony Oursler, Jason Rhodes and many others. Kippenberger spent three years preparing, researching and creating the work, which is based on the final chapter of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel The Man Who Disappeared/Amerika. Kippenberger brilliantly translates the story of migration to America into a sweeping spatial installation consisting of an indoor sporting field, which houses a zanily improvised reception camp for migrants and job-seekers. The 50 seat-and-table ensembles suggest imaginary “job interviews” and confront the visitor with the sensation of being foreign, an existential experience to which countless people are once again subject today—whether as interviewees, interviewers, or bystanders, be they distanced or sympathetic.
You can find the full exhibition program at www.museum-folkwang.de
Opening Hours
Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm, Thursday and Friday 10am–8pm
Closed on Mondays
Public program
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Press contact
Yvonne Daenekamp, T +49 201 8845 160 / yvonne.daenekamp@museum-folkwang.essen.de
