2021 exhibition program

K21
            
Everyone Is an Artist. Cosmopolitical Exercises with Joseph Beuys
March 27–August 15, 2021

Christoph Schlingensief. Kaprow City
April 24, 2021–October 17, 2021

Georges Braque. Inventor of Cubism
September 25, 2021–January 23, 2022

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Fly in League with the Night
October 16, 2021–February 13, 2022

OPEN SPACE. Nothing but the Future
November 13, 2021–February 13, 2022

K21

Coming to Voice. Graduates of the Düsseldorf Academy of Art 2020    
February 6-March 21, 2021

Isa Genzken. Works from 1973 to 1983
May 8–September 5, 2021

Marcel Odenbach. so oder so
October 9, 2021–January 9, 2022

Previews

Everyone Is an Artist. Cosmopolitical Exercises with Joseph Beuys
March 27–August 15, 2021
#K20Beuys #beuys2021

Press conference: March 25, 2021, 11am at K20

As a draftsman, sculptor, teacher, politician, and activist, as well as an action and installation artist, Joseph Beuys (Krefeld 1921–1986 Düsseldorf) fundamentally changed the art of the 20th century. His influence can still be felt today in artistic and political discourses. His 100th birthday in 2021 is an occasion to rediscover, appreciate, and critically examine both his complex oeuvre and his international standing.

The exhibition in K20 – Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen offers profound insight into Joseph Beuys’ cosmopolitan thinking as manifested in his actions. For here—as an acting, speaking, and moving figure—Beuys examined the central and radical idea of his expanded concept of art: “Everyone is an artist.” The goal of his universalist approach was to renew society from the ground up.

In the exhibition, contemporary artists, along with representatives from the most diverse areas of society, enter into a multi-layered, transcultural dialogue with the engaged protagonist Beuys. From today’s perspective, they confirm, question, and expand his theses on the possibilities of a future conceived through art.

An exhibition in conjunction with Beuys 2021. 100 years of Joseph Beuys. A project of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf as organizer. The patron of the anniversary year is Minister-President Armin Laschet.

Georges Braque. Inventor of Cubism
September 25, 2021–January 23, 2022
#K20Braque #GeorgesBraque

Press Conference: September 23, 2021, 11am at K20

The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is honoring Georges Braque as a pioneering artist of the French avant-garde. The exhibition focuses on the most important years of his oeuvre, i.e. on his particularly eventful early work created between 1906 and 1914.

Before the First World War, the young Georges Braque (1882–1963) and his friend Pablo Picasso left their mark on perhaps the most revolutionary stage in the history of modern painting: Cubism. Landscapes and still lifes are his preferred motifs. The exhibition reveals how Braque developed or reinvented stylistic means at the highest level. Fauvism, Proto-Cubism, Analytical Cubism, papier collé, and Synthetic Cubism follow one another in unique condensation. The tempo and intensity of the stylistic changes continue to amaze to this day. With roughly 60 masterpieces from international museums, private collections, and the holdings of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the exhibition describes the exemplary path of modern art from the representational to the abstracted reproduction of reality.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Fly in League with the Night
October 16, 2021–February 13, 2022
#K20 #LynetteYiadomBoakye

Press Conference: October 14, 2021, 11am at K20

The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is presenting the first comprehensive exhibition in Germany dedicated to the work of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977), a London-born painter and writer with Ghanaian roots. Her central theme is the human being: With oil or charcoal and pastel pencil she “portrays” women and men, occasionally resting, dreaming, dancing, gazing, or interacting with a counterpart. These are, however, not real people, but rather composite figures whose appearances are derived from various sources. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye depicts exclusively Black people, thus abruptly revealing their widespread absence in the representations of European art history, which she has studied intensively. In the context of the collection of K20, her pictures, which she consciously stages and sets in dialog, will stimulate reflection on the potential of painting, as well as on female and male role models, on pressing questions of representation, racism, and diversity.

The exhibition, which will be on view in the Henkel Hall of K20, was conceived by the TATE Britain in cooperation with the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, and the  MUDAM Luxembourg.

Isa Genzken. Works from 1973 to 1983
May 8–September 5, 2021
#K21 #IsaGenzken

Press Conference: May 6, 2021, 11am at K21

The work of Isa Genzken (b. 1948) is considered today to be among the most influential oeuvres and has inspired generations of artists. The exhibition draws attention to Genzken’s outstanding early work—a period that has not yet been consistently honored internationally in any institution. On display will be sculptures, computer prints, series of drawings, photographs, and films. The focus is on the groups of Ellipsoid and Hyperbolo sculptures created between 1974 and 1983, which, through their subtle mathematics, convey an aesthetic liberated from gravity.

The artist combines conceptual approaches with personal themes. Works that initially appear abstract become recognizable at second glance as traces of her own existence and tell of relationships and desires. The artist’s practice is influenced by the minimalist and conceptual working methods that were decisive for the West at the time. Genzken always plays with the basic forms and materials that shape architectural and social spaces. The exhibition in Düsseldorf establishes a special relationship to Genzken’s biographical context, as the artist studied here from 1973 to 1977 and then lived in the city until 1979.

Parallel to the presentation on the lower level of K21, recent works by the Berlin-based artist will be on view on the bel étage. In this way, developments within Isa Genzken’s oeuvre, as well as her long-standing interests, become apparent.

The exhibition Isa Genzken. Works from 1973 to 1983 was conceived by the Kunstmuseum Basel in cooperation with the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

The exhibitions on the Bel Etage, K21 are sponsored by the Foundation for Art, Culture, and Social Affairs of Sparda Bank West.

K20 K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen will remain closed until January 10, 2021.

Visit our website with plenty digital offers to our exhibitions. #K20K21fromhome

Stay connected: Please check our website for regular updates on our program. For further information please contact: presse [​at​] kunstsammlung.de