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K20
Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky. Dreams of the Future
March 16, 2024–August 11, 2024
Visions of Tomorrow. Histories of Abstraction
from July 6, 2024
YOKO ONO
September 28, 2024–March 16, 2025
K21
Mike Kelley. Ghost and Spirit
March 23–September 8, 2024
Forthcoming. Speculations in Urban Space
April 13–August 4, 2024
K21 Global Art Award award ceremony
May 23, 2024
Lars Eidinger. O Man
August 31, 2024–January 26, 2025
Katharina Sieverding
November 1, 2024–March 9, 2025
K20
Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky. Dreams of the Future
March 16–August 11, 2024
Press conference: March 14, 2024, 11am at K20
Two great names are considered the guiding stars of Western abstraction: On the one hand, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), the Russian painter, co-founder of the “Blauer Reiter” in Munich, and teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau. On the other hand, Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), the Swedish artist whose visionary work has only recently been rediscovered and has since inspired a wide audience.
With the exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the works of af Klint and Kandinksy will be united for the first time in a comprehensive exhibition. It offers a unique opportunity to compare and understand their paintings, watercolors, drawings, and notes. Af Klint and Kandinsky, who lived almost simultaneously, have in common that they wanted to invent much more than a new style of painting with abstraction. Both dreamed of a future to which art would point the way.
The exhibition is supported by Freunde der Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, HSBC Germany, Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung and Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung.
Media Partner of the exhibition Rheinische Post.
Visions of Tomorrow. Histories of Abstraction
From July 6, 2024
Press conference: July 4, 2024, 11am at K20
In response to the challenges and crises of the twentieth century, artists embarked on a journey to question the world and explore new horizons. Pioneering painters like Etel Adnan, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Alice Neel, and Andy Warhol created groundbreaking, visionary artworks. While art provided havens and spaces for reflection, it also functioned as both a mirror and an engine for social change. The K20 Collection’s newly redesigned presentation weaves together the diverse histories of abstraction with contemporary issues. By exploring connections, intersections, and ruptures spanning across yesterday, today, and tomorrow, it unfolds in a loosely chronological order and intertwines thematic galleries with islands of encounters. With this reenvisioned collection presentation, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen showcases its iconic paintings and introduces new acquisitions, dedicating itself to the polyphonic and dynamic histories history of abstract twentieth-century abstract art.
YOKO ONO
September 28, 2024–March 16, 2025
Press conference: September 26, 2024, 11am at K20
In September 2024, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, in cooperation with Tate Modern, will present a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the ground-breaking and influential work of artist and activist Yoko Ono (b. 1933 in Tokyo). Ono is a trailblazer of early conceptual and participatory art, film and performance, a celebrated musician, and a formidable campaigner for world peace. Spanning seven decades of the artist’s powerful, multidisciplinary practice from the mid-1950s to now, YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND will trace the development of her innovative work and its enduring impact on contemporary culture. Conceived in close collaboration with Ono’s studio, the exhibition will bring together over 200 works including instruction pieces and scores, installations, films, music and photography, revealing a radical approach to language, art and participation that continues to speak to the present moment.
K21
Mike Kelley. Ghost and Spirit
March 23–September 8, 2024
Press conference: March 21, 2024, 11am at K21
The work of Mike Kelley (1954–2012) is experimental, opulent, and irritating, making it widely acknowledged as one of the most influential contributions to the art world since the late 1970s. The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen presents a comprehensive retrospective at K21, in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, the Bourse de Commerce/Pinault Collection, Paris, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
From spiritualist notions to heavy metal to Superman comics, Kelley draws on the images and myths of pop and subculture to pose perennial questions about man’s place in the world and society. The themes of his work range from the influence of politics and education to class and gender affiliation: In the 1990s, his “handicraft” and stuffed animal works posed puzzles, and it became apparent that something sinister, threatening, and twisted lurked behind the seemingly harmless toys. One of his last major bodies of work, Day Is Done (2004-2005), references images of high-school performances and carnivalesque events. Kelley understood them as sites of ritualized deviations from social conventions. Art itself can be conceived as part of these spaces, providing a stage for the artist’s role—a role portrayed by Kelley as that of a highly fragile figure.
Supported by the ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, and Hauser & Wirth.
Media partner of the exhibition Monopol.
Katharina Sieverding: November 1, 2024–March 9, 2025
Press conference: October 31, 2024, 11am at K21
With this major survey exhibition, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen honors the artistic work and critical voice of Katharina Sieverding (b. 1941 in Prague), an internationally recognized pioneer of photography. Since the late 1960s, the award-winning artist has used her work to raise fundamental questions about identity, gender, and race, as well as the power of images and the social responsibility they entail. Her monumental works, which can be categorized as performance, body art, and experimental film, have added a new dimension to the medium of photography. She understands photography as a sculpturally malleable and transformable material that must be expanded into an interdisciplinary way of thinking and working and that is ultimately always linked to a political statement. In view of this, it is only logical that her exhibition at K21 will also extend into the public space. In addition to a new work and key works from her creative process spanning more than fifty years, her extensive archive will be included in the presentation for the first time as an open space for thought and discourse.
The exhibition is being made possible by NATIONAL-BANK AG, and is supported by the Kunststiftung NRW.
Stay connected: Please check our website for regular updates on our program. For further information please contact: presse@kunstsammlung.de.
