Ausstellungen 2018

Lee Bul is one of the most important Korean artists of her generation, having received significant international recognition for her formally inventive and intellectually provocative work. The Gropius Bau presented Crash, her first solo exhibition in Germany. This comprehensive survey was the first exhibition Stephanie Rosenthal has curated as the new director of the Gropius Bau.

News that the Bavarian Public Prosecutor’s office had seized the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt (1932–2014), caused a national and international sensation when it was made public in November 2013. Spanning a wide range of eras and styles – from Dürer to Monet and from Cranach to Kirchner and Rodin – the exhibition presented works that have been hidden from public view for decades and provided an insight into the current state of the investigation of the Gurlitt trove.

Through spectacular new archaeological finds, and fresh perspectives on old ones, the exhibition revealed an unparalleled network of cultural interaction existing in Europe from earliest times to the recent past. Mobility, conflict, exchange and innovation – their origins, effects and interconnections – have always shaped coexistence in Europe.

Philippe Parreno’s untitled solo exhibition at the Gropius Bau Berlin has yet to exist and will perhaps never exist as it is described here. This is not to say that it is any less real. To be sure, this show has many different modes of existence which, as of now, are purely virtual, sites of possibility which may or may not become actual. To date, the exhibition exists in various modes that have changed over time including one which can be experienced through VR headsets. Yet at this time, nothing appears fixed, the future that the exhibition takes remains open, and we can only imagine what Parreno intends to do.

The exhibition Welt ohne Außen featured art works spanning from the late 60s to the present day, together with live works and workshops. Curated by Thomas Oberender and Tino Sehgal, the exhibition traced a development from the pioneers of immersive installations to contemporary artistic practices, bringing together a wide range of art forms and disciplines. Featuring installations, virtual reality, 3D-film, a smell organ, as well as live works and workshops, the exhibition developed a unique dramaturgy that allowed visitors to enter into these immersive spaces, with each work unfolding within its own temporality.

Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) is one of the outstanding artists of the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibition Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta at the Gropius Bau featured 23 of Mendieta's multi-layered film works, which after several years of research had just been restored and digitised.

The ISM Hexadome is a new format and at the same time a completely new tool. Nine performances and installations had been especially conceived for the project by international sound and visual artists.