Starting out from the The Happy End of Franz Kafka's "America", the exhibition presents a retrospective of the complete works of the late artist and shows selected examples of Kippenberger´s paintings and conceptual painting projects (Lieber Maler, male mir ..., 1981, Heavy Burschi, 1991, Die weißen Bilder, 1992), as well as ensembles of his sculptures, multiples, drawings, placards, books and previously unpublished material. The centre of the retrospective is occupied by a famous, though seldom exhibited chief work of contemporary art history: Martin Kippenberger´s spatially dominating installation The Happy End of Franz Kafka's "America", from the year 1994. The panoptical collection comprising several dozen tables and chairs develops a multi-layered scenic setting for carrying out interview discussions. The reference here is to the recruitment of artists and employees by a circus, as described by Kafka. Ironic, parodistic, subversive and at the same time with a high level of ethical and artistic sophistication, Kippenberger unfolds a spectrum of meaning in what, for him, is a typical synthesis of visual opulence and clear reflection in an individual, social and artistically effective process of inclusion and exclusion. (K21 Kunstsammlung im Ständehaus) |
