Problems on the way to the modern world

The group exhibition "Problems on the way to the modern world" combines works from the artists of the gallery that deal in part with modernism – its ideals and its art – but also with problems of the modern world – its social and political formation. The exhibited works can be considered against the background of the following subject areas.

In a new and intensive way, the beginning of the 20th century was marked by artists discussing concepts for a modern world and demanding their realisation. Technical innovations and the results of scientific research were adopted just as well as parascientific modes of explanation. Formal experiments such as the cubist fragmentation of the pictorial surface and abstraction reflect a resistance to the absolute placement of the subject. The art works were not able to put social, scientific and technical ideas into practice, but their formal design and artistic revolu-tionising has entered art history and had a lasting effect on contemporary art. The reference to this period in the work of young artists reflects a fascination for the utopian content of the modern era, the still unbroken belief in the possibility of putting these ideas to practice as well as the formal and conceptual innovations of this art.

A consideration of the modern period leads to problems that have arisen from its ideas. Technical and scientific progress can no longer be considered in an entirely positive light when in debates over atomic energy or genetics there is a discussion of unforeseeable results and dangers. Political models, through attempts at putting them into practice, have revealed themselves as ideologies that limit freedom. The consequences of these attempts at realisation still determine political, moral and historical consciousness and thus affect modes of possible action. Today, the effects of modern globalisation are visible in the conflict between different social levels and ethnic groups as could be seen recently in the riots breaking out in France’s suburbs, and which, internationally, determines politics. Such conflicts are used by politics and the media to produce social fears that surpass the real threat. Accompanying this fear mongering is the promise of securities offered by politics and the economy.

The exhibition "Problems on the way to the modern world" brings together artworks in the diverse media of painting, drawing, sculpture and video. With at times ironic-playful interferences the artists draw attention to the problems of the modern world.

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Problems on the way to the modern world

mit Edgar Arceneaux, Gabriele Basch, Ulrike Feser, Katharina Jahnke, Annette Kisling, Zilla Leutenegger, Simon Dybbroe Moller, Pavel Pepperstein, Bernd Ribbeck, Albrecht Schäfer, Cornelia Schmidt-Bleek