KABOOM!

Comic strips and cartoons have been a constant source of inspiration for artists since the very beginning. But it was only with British and American Pop Art that the world of speech balloons made its grand entry into galleries and museums. Roy Lichtenstein, Öyvind Fahrström, and many other artists introduced the aesthetic of comics into their paintings. In this way, they provocatively undermined the distinction between popular culture and established art. The Weserburg is taking up this theme with a large-scale exhibition. On display are works by more than thirty international artists. They offer an impressive demonstration of the influence of comics on contemporary art from the nineteen-fifties until today. [more...]

Gerd Rohling

The exhibition "Inside—Outside" presents the most recent works of the artist Gerd Rohling (*1946, Krefeld) from the Sammlung Böckmann, Berlin, along with several works from his studio. The main focus is on such work series as "Immer im Bild—Rouge" or "Sweet ,n' Sour," which have been created during the last five years, and with which the artist demonstrates the wide spectrum of his artistic language, from painting past sculpture all the way to film, in a playful handling of quite simple materials. [more...]

Double Rotation

The Lafrenz Collection has substantially influenced the self-concept and image of the Weserburg, the collector’s museum in the middle of the river Weser, since its inception. As early as the 1970s, the Hamburg-based pharmacist Dr. Klaus Lafrenz had assembled a powerful and unmistakable collection of key positions in Minimal Art, Conceptual Art, Arte Povera, and related art trends from the United States and Europe. What particularly stands out is their questioning of the media and materials as well as of the basic conditions of the artist’s perception of these. Indeed, most of Lafrenz’s paintings, sculptures, and installations do not represent anything in a mimetic sense, do not depict anything that might exist outside of themselves. Instead, they create in a sensorial way unmistakable situations and confrontations that are immediately transferred into the space and ultimately to the viewer as well. [more...]

Nach der Sprache

On the third floor of the old warehouses, the Weserburg is presenting works from its collections, complemented by individual loans from private collections. In a figurative sense, "After Language" indicates an area within the visual arts which cannot without further ado be put into words, be easily evaluated in formal terms, or be adequately described. It is a matter of pictures, sculptures, and installations which appear hermetic at a first glance but, upon closer scrutiny, address themselves directly to the viewer and give rise to a special dialogic situation. For example, there is the work "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Jochen Gerz, in which the focus is on visual concepts and sounds. One can read upon ten picture panels such commandments as "Don't look at me," "Don't describe me," or "Don't come too close to me." This may be read almost like a decalogue of strict pictorial prohibitions, yet it aims at our innate "inner images," i.e. memories, imaginings, desires, and dreams.[more...]