New exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn: EVERYTHING AT ONCE – POSTMODERNITY, 1967-1992. 1967 marked the beginning of our present: Modernism, which believed it could sort everything out for everyone with the same houses, furniture and rights, was bidden farewell and a new, bizarre, eccentric world emerged. Architects declared the amusement park to be the ideal city, designers liberated themselves from good taste, the struggle for self-realisation took the place of system struggles. New media synchronised the globe, images became the stage on which style and recognition were fought over.
Fig. above: postmoderne-0019 Ettore Sottsass, Der Planet als Fest: Studie für einen Spender von Weihrauch, LSD, Marihuana, Opium, Lachgas, Projekt (Perspektive), 1972–1973, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023, Museum für Moderne Kunst / Scala, Florenz
The exhibition tells of the beginning of the information society, of the unleashing of the financial markets, of the great age of subcultures, of disco, punk and techno-pop, shoulder pads and Memphis furniture, as well as of the boom in temples of culture, to which the exhibition owes its largest exhibit, the Bundeskunsthalle itself. When it opened in 1992, the Cold War was over and Francis Fukuyama declared in his famous book “the end of history”.
Today it is clear that history has moved on, and postmodernism is once again the subject of controversy: It was blamed for Donald Trump’s election victory, and the ideologues of the Kremlin have long been railing against postmodern freedoms. At the same time, social media have promoted a renaissance of postmodern aesthetics. Designers and architects are newly enthusiastic about postmodern ideas of diversity, contradiction and decentralisation.
In a time of flaring cultural struggles, the exhibition holds up a mirror to the present that serves to set direction: once before, new media overturned all certainties, once before, artistic ventures and a more diverse society emerged from depression and uncertainty. In a staging by post-modern architecture and design greats Nigel Coates and Neville Brody, the exhibition leads chronologically through everything that set the tone between 1967 and 1992: Films, fashion, art, design, architecture, technology and music. Artists such as Jenny Holzer and Jean-Paul Goude have restaged historical works especially for the exhibition.
With works by
Pedro Almodóvar – Ant Farm – Apple Macintosh – Martine Bedin – Ricardo Bofill – Neville Brody – Judith Butler – David Byrne – Lucinda Childs – Nigel Coates – Combahee River Collective – Comme des Garçons – Coop Himmelb(l)au – Gilles Deleuze – Jacques Derrida – Peter Eisenman – Michel Foucault – Francis Fukuyama – Jean Paul Gaultier – Frank Gehry – General Idea – Jean-Paul Goude – Michael Graves – David Hockney – Hans Hollein – Jenny Holzer – Arata Isozaki – Frederic Jameson – Charles Jencks – Alejandro Jodorowsky – Philipp Johnson – Grace Jones – Rem Koolhaas – Kengo Kuma – Karl Lagerfeld – Louise Lawler – Michael Mann –Martin Margiela – Gordon Matta-Clark – Richard Meier – Alessandro Mendini – Issey Miyake – Claude Montana – Charles Moore – MOSCHINO – Nam June Paik – Nathalie Du Pasquier – Gustav Peichl – Gaetano Pesce – Renzo Piano – Paco Rabanne – Aldo Rossi – Ed Ruscha – Denise Scott Brown – Cindy Sherman – SITE – Thomas Gordon Smith – Ettore Sottsass – James Stirling – Studio 65 – Sturtevant – Stanley Tigerman – U.S.A. For Africa – Oswald Mathias Ungers – Robert Venturi – Roger Vadim – Gianni Versace – Madelon Vriesendorp – Andy Warhol – Vivienne Westwood – James Wines – Harumi Yamaguchi u.v.m.
WHERE?
Museumsmeile Bonn
Helmut-Kohl-Allee 4
53113 Bonn
WHEN?
Tuesday, Thursday-Sunday, 10:00-19:00
Wednesday, 10:00-21:00
Monday closed
