present perfect Museum Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz November 13, 2022, to February 12, 2023

present perfect

Museum Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz
November 13, 2022, to February 12, 2023 

From the federal government's new acquisitions, the exhibition present perfect at the Gunzenhauser Museum presents around 50 works by 44 artists living in Germany in a wide variety of techniques, such as painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, and video. The title of the exhibition is borrowed from a painting by Tamina Amadyar. In various exhibition chapters, social and political themes in contemporary art are explored, characterized by a multi-ethnic polyphony. One focus is on works dealing with the themes of migration and identity. These address issues relating to Germany as a country of immigration, the search for community and belonging in a post-migrant society, but also stereotyping and racism. In addition, works are shown that deal with the construction of history, social change, and the culture of remembrance in our society. Another thematic area is devoted to questioning individual identity constructions, gender attributions, and diversity, as well as the representation of the body, but also power and authority. Finally, works are shown that address formal aesthetic questions, break with classic image categories, and in which images and realities become fiction.

“Young visual art has finally become international, drawing on diverse ethnic, ideological, religious, and aesthetic sources that are as global as the life paths and intellectual horizons of many artists,” says Claudia Roth, Member of the German Bundestag and Minister of State for Culture and Media. “It is not important for visitors to the exhibition to be familiar with the names of many of the artists. What is much more important is that they engage with what they see and sense that behind each work there is above all an attitude, a commitment.”

The Federal Republic of Germany has been collecting contemporary art for more than 50 years. The collection now comprises around 2,000 works. The federal government decides on purchases based on the recommendations of an independent commission of experts, whose five members are appointed for five years by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. In addition, the federal government provided additional purchase funds as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR program to support the work of artists during the pandemic.

After most of the new acquisitions from the past five years were initially presented at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland selected works from the exhibition are now being shown simultaneously at the Gunzenhauser Museum in Chemnitz and the New Museum Nürnberg .

With its thematic and artistic diversity, the exhibition offers not only an exciting insight into contemporary art, but also into current social issues in Germany.

Artists 

Frank Ahlgrimm, Tamina Amadyar, Karimah Ashadu, Benjamin Badock, Gerry Bibby, Matthias Bitzer, Pauline Boudry, Sebastian Burger, Christina Chirulescu, Inga Danysz, Esra Ersen, Ayan Farah, Nadine Fecht, Anett Frontzek, Stefan Fuchs, Stephanie Gudra, Faisal Habibi, Simon Hehemann, Lena Henke, Margret Hoppe, Tilman Hornig, Klára Hosnedlova, Nadira Husain, Stephan Janitzky, Franka Kassner, Erinna König, Renate Lorenz, Katja Novitskova, Emeka Ogboh, Henrik Olesen, Judith Rautenberg, Havin Al-Sindy, Camilla Steinum, Pauline Stopp, Johanna Strobel, Stephen Suckale, Benedikt Terwiel, Bussaraporn Thongchai, Sung Tieu, Nasan Tur, Silke Wagner, Jasmin Werner, Christoph Wüstenhagen, Malte Zenses