12 Feb 2013

Ludwig Forum Aachen: exhibition programme 2013

From March 17, 2013
The Other Americans
Discoveries of the 1970s and 80s
Opening: Sun, March 17, 2013, 12.00 noon, Press: Thu, March 14, 11.00 a.m.

Peter and Irene Ludwig started collecting American art during the 1960s in New York. In 1968 the works were shown in Aachen for the very first time world-wide. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Duane Hanson are names that have immensely contributed to the popularity of the Ludwig collection. In their visionary ambition to establish an art collection that maps the global landscape of art, there has always been space for positions beyond big names that defy the usual classifications. The exhibition shows rarely exhibited pieces and unusual works by famous artists of the collection.

Simultaneously, as part of the research project 'Videoarchiv', important positions of American video art from our collection can be shown again after a long time.


April 21 – June 23, 2013
Michael E. Smith
Opening: Sun, April 21, 2013, 12.00 noon, Press: Thu, April 18, 2013, 11.00 a.m.

Michael Edward Smith (*1977 in Detroit) makes objects, images and videos that condense the qualities and references of the chosen material into an often uncanny physicality that is loaded with associations. Very different objects – sometimes with obvious references to sport and music idols of the Afro-American youth culture – are processed and 'abandoned' in the exhibition room. Actually, they rather seem to haunt the room than passively occupy it. From 2004 – 2006, Smith studied in Detroit at the College for Creative Studies (CCS). In 2008 he finished his art studies as student of Jessica Stockholder at the Department for Sculpture at Yale University. Since 2008 he has taught at the CCS. Recent exhibitions: 2011 Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar; 2012 Culturgest Lisbon; 2012 Whitney Biennial New York.
A catalog will be published.


June 30 – September 1, 2013
Ilka Helmig Phénotype
Opening: Sun, June 30, 2013, 12.00 noon, Press: Thu June 27, 2013, 11.00 a.m.

Ilka Helmig (*1971) works on the borderline between art and design. After her studies of communication design in Nurnberg, she studied Visual Arts and founded the design bureau 'Leitwerk' in Cologne. Her artistic work is shown in international exhibition projects and has received multiple awards. Since 2007 she has taught visual conception and drawing at the polytechnic in Aachen. For the Ludwig Forum, she develops a site specific project that occupies the space and explores shapes and structures of the museum and the surroundings by means of drawing and sculpture.
A catalog will be published.

July 14 – September 29, 2013
Bea Otto out there
Opening: Sun, July 14, 2013 12.00 noon, Press: Thu, July 11, 2013, 11.00 a.m.

In her works, Bea Otto (*1964) directly refers to the location. Her laconic but precise interventions question and transform the space. The borders between interior and exterior are shifted, passages are blocked and holes created, threshold situations and ruptures appear. Barreness expands.
Bea Otto studied at the art academy in Düsseldorf as a master student of David Rabinowitch, at the Gerrit Rietvield Academy in Amsterdam and the Art Students League New York. She has been granted scholarships by DAAD, Kunststiftung NRW and Kunstfond and other institutions.


October 13, 2013 – February 16, 2014
Nancy Graves Retrospective
Opening: Sun, October 13, 2013, 12.00 noon, Press: Thu, October 10, 2013, 11.00 a.m.

Nancy Graves (1940-1995) was the first contemporary artist to be given a solo exhibition in the Whitney Museum in New York in 1969. Since the 1970s she has been playing a special role in the art scene, her works oscillating between animals, animism and anthropology. Her camel sculptures are world-famous and as a participant of both the documenta 5 and 6 she has firmly established herself in art history. Research art, painting, dance, sculpture and documentary film are part of her artistic resources and methods. Nancy Graves has thus defined an approach to artistic work that has been a major inspiration to the following generations of artists. As a close friend of artists such as Chuck Close and Yvonne Rainer, Graves has been in the centre of the North-American art scene. In Europe, however, her work has yet to be discovered. The exhibition is a cooperation with the Nancy Graves Foundation in New York and is generously supported by Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Kunststiftung NRW and Peter and Irene Ludwig Stiftung. Important loans are contributed from Vienna, London, New York and Cologne.
A catalog will be published.


November 23, 2013 – January 26, 2014
Videozone: Wael Shawky Cabaret Crusades
Opening: Fri, November 22, 2013, 8.00 p.m., Press: Thu, November 21, 11.00 a.m.

In his videos, the Egyptian artist Wael Shawky stages historical and political incidents and thus explores the interpretational space of history. The work 'Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show Files (2010)' is the first part of a trilogy. On the basis of Amin Maalouf's book 'The Crusades through Arab Eyes' he examines the Arab perspective of the Crusades. Using 200 year old marionettes, he re-enacts the events that have played a key role for the developments to follow up until the political situation today. Wael Shawky (*1971 Alexandria) studied Visual Arts at Alexandria University and Graduate School of Fine Arts of the University of Pennsylvania. He has had solo exhibitions at Nottingham Contemporary (2011) and Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella (2010). Moreover, he participated in the Istanbul Biennial (2011), the Biennale di Venezia (2003) and the documenta 13 (2012). In 2010 Shawky founded the education centre MASS Alexandria.



Ongoing presentations:

until February 17, 2013: Videozone: Artur Żmijewski „Blindly'
until February 17, 2013: The City That Doesn't Exist. Images of Global Spaces

Terrains d'une Collection – From New York to Beijing
It's your Choice – Highlights of the LUFO collection
LUFONAUTEN – An exhibition for children