In honour of collector Prof. Hans Georg Näder’s 60th birthday, the exhibition will offer visitors an up-close look at the versatile works of art in his collection. Fifteen artistic positions open the door to spectacular worlds. Besides well-known masterpieces of photography by Man Ray and Helmut Newton, the exhibition will also feature new paintings by Leipzig artist Neo Rauch.
Eventful and moving images, audiovisual documentation and exhibits from the world of orthopaedic technology tell the story of Ottobock’s 100-year history. These works paint a picture of three generations of visionary entrepreneurs who have been dedicated to the goal of advancing progress in orthopaedic treatment for people with limited mobility since 1919.
Max Näder (1915 — 2009) made a name for himself as the owner and long–standing head of the Ottobock company. Only few people knew, however, that he was also an accomplished photographer with a highly developed awareness of graphical structures and image composition.
Select works from the HGN Collection, complemented by representative loans from young artists, entered into an exciting dialogue questioning the way we experience light and darkness. Sculptures, installations, as well as films, photographs, music, and performances offered a variety of answers, some sensuous, some associative or poetic, inviting visitors to witness a journey through the night from dusk to dawn and to stroll through countless shades between darkness and light.
Cuban-Israeli photographer Enrique Rottenberg’s group of works entitled “Utopia” uses staged images of human beings to design an ideal, supposedly perfect society. With tremendous empathy, humor, and acidic satire, Rottenberg pictures his Cuban countryman and women in life-size, space-filling photographic portraits and group images.
“Close-up Cuba” emphasized Hans Georg Näder’s very personal view of the Caribbean island. The collector stayed there many times, visiting artists’ studios and engaging in a more and more in-depth dialogue with the artists. The seven positions on contemporary Cuban art shown in the exhibition shed light on socio-political questions, everyday life in a socialist country, and the fallouts of colonialism.
The focus of the exhibition was a floor collage comprising more than 1,000 photographs created by Martin Kippenberger (1953 — 1997) for the Berlin studio of fashion designer Claudia Skoda. Having served as a catwalk for fashion shows as of 1976, the installation has plenty of stories to tell about life and work, art and fashion, love and music.
What does “home” mean to our globalized society today? Do people still feel at home somewhere in the 21st century? Which connotations and images does the word conjure up in our minds? And, last but not least: How do we portray in pictures what we call “home”? Photography, which depicts and, at the same time, condenses the world, seems best suited to translate these questions into images.
“Painting invents, photography discovers” is one popular way of distinguishing between the two media. The categories reflect the conviction that photography is authentic, while paintings seem to deliberately play with illusion and reality. And yet, both arts offer us a glimpse of a strange, unfathomable world.
Helmut Newton (1920 — 2004) and František Drtikol (1883 — 1961) are representative of two different generations within nude photography. Both are considered as trailblazers for their respective styles. The juxtaposition of 140 photographs created a dialogue between the artistic visions of both photographers and targeted their thematic priorities.