Following the first part , "Class Relations: Teachers, Students, Artists," the Kunsthaus NRW continues its exhibition project in 2026 with new artworks and a new focus. " Class Relations – The Second Season" explores the world of art academies through approximately 130 works from its own collection as well as selected loans from the Academy Gallery of the Düsseldorf Art Academy. The new exhibition takes the classical art forms as its guiding thread: painting, sculpture, photography, art on paper, printmaking, film, video, performance, and all the hybrid forms of contemporary art production. Alongside questions of technical training, it addresses aspects that are more difficult to grasp: How are things like attitude, conceptual thinking, or even—think of Sigmar Polke—humor conveyed?
The exhibition illuminates the various art forms as well as the historical developments since the reopening of the Düsseldorf Academy in 1946. In the interplay between established professors, young students, and committed artists like Otto Pankok, it reconstructs the genealogies of teachers who were once students of teachers who, in turn, had teachers. Günther Uecker studied in Düsseldorf under Otto Pankok and, in turn, taught Klaus Schmitt, who created a tribute to his former professor specifically for the exhibition.
Part II of the exhibition project increasingly highlights the global network of art academies in North Rhine-Westphalia. The classes of influential professors such as Jan Dibbets, Peter Doig, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, and Christopher Williams are represented in the exhibition. Also included are the classes of Katharina Grosse, Andreas Gursky, Magdalena Jetelová, Markus Lüpertz, Albert Oehlen, Gerhard Richter, Rosemarie Trockel, and Timm Ulrichs.
Sigmar Polke's work offered more than just an opportunity to study his experimental approach to motifs and materials: as both an artist and a professor, Polke provided unique impetus for a humorous reflection on art – not in Düsseldorf, where he had once attended the academy with his fellow student Gerhard Richter, but at the academy in Hamburg. His students Georg Herold and Albert Oehlen, in turn, later taught in Düsseldorf and are also represented in the exhibition.
One section focuses on students who broke free from academic teaching and sought their inspiration elsewhere. August Macke, for example, found it in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, where he studied Cézanne and visited Robert Delaunay in his studio, among others. Another section explores the tragedy of misguided teaching during the Nazi dictatorship.
The exhibition also raises a decidedly unacademic question: What comes after art school? A balancing act between the white cube and the market? An installation by Alex Wissel from the series " Rheingold" and the film " Art Girls " by Robert Bramkamp, featuring art by Susanne Weirich, ironically reflect on the art world's operating system, which (doesn't) await young artists. The final stop on the tour is designed as an open "auditorium," inviting visitors to linger and converse with a "gathering" of works by current professors.
The exhibition continues in the sculpture garden with new interventions by Ayşe Erkmen, Anys Reimann, and Berit Schneidereit. Multimedia installations by the artist duo Lex Rütten & Jana Kerima Stolzer and by Julia Bünnagel can be seen in the adjacent building sections, while the cellar vaults will host works by Fabian Heitzhausen, Isabella Fürnkäs, and a performance video by Evamaria Schaller.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Marcel Schumacher.
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