The Way We Are
With works by more than one hundred artists and artist groups from various eras and places around this world, The Way We Are covers 2,500 square meters and opens multifaceted perspectives onto contemporary art.
There are spaces dedicated to depictions of the self or perceptions of landscape, to images of Germany, to formulated empowerment or manifested power hierarchies, to new perspectives on art history or everyday life, to nationalism or surveillance, but also to the vertical form or the diversity of the color black. Thus the focus is on art-historical issues as well as social-political discourses. Approaches from the 1960s and 1970s are being further developed in the present day, renowned names are challenged by young, not-yet-discovered positions, established standpoints of classical art history are brushed against the grain.
A basic idea running through the exhibition is the potential of art to develop oppositional points of view onto what is familiar and to adopt surprising perspectives with regard to what links us all. This gives rise to fascinating, humorous, poetical and radical possibilities for approaching issues of current topicality by way of art.
Exhibition on levels 1, 2 and 4 ½
Curated by Ingo Clauß and Janneke de Vries
Living Collection Presentation
The Way We Are is structured as a living collection presentation that is varied at regular intervals. From time to time, art works are added, shift their location or disappear; work constellations are shuffled, thematic areas are reworked and new artist’s spaces are created—in a form that elevates critical inquiry to a principle and delights in transformative discovery. In order to realize this idea even better in the future, the extensive yearly changes that have defined the format up to now will in the future give precedence to smaller or larger alterations that will occur continuously. In this way the collection presentation remains uninterruptedly accessible as such to the public and simultaneously offers constantly new art experiences to individuals who make repeated visits.
The basis for The Way We Are consists of loans from more than thirty international private and corporate collections that have close ties to the Weserburg, as well as complementary loans from artists and galleries along with works from the museum’s own holdings.
Focus: Sibylle Springer
The works of Sibylle Springer (*1975 in Münster) are characterized by an in-depth examination of art history. With a critical eye, she questions the male-dominated tradition of painting and focuses on forgotten or marginalized female artists. She quotes paintings from earlier centuries, transfers them into her own visual language and questions the historical predecessors from a decidedly contemporary perspective.
For the Weserburg, Springer has created an expansive carpet installation that transfers her painterly precision to the medium of textiles. The work takes a detail from a flower still life by Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750): a flower with a fly, greatly enlarged and distorted in perspective. This transformation creates a contemporary “vanitas motif” that is only recognizable from certain angles and at the same time makes the work of a long overlooked artist visible.
Springer’s works, as well as the installation fly, make an important contribution to the revision and re-evaluation of art historical narratives. They impressively demonstrate how traditions can be questioned and rethought from an independent artistic position. The realization of the artwork was made possible by the Museumsfreunde Weserburg and the ARTHENA FOUNDATION, with the support of the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Focus: Norbert Schwontkowski
In 2019, around 210 individual works by Norbert Schwontkowski (born 1949 in Blumenthal, died 2013 in Bremen) from the Brigitte and Udo Seinsoth Collection entered the Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst on a permanent basis. Since then, an artist’s room dedicated to Norbert Schwontkowski has been an integral part of the exhibition format The Way We Are. The selection of works and their emphasis in terms of content are varied at regular intervals.
There are several recurrent motifs in the oeuvre of Norbert Schwontkowski. One of them is the human head; it makes its way through his works during all periods and in a wide range of shapings. Hence the artist’s space is this time focused on the motif of the head and presents its various manifestations in paintings, prints and sculptural works. The major part of the works on display comes from the Seinsoth Collection and is complemented by works from the collection of the Städtische Galerie Bremen along with a painting from the Familiy collection Pitrowski-Rönitz.
Earlier versions of Schwontkowski’s artist spaces from the exhibitions The Way We Are 2.0 and 3.0 can be experienced via 360-degree virtual tours, where they are accompanied by additional information: To the virtual showroom
Artists
Saâdane Afif, Nevin Aladağ, Tamina Amadyar, Carl Andre, John M. Armleder, Phyllida Barlow, Rebekka Benzenberg, Viktoria Binschtok, Karla Black, Christian Boltanski, Patrick Bongoy, Geta Brătescu, Rahel Bruns, André Cadere, Miriam Cahn, Claudia Christoffel, Claire Fontaine, Mel Chin & GALA Committee, Jesse Darling, Jeremy Deller, Braco Dimitrijević, Ólafur Elíasson, Iran do Espírito Santo, Cao Fei, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ceal Floyer, Andrea Fraser, Kasia Fudakowski, Ryan Gander, Isa Genzken, Kyriaki Goni, Petrit Halilaj, Mona Hatoum, David Hepp, Hu Weiyi, Donald Judd, Mauricio Kagel, Šejla Kamerić, Johanna Karlsson, Annette Kelm, Sonia Khurana, Jürgen Klauke, Fabian Knecht, Kitty Kraus, Jürgen Krause, Till Krause, Alicja Kwade, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, Zoe Leonard, Richard Long, Robert Longo, Urs Lüthi, John McCracken, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Tracey Moffat, Marge Monko, Andreas Mühe, Horst Müller, Zanele Muholi, Juan Muñoz, Kenneth Noland, Ahmet Öğüt, Murat Önen, Roman Ondak, Susan Philipsz, Claudia Piepenbrock, Charlotte Posenenske, Paloma Proudfoot, Laure Prouvost, Ariel Reichman, Tim Reinecke, Pipilotti Rist, Peter Roehr, Bunny Rogers, LaRissa Rogers, Kay Rosen, Ulrike Rosenbach, Jonas Roßmeißl, Fred Sandback, Karin Sander, Emma Sarpaniemi, Ngozi Ajah Schommers, Norbert Schwontkowski, Richard Serra, Lerato Shadi, Daniel Spoerri, Sibylle Springer, Sturtevant, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Gavin Turk, Luc Tuymans, Anna Uddenberg, Anna Vogel, Jorinde Voigt, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, Wim Wenders, Claudia Wieser
Participating Collections
Arndt Collection, Art Collection Telekom, Art’Us Collectors’ Collective, Sammlung Freie und Hansestadt Bremen/ Städtische Galerie Bremen, Kunststiftung DZ Bank, Sammlung Haus N, Sammlung von Kelterborn, Sammlung Lafrenz, Levy Galerie, Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, Miettinen Collection, Sammlung NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, PArt Foundation, Family Collection Pitrowski-Rönitz, Sammlung Gaby und Wilhelm Schürmann, Sammlung Seinsoth, Sammlung Dominic und Cordula Sohst-Brennenstuhl, Sammlung Wolfgang Schoppmann, Sammlung Stadler, SÛ Collection, Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Samm-lung Wemhöner, Sammlung Ivo Wessel, Sammlung Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst and unnamed lenders
Book guided tours
Our public guided tours are free of charge and included in the admission fee. In addition, you can book private tours of the exhibitions and collections of the Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst for yourself and groups, in German or English, and upon request also on special topics or in other languages.
From 100 euros, plus admission
Maximum 25 participants per tour (from 60 minutes)
Art and Cocktail
A touch of Hollywood in Bremen: The Shooter’s Bar in the Weserburg combines art and pop culture in a unique way. Originally a film set for the successful US series Melrose Place from the 1990s, it is now both a work of art and a stylish bar for special moments. In seasons 4 and 5, Mel Chin and the GALA Committee integrated socially critical works of art into the US series. In addition to the Shooter’s Bar, these were numerous props, selected pieces of which can be seen today in the Weserburg.
The Shooters Tour offers an enjoyable tour of the Weserburg and presents selected highlights from the collection. After the entertaining tour, you will head to the Shooter’s Bar, where you will hear exciting stories about the bar over a cocktail and have plenty of time to chat.
150 Euro plus 15 Euro/p.p. (entrance fee and cocktail)
5 to max. 20 persons (guided tour 40 minutes / total 90 minutes)
Registration is required!
Information and booking inquiries
+49 (0)421 59839-0
info@weserburg.de
Offerings for schools
Admission is free for school classes, daycare centers, and youth groups.
The following guided tours can be booked additionally for a fee (max. 25 participants per group):
Discovery Tour
Highlights of the exhibition in dialogue with your topics
100 euros: 90 minutes
Exhibition Visit with Studio Program
180 euros: 120 minutes, incl. materials
Possible focus topics in the studio program:
1. Collage, Comics, Zines, Storytelling with Art
2. Mixed Media: Color, Surface, and Form
3. Art, AI, and Society
Information and booking inquiries
+49 (0)421 59839-0
info@weserburg.de