The Way We Are

30.09.2023 - open end
Via Lewandowsky, Hansi Goes Down, 2009, Sammlung Haus N, Photo: Eric Tschernow © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

With a total of over 200 works by 100 artists and groups from different times and contexts, there are plenty of discoveries to be made in the collection exhibition The Way We Are. Thematic areas extending over 2,500 square meters formulate a multiplicity of different statements from the 1960s to the present day.
There are spaces to political, contemplative or humanly altered landscapes, to images of Germany, to love with all its clichés, to gender-related and cultural identities, to public space, but also to the concept of painting, to vertical form or to the diversity of blackness. Artist spaces on Mel Chin, Anna Ehrenstein, Isa Genzken, Norbert Schwontkowski and Sibylle Springer present different artistic approaches in a concentrated way. Thus the focus is on art-historical issues as well as social-political discourses. A basic idea running through the exhibition is the potential of art to develop oppositional points of view onto what is familiar, to adopt surprising perspectives with regard to what links us all, and thereby to offer exciting, unusual, clever, humorous, poetical or merciless foundations for approaching the great issues of our era through art.

 

Exhibition on levels 1 and 2

Curated by Ingo Clauß and Janneke de Vries

With the kind support of

Living Collection Presentation

Karin Sander, Paprika (kitchen pieces), 2012 & Lauch (kitchen pieces), 2012, Sammlung Stadler, Photo: Tobias Hübel © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

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

Artist space Sibylle Springer, Exhibition view, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Photo: Tobias Hübel

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

Norbert Schwontkowski, Dorian Gray, 2011, Familiy collection Pitrowski-Rönitz, Photo: Tobias Hübel

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

Nevin Aladağ, Francis Alÿs, Tamina Amadyar, Carl Andre, Kader Attia, Phyllida Barlow, Hicham Berrada, Julius von Bismarck, Patrick Bongoy, Geta Brătescu, Rahel Bruns, Angela Bulloch, Miriam Cahn, Louis Cane, Claudia Christoffel, Claire Fontaine, Mel Chin & GALA Committee, William N. Copley, Paul Czerlitzki, Jeremy Deller, Braco Dimitrijević, Marcel Duchamp, Anna Ehrenstein, Ólafur Elíasson, Iran do Espírito Santo, Jan-Paul Evers, Larissa Fassler, Valérie Favre, Kasia Fudakowski, Simon Fujiwara, Isa Genzken, Terike Haapoja, Petrit Halilaj, Toulu Hassani, Mona Hatoum, Lena Henke, David Hepp, David Hockney, Sabine Hornig, Nadira Husain, Mauricio Kagel, Šejla Kamerić, On Kawara, Ellsworth Kelly, Kitty Kraus, Alicja Kwade, Zoe Leonard, Ghislaine Leung, Via Lewandowsky, John McCracken, Michaela Melián, Tracey Moffat, Horst Müller, Juan Muñoz, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Ruben Ochoa, Ahmet Öğüt, Murat Önen, Roman Ondak, Paul Pfarr, Claudia Piepenbrock, Charlotte Posenenske, Bettina Pousttchi, Laure Prouvost, Ariel Reichman, Anys Reimann, Tim Reinecke, Aurora Reinhard, Pipilotti Rist, LaRissa Rogers, Fred Sandback, Karin Sander, Norbert Schwontkowski, Ul Seo, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Richard Serra, Qui Shihua, Santiago Sierra, Marianna Simnett, Andreas Slominski, Daniel Spoerri, Sibylle Springer, Elaine Sturtevant, Mari Sunna, Iiu Susiraja, Walter Swennen, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Gavin Turk, Anna Uddenberg, Ulay, Mariana Vassileva, Jorinde Voigt, Kara Walker, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, Grace Weaver, Claudia Wieser, Cathy Wilkes, Sonja Yakovleva, Nil Yalter, Catherine Yass, Heimo Zobernig

Participating Collections

Arndt Collection, Art Collection Telekom, Art’Us Collectors’ Collective, Sammlung Freie und Hansestadt Bremen/Städtische Galerie Bremen, Sammlung Gräfling, Sammlung Haubrok, Collection of Ryan Jefferies, Sammlung Haus N, Sammlung von Kelterborn, Sammlung Lafrenz, Sammlung NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, Miettinen Collection, Family Collection Pitrowski-Rönitz, Leihgabe Isolde Pfarr-von Dreden, Sammlung Gaby und Wilhelm Schürmann, Sammlung Brigitte und Udo Seinsoth, Sammlung Gerhard und Elisabeth Sohst, Sammlung Dominic und Cordula Sohst-Brennenstuhl, Sammlung Boner & Spiegelberger Stiftung, Sammlung Stadler, SÛ Collection, Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Sammlung Wemhöner, Sammlung Ivo Wessel, Sammlung Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst as well as numerous lenders who wish to remain unnamed.

Book guided tours

Isa Genzken, Weltempfänger, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2016, Private collection, Photo: Tobias Hübel © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024
Mel Chin & GALA Committee, Melrose Place / Shooters Bar, 1996, Sammlung Gaby und Wilhelm Schürmann, Photo: Tobias Hübel

Our trained staff will guide you through the exhibition, on request also on special topics, in German and English.

1. Highlights of the Exhibition

85 Euro plus admission
Maximum 25 persons per guided tour (50 minutes)
Registration is required!

2. Shooters Tour

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.

95 Euro plus 12 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

Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst
Teerhof 20, 28199 Bremen
Germany

Office hours:
Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
+49 (0)421 59839-0
info@weserburg.de

Offerings for schools

Photo: Lukas Klose

Various guided tours with and without a practical component are offered for school classes, with thematic focuses on request:

60 minutes
90 minutes with practical part

1. Discovery Tour: Highlights of the Exhibition

In an exciting juxtaposition of painting, photography, object and installation art, students can experience contemporary art and together try out a multi-perspective view of themes such as Crazy Everyday Life, Images of Germany or Cultural Identities.

Overview tour for primary, secondary I and secondary II: 60 minutes

2. Further topics will be announced shortly

Information and booking inquiries

Weserburg Museum of Modern Art
Teerhof 20, 28199 Bremen
Germany

Office hours:
Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
+49 (0)421 59839-0
info@weserburg.de