Anders
04.03.2018 – 03.09.2023

The presentation of Bremerhaven’s art collection unknown to the public continues. In a comprehensive, newly designed exhibition, the Kunstmuseum features a selection of around 100 artworks from its close to 130-year collection history. Ten years ago, the association for the first time granted a view to its art collection that had never been shown before. The exhibition was celebrated by the press as a “who is who” of art history. However, it was not a chronological show in art-historical terms. With works by Oswald Achenbach to Franz Erhardt Walther, it did span a period ranging from late-Romantic painting from the end of the 19th century to Conceptual Art of the second half of the 20th century, but in terms of content, the exhibition with a potpourri of rooms dedicated to individual artists or groups was more oriented toward the path-breaking exhibitions held at the Kunsthalle or the Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in Bremerhaven. In this context, the exhibition at the Kunstmuseum also sheds light on a little noticed aspect of Bremerhaven’s cultural history, namely, the tradition of trailblazing art shows that took place outside of the usual art metropolises.
In the current exhibition, the Kunstverein presents further works by artists who on the one hand have become known nationally and even attained international renown and art-historical relevance, and on the other exhibited in Bremerhaven at an early point in time. Among them are, for example, Gerhard von Graevenitz (1934 †1983), who in 1968 participated in the fourth documenta and presented his works for the first time in Bremerhaven in 1974; Raimund Girke (1930 †2002), also a documenta participant, who in 1972 had his first exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven; or Jürgen Partenheimer (1947), an internationally highly acclaimed artist, winner of numerous awards and participant in the Venice Biennale. His works, which were exhibited at the Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst in 1988, form the starting point of one of the rooms of the new museum exhibition. The focus, however, is on the rooms of a younger generation of artists, including the current winner of the Vordemberge-Gildewart Scholarship, Annika Kahrs (1984), the winner of the Karin-Hollweg Prize 2014, Z. Schmidt (1979), the documenta participant and winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, Ceal Floyer ( 1968), the Villa Massimo scholar Stephan Kern ( 1955), the winner of the art award of the Förderkreis of the University of the Arts Bremen, Christian Haake ( 1969), and the former Bremerhaven scholarship recipients Dirk Bell ( 1969) and Peter Böhnisch ( 1977).
Another new feature consists in two larger rooms showing individual works of the collection in a thematic context. One theme is Bremerhaven itself, a city whose characteristics have subtly entered into contemporary art in a variety of ways, albeit not in the customary manner of artistic cityscapes. The second theme is the classic genre of painting that has long extended beyond the traditional panel painting. In this diverse compilation of individual positions and thematic spaces, the exhibition again allows the audience to enjoy art in a variety of ways and conveys an impression of Bremerhaven’s tradition as a location for exhibiting contemporary art.