Maskulinitäten at Bonner Kunstverein, Kölnischer Kunstverein and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen

Artists: Vito Acconci, The Agency, Georgia Anderson, David Doherty, Morag Keil, Henry Stringer, Lutz Bacher, Louis Backhouse, Olga Balema, Lynda Benglis, Judith Bernstein, Gerry Bibby, Alexandra Bircken, Juliette Blightman, Patricia L. Boyd, Anders Clausen, Keren Cytter, Enrico David, Vaginal Davis, Jonathas de Andrade, Jimmy DeSana, Nicole Eisenman, Hedi El Kholti, Jana Euler, Hal Fischer, Andrea Fraser, keyon gaskin with Samiya Bashir, sidony o‘neal and Adee Roberson, Eunice Golden, Philipp Gufler, Richard Hawkins, Jenny Holzer, Hudinilson Jr., Allison Katz, Annette Kennerley, Sister Corita Kent, Mahmoud Khaled, Jürgen Klauke, Jutta Koether, Tetsumi Kudo, Klara Lidén, Hilary Lloyd, Sarah Lucas, Robert Morris, Shahryar Nashat, D’Ette Nogle, Henrik Olesen, D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus, Josephine Pryde, Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), Carol Rama, Lorenzo Sandoval, Julia Scher, Agnes Scherer, Bea SchlingelhoA, Heji Shin, Katharina Sieverding, Nancy Spero, Anita Steckel, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Carrie Mae Weems, Marianne Wex, Martin Wong, Katharina Wulff

Exhibition title: Maskulinitäten

Curated by: Michelle Cotton (Bonner Kunstverein), Nikola Dietrich (Kölnischer Kunstverein), Eva Birkenstock (Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen)

An exhibition in collaboration with: Bonner Kunstverein, Kölnischer Kunstverein and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Venue: Bonner Kunstverein, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Germany

Date: September 1 – November 24, 2019

Photography: Mareike Tocha / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists, Bonner Kunstverein, Kölnischer Kunstverein and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Organised in collaboration by Bonner Kunstverein, Kölnischer Kunstverein and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Maskulinitäten is an international exhibition with a series of events and accompanying publication project that explores the subject of masculinity via contemporary art. The tripartite presentation is premised by an interest in questioning how a feminist exhibition on masculinity could look.

Conceived within the context of prominent and reactionary manifestations of masculinity and with an irreverent, uncompromising critique of its hegemonic forms, the collaboration aims to destabilise patriarchal and heteronormative notions of gender. Including public artworks, performances, plays, readings, lectures, screenings, and workshops, the exhibition seeks to open up alternative spaces of agency and bring performative and transgressive conceptions of identity, sexuality, gender and the body to the fore.

The three institutions share a history in variously presenting radical, feminist and queer exhibitions. Whilst many of these focused on reclaiming femininity and female experience from a history of male authorship, this project turns its attention instead to the male subject. The exhibition and the accompanying programme explores shifting perspectives on the representation of the body, the associated politics of power and visibility, and how these are negotiated and deconstructed in art from the 1960s to the present. Encompassing artistic and art-theoretical perspectives from dierent context s and periods, masculinity is encountered as a complex, evolving, social construct that remains in continual flux.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue published by Koenig Books with contributions by CA Conrad, Nelly Gawellek, Chris Kraus, Quinn Latimer, Kerstin Stakemeier, Marlene Streeruwitz, Änne Söll, amongst others, and an introduction by Eva Birkenstock, Michelle Cotton and Nikola Dietrich (to be published November 2019).

Bea Schlingelhoff, Typeface named after and dedicated to Olga Oppenheimer, 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Jenny Holzer, “ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE” T-Shirt, 2019 and “MEN DON’T PROTECT YOU ANYMORE” T-Shirt, 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Gerry Bibby, Untitled Making Room (Parallel Lines), 2010 – 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Jonathas de Andrade, O peixe [The Fish], 2016, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo; Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, Habana; Alexander and Bonin, New York, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Juliette Blightman, Proxy Father Figures, 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Hilary Lloyd, Cushion (Floral), 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London; Galerie Neu, Berlin und / and Greene Naftali, NY, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Georgia Anderson, David Doherty, Morag Keil, Henry Stringer, Exercise machine based on a upper body weights, 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Project Native Informant, London, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), My Vagina (Anus), 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Marianne Wex, Let‘s Take Back Our Space: ‘Female‘ and ‘Male‘ Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures, 1977/2018, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Tanya Leighton, Berlin and Collection of Tom and Ruth Chapman, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Louis Backhouse, Aphrodite: Feast – Staying Alive! (Meals for one), 2019, Installation view, Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Carol Rama, Dorina, 1940, and Deallegri, 1944, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Private collection, Cologne and Private collection, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Heji Shin, We Live in a Society, 2018; Book ‘em, Danny 2, 2018; Selfie Stick, 2018; Courtesy, Penetration, Respect, 2018; Basic Precinct, 2018, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin and Cologne; Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Anders Clausen, Planar (bunker I + II), 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), Naked Self (Transitioning) (21 Months On Hormine Replacement Therapy), 2019, Nude Performance Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Photo: Katja Illner

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Olga Balema, Motherfucker, 2016 and Failure is the mother of success, 2016, Installation view, Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Olga Balema, Everybody and their mother, 2016; Mother of God, 2016; Globe, 2016, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam and Croy Nielsen, Vienna, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), Sex Dolls (Trans), 2019, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), Get tested today. (Lass Dich heute testen.), 2018, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo), Treponema pallidum (Syphilis), 2018, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Enrico David, HOW DO YOU LOVE DZZZZT BY MAMMY, 2009, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Man reading newspaper), from Kitchen Table Series, 1990 (Triptychon) and 5 Text Panels from Kitchen Table Series, 1990, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Man smoking), from Kitchen Table Series, 1990 and Text Panels from Kitchen Table Series, 1990, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Juliette Blightman, Still life #2, #9 and #5, 2015, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Dusk, 2017, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Carlos|Ishikawa, London; Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Martin Wong, Untitled (Popeye), and INRI (from Prison Series), 1984, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Private collection Photo: Mareike Tocha

Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Gerry Bibby, Tectonic Mnemonic, 2014 – ongoing, Detail, Installation view Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Courtesy Deborah Schamoni, Munich, Photo: Mareike Tocha

Gerry Bibby, Parallel Lines, Performance with Ellen Yeon Kim, Kölnischer Kunstverein, 2019, Photo: Katja Illner

Maskulinitäten, 2019, exhibition view, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Photo: Mareika Tocha

Maskulinitäten, 2019, exhibition view, Bonner Kunstverein, Photo: Mareika Tocha

Alexandra Bircken, Interceptor II, 2016

Allison Katz, Lucid Cock, 2012

Anita Steckel, Black Cock Canon, 1970-1972

Eunice Golden, Blue Bananas, 1973

Evelyn Taocheng Wang, A Hongkong-Dutch Client Licking My Arm during the Massage Treatment, 2015

Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Dusk, 2017, video still, De Hallen Haarlem. Courtesy Galerie Fons Welters, Photography by Gert Jan van Rooij

Gerry Bibby, Techtonic Mnemonic, 2014, Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz, KUB, 2014, Courtesy the artist and Deborah Schamoni

Henrik Olesen, Hysterical Men 1, 2013, canvas, injekt print on Proof Paper ZP 55 (Newspaper), 55 gouache Amsterdam Gel Medium Matt Glue, 215 x 1000 cm, Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Berlin: Cologne: New York