BOOK:Martin Kippenberger
Martin Kippenberger is one of the most important German artists. He decisively shaped the image of art in the postmodern era. His wit, his unrestrained creative urge, and the resulting work assured him a prominent position within the contemporary art scene during his lifetime. He now occupies an important place in art historical consideration today.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Kulturstiftung Ruhr Archive
The Kulturstiftung Ruhr presents around 120 artist’s books and 100 posters by Martin Kippenberger in the historical library and in the former living quarters of the Krupp family under the title “Forgotten Interior Design Problems at Villa Hügel”. The unusual title of the exhibition quotes an artist’s book that was written in 1996 for a Kippenberger exhibition at the Villa Merkel in Esslingen. The experimental and sometimes provocative books by Martin Kippenberger stand in effective contrast to the historical furnishings of the family library at Villa Hügel. No temporary fixtures are used here; the only thing used for presentation is the representative furniture. The artist’s posters can be seen in exhibition rooms on the first floor. The original furnishings of these former bedrooms and living rooms of the Krupp family are to a large extent no longer available. The media of books and posters accompany Martin Kippenberger through all phases of his creative work and he brushes them against the grain with the same relish as the art genres of painting and sculpture. On his 25th birthday he publishes the artist book “1/4 Jahrhundert Kippenberger”, a volume with blank pages into which one can stick the enclosed photo stickers with motifs from Kippenberger’s life. The poster, designed at the same time by Kippenberger, shows him hand in hand with a vagrant; his head is surrounded in a wreath by unflattering descriptions, which in their arrangement, however, look like a halo. The book is the ideal medium for Martin Kippenberger’s linguistic wit, and so he repeatedly publishes books, from small volumes to autobiographical novels, even outside of exhibition projects. Kalauer, travelogues, deep insights in two lines, not least and again and again comments on the art world, all this can be found in his books. Not infrequently they are created in collaboration with others. Persiflage and refusal run through Martin Kippenberger’s entire poster work. Seemingly clear information is often difficult to recognize as absurdity, but behind the seemingly trivial there is a serious theme. Martin Kippenberger demonstratively disregards the laws of typography, design and advertising effectiveness. There is usually no clear connection between image and text, which further increases the absurdity of his opulent textual inventions. The presentation of Kippenberger’s posters in the rooms on the upper floor of Villa Hügel focuses primarily on the various forms of his self-staging, but also on his position in the network of artist friends and artists. It becomes clear with what capacity for self-irony Kippenberger acted, but how pretentious and vain he could appear at the same time.
Info: Villa Hügel, Hügel 1, Essen, Duration: 7/2-2/5/2021, by appointment only and with daily negative rapid test (book here), www.villahuegel.de
