Art for all! exhibition programme 2023

In 2023, the overall exhibition programme of Museum Folkwang will focus on the Folkwang idea of “Kunst für alle” (Art for all). Three major exhibitions highlight topics such as the presentation and accessibility of art in the digital space, the dissemination of art in the form of artists’ books and editions for a wider audience as well as social visions for a new way of living together. In addition, four further exhibitions showcasing works from the Photography Collection round off the programme.

The retrospective of the American painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011)—Painterly Constellations (December 2, 2022–March 5, 2023) takes Museum Folkwang from its anniversary into the new year. In spring, the museum will present new artistic positions in the digital space: Rafaël Rozendaal. Color, Code, Communication (April 21–August 20, 2023 ) is the first major monographic show of an NFT artist in a European museum. The artist is one of the best-known names in digital art. Rozendaal conceived, presented and sold artworks in the form of websites as early as the early 2000s. Today, he mainly uses NFTs to distribute his art via digital platforms (blockchains). His art can also be experienced physically as immersive spatial installations, in wall paintings and video installations. His works represent transformation processes that emphatically describe today’s digital world. In his artists’ book Home Alone (2019) and the latest NFT series Homage (2022), Doors (2022) and Cabinets (2022), some of which have not yet been published, Rozendaal explores the extent to which art can be democratised through digital mediation and distribution. The exhibition will be accompanied by a two-day symposium (April 22–23, 2023) on the perspective of NFTs and digital art in the museum context.

In late summer, exceptional graphic works will be the focus of the exhibition Chagall, Matisse, Miró. Made in Paris (September 1, 2023–January 7, 2024). Starting with Paris, the European centre of printmaking around 1900, the exhibition leads up to the present day. Featuring original graphic works, editions and artists’ books by artists such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, Made in Paris also reveals how well-known Parisian printing workshops contributed to the dissemination of the motifs and international reputation of their creators to this day. The exhibition brings together works from the museum’s own collection as well as international loans and features important works including Jazz by Henri Matisse, La Tauromaquia by Pablo Picasso, A toute épreuve by Joan Miró and Marc Chagall’s etchings based on the Hebrew Bible. The exhibition also gives visitors a glimpse behind the scenes of art production and distribution.

At the end of the year, the exhibition NEW COMMUNITIES (November 24, 2023–March 17, 2024) will present ideas and designs for new forms of living together. In this context, the exhibition will compile works from the fields of art, design and architecture spanning the past 120 years. Chronologically, the show begins around 1900 with the Lebensreform movement and its visions for a new way of living together—beyond aspects of industrialisation and increasing urbanisation. The crystalline architectural designs of Wenzel Hablik and Bruno Taut represent positions of the 1920s. Other chapters explore Constants New Babylon project and the concept of homo ludens (or playing man), Hippie Modernism from the 1960s to the 1980s and Afrofuturism. In particular, the exhibition focuses on contemporary positions looking at our present and into the future. All these artistic utopias are united by the vision of life in harmony with nature—based on ideas of equality, peace and harmony as well as the settlement of other places and the use of latest technologies. An extensive accompanying programme enables museum visitors to directly reflect on and discuss current questions about their own way of life.

In 2023, the presentation of the Museum Folkwang Collection will continue to run under the title NEW WORLDS with new themed rooms, combining art from different centuries as well as different media in the spirit of the Folkwang idea. A particular highlight from December 2022 to April 2023 is the arrangement of paintings and editions by Gerhard Richter from the Olbricht Collection around the architectural walk-in installation Helm/Helmet/Yelmo by the Cuban artist duo Los Carpinteros. As always, admission to the collection is free of charge for the public.

2023 exhibitions 
Daniela Comani. Planet Earth: 21st Century
January, 20–June 11, 2023

STOP OVER. Masters of Photography. 
Folkwang University of the Arts
January, 20–June 11, 2023

Rafaël Rozendaal. Color, Code, Communication
April 21–August 20, 2023

Chagall, Matisse, Miró. Made in Paris
September 1, 2023–January 7, 2024

Rafał Milach. Archive of Public Protests
September 22, 2023–January 1, 2024

DOKUMENTARFOTOGRAFIE FÖRDERPREISE 14 DER WÜSTENROT STIFTUNG.
Jana Bauch, Marc Botschen, Ramona Schacht, Dudu Quintanilah
September 22, 2023–January 1, 2024

NEW COMMUNITIES
November 24, 2023–March 17, 2024