Showing its colours
What makes art

Twelve international artists and artist groups nail their colours to the mast on socio-political issues against a background of global networks. They do this using the primeval means of art – with poetry, striking pictures and irritating subjectivity.

Who can we or do we even want to believe nowadays? In western societies trust in political decision-makers, the media and the principles of a free market has been seriously damaged. Credibility has become a rare commodity. What can art contribute in a world of power games, profit maximisation and perfect styling? Does it offer worthwhile alternatives, does it have other, more persuasive ways of taking a stand in public?

With “showing your colours” Marta Herford examines these topical questions. A passionate belief in the special power of art is the starting point of the project. On the basis of selected artistic positions, the exhibition examines what art does (with us) and how it can formulate a sincere social commitment going beyond daily events.

Art shines a new, brighter light on life: Its sharp, always critical view allows an exhaustive interrogation of the self-evident. Art translates ideas into images and images into ideas. Particularly through its unsettling interventions in our visual habits, art develops its extraordinary power of fascination, which always raises it up above the everyday and gives it its timeless relevance.

Artists

Sam Durant, Claire Fontaine, Thomas Hirschhorn, Korpys / Löffler, Aernout Mik, R.E.P., Wilhelm Sasnal, Peter Sauerer, Tino Sehgal, Nasan Tur, Brigitte Waldach

Thank you

Exhibition benefactor
Kindly supported by the Office for Visual Arts/Institut français in collaboration with the French Ministry for Culture and Communication/DGCA

Exhibition supporter