Perspectives of a Collection
Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

The programme of the new Marta director Kathleen Rahn begins with the presentation of the in-house collection in the large Gehry galleries. Together with the Marta team, she will open her view of the collection and present perspectives for further development.

The exhibition brings together sculptures, drawings, installations and videos by around 25 artists from different decades of contemporary art, which are staged in a dialogue in thematic chapters such as “Space”, “Body” and “Society” in relation to the unique architecture of the museum.

A look at the Marta Collection offers an opportunity to recapitulate its orientation and open up new perspectives for the future. What about the quota of women in the collection, for example, not to mention other criteria of diversity? And how can artistic positions be represented in a collection in a fundamentally meaningful way? Is an icon of political-feminist art such as Martha Rosler already sufficiently represented by the equally iconic video work “Semiotics of the Kitchen” (1975), which is the oldest work in the collection? How can we resolve the question marks that are written on the faces of many visitors in view of Kaari Upson’s isolated sculpture “Silicon Leftover (5 gal)” (2015)? In order to start here and to illustrate in a representative way how the collection can be thought further, works by four artists from the Marta Collection – Martha Rosler (*1943 in Brooklyn, New York, lives there), Asta Gröting (*1961 in Herford, lives in Berlin), Kaari Upson (*1970 in San Bernardino, California; † 18 August 2021 in New York) and Katja Novitskova (*1984 in Tallin, lives in Amsterdam and Berlin) – will be supplemented by loans.

Curated by Kathleen Rahn (Director) and Friederike Korfmacher (Assistant Curator)

Artists

Nevin Aladağ, Susanne Albrecht, François-Marie Banier, Monika Czosnowska, EVA & ADELE, Yvonne Fehling & Jennie Peiz, Kendell Geers, Christoph Girardet & Matthias Müller, Tamara Grcic, Asta Gröting, Surasi Kusolwong, Anna Lange, Sol LeWitt, Reinhard Mucha, Mwangi Hutter, Olaf Nicolai, Katja Novitskova, Panamarenko, Dan Perjovschi, Manfred Pernice, Tobias Rehberger, Martha Rosler, Wilhelm Sasnal, Silke Schatz, Erik Schmidt, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Kaari Upson, Aaron van Erp, Atelier van Lieshout, Erik van Lieshout

Thank you

Marta Friends and Patrons
Special thanks is due to the Association of Friends and Patrons of the Marta Herford for the magnificent permanent loans, which have allowed the collection to grow organically and made it possible to secure works from the exhibitions despite the lack of a purchase budget.