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Die postironische Generation

Ein Überblick über die junge Kunstszene im Rheinland

With Jan Albers, Alexandra Bircken, Eli Cortiñas, Katja Davar, Björn Dressler, Luka Fineisen, Manuel Graf, Gesine Grundmann, Tobias Hantmann, Diango Hernández, Markus Karstieß, Konsortium – Lars Breuer, Sebastian Freytag, Guido Münch –, Andreas Korte, Matthias Lahme, Vera Lossau, Rosilene Luduvico, Ulrike Möschel, Elke Nebel, Martin Pfeifle, Michail Pirgelis, Anne Pöhlmann, Cornelius Quabeck, Martina Sauter, Jan Scharrelmann, Christoph Schellberg, Gregor Schneider, Felix Schramm, Monika Stricker, Gert und Uwe Tobias, Paloma Varga Weisz.

Neues Rheinland. Die postironische Generation (The New Rhineland. The Post-Ironic Generation) assembles works by 30 artists who were born in the late 1960s or the 1970s and who grew up during the 1980s: i.e. an era during which Communist regimes collapsed, East-West relations changed radically, and globalization was a dominant feature. In this “dissolving” world, a provocative inclusion of irony as an integral part of art was indeed “the thing to do.”

The quite diverse “post-ironic” positions included in this exhibition reveal that the cutting edge of irony appears to have lost its momentum and that “new old” artistic strategies, which formulate a changed attitude seem to have taken its place. Using diverse media, the “post-ironic” standpoints reflect the multifaceted and highly exciting panorama of the Rhineland’s contemporary art production.

The book will introduce the individual “post-ironic” artistic attitudes and different essays will place them within the larger social context of the early 21st century.

With contributions by Jörg Heiser, Noemi Smolik, Stefanie Kreuzer, a preface by Markus Heinzelmann, as well as thirty short texts about the artists by Fritz Emslander, Ursula Frohne, Renate Goldmann, Ulrike Groos, Lilian Haberer, Barbara Hess, Markus Heinzelmann, Michael Heym, Georg Imdahl, Nadja Ismail, Gregor Jansen, Stefanie Jansen, Christian Jendreiko, Rita Kersting, Stefanie Kreuzer, Doris Krystof, Thomas W. Kuhn, Catrin Lorch, Paola Malavassi, Markus Mascher, Petra Pechtheyden, Renate Puvogel, Sabine Maria Schmidt, Christiane Maria Schneider, Angela Stercken, Susanne Titz, Heike van den Valentyn, Astrid Wege, Moritz Wesseler, and Oliver Zybok.