me Collectors Room Berlin
April 28—August 27, 2017
Sigmar Polke - Die Editionen, installatin view, 2017, me Collectors Room Berlin, photo: Bernd Borchardt
Sigmar Polke - Die Editionen, installatin view, 2017, me Collectors Room Berlin, photo: Bernd Borchardt
Sigmar Polke - Die Editionen, installatin view, 2017, me Collectors Room Berlin, photo: Bernd Borchardt
Sigmar Polke - Die Editionen, installatin view, 2017, me Collectors Room Berlin, photo: Bernd Borchardt
Sigmar Polke - Die Editionen, installatin view, 2017, me Collectors Room Berlin, photo: Bernd Borchardt
Sigmar Polke, Ohne Titel (Münster 1973), 1973, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Freundinnen II, 1967, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Plakat Festival d'Automne à Paris, 1988, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Wochenendhaus, 1967-68
© The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Mu nieltnam netorruprup, 1975
© The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, I got the blues, 2008
© The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Ohne Titel (Mönchengladbach), 1992, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Betriebsfest, 1998, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Chinatown II, 1974, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Sigmar Polke, Eisberg (weiss), 2001, © The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016, photo: baumann fotostudio gmbh
Download press release [EN] [DE]
Download exhibition catalog [pdf]
The complete editioned works of Sigmar Polke, one of the most important contemporary artists, will be on view from 28 April until 27 August 2017 at Berlin at me Collectors Room, featuring approximately 200 works from the collection Kunstraum am Limes.
The artist’s editioned works hold a special place within his oeuvre. For Sigmar Polke (b. 1941 Oels, now Oleśnica/Poland, d. 2010 Cologne), editions were a further opportunity for intensive and excessive variations on his experiments, allowing him to stage a confrontation without end between himself and the world. Like an alchemist, he expected different techniques to bend to the will of his creative ego and so his editioned works comprise objects, books, portfolios, photographs, photocopies, collages, and numerous prints.
Polke never allowed technique to dictate the progression of his artistic work. In part, he transformed identical prints into unique objects by altering the foreground, background, or layering. The Kunstraum am Limes Collection thus contains several variations of copies of the same edition, including, for example, Freundinnen I (Girl Friends I, 1967), Reihertanz (Heron Dance, 1997), or Sauberes Auto (Clean Car – High Spirits, 2002). Other works are compositions consisting of several layers and printed on both front and back, such as Leave the Lab and Enter the Office (1980–91) or Eisberg (Iceberg, 2001). Figur mit Hand (Es schwindelt...) (Figure with Hand, Dizzy..., 1973) and Danneckers Hausgecko (Dannecker’s House Gecko, 2009) are serigraphs and lithographs, printed on textured, flocked paper embossed with snakeskin. On closer examination, the ‘dot’ print, a hallmark of Sigmar Polke paintings, becomes visible through the specific surface structure.
Sigmar Polke’s images are products of his world and surroundings. They reveal many traces of the changing society of the postwar years. Trivial scenes, the banality of everyday life, ambitions of the middle classes, national and international politics – all of this, he put under a microscope to consider and analyze. This enabled him to convey a unique picture of reality, shot through with irony, humour, and pointed criticism.
The artist worked concurrently with different techniques; his editions and his painting should be understood as symbiotic. Created in tandem, each extends the other’s existence. They feed on each other.
A selection of Sigmar Polke’s posters will be presented in parallel.
The exhibition is curated by Tereza de Arruda.
On the occasion of Sigmar Polke – The Editions a catalogue will be published through Walther König.
Event series
17.05.2017, 7 p.m.: Expert talk with Anna Polke & Erhard Klein
28.06.2017, 7 p.m.: Expert talk with Mike Karstens & Tereza de Arruda
13.07.2017, 6.30 p.m.: Curator’s guided tour with Tereza de Arruda
As ever, guided tours are available to school groups, inclusive practical workshops.
Sammlung Kunstraum am Limes
All artworks in the exhibition Sigmar Polke – The Editions are part of the Kunstraum am Limes Collection. Its founder, Dr. Axel Ciesielski, worked systematically with gallerists Erhard Klein and Christian Lethert from 1997 to 2009 to build up this segment of his collection. The collection is the only one in the world that contains the complete editioned works of Sigmar Polke. Since 2009, the collection has been shown at various international institutions, including the Oldenburger Kunstverein (2010), the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP, 2011), the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (2013), and the Museum Les Abattoirs in Toulouse (2014).
me Collectors Room Berlin / Olbricht Foundation [visit website]
Auguststrasse 68, 10117 Berlin
Exhibition period: April 28—August 27, 2017