Franz West Retrospective Travels Between Karlsruhe and Madrid

A major Franz West retrospective, titled 'In & Out,' was staged simultaneously at two institutions: the Museum für Neue Kunst (mnk) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. The exhibition ran from December 2000 to February 2001 in Karlsruhe and from April 19 to June 26, 2001, in Madrid. Curated locally by Ralph Melcher in Karlsruhe and Alicia Chillida in Madrid, the show adapted to each venue's spatial and cultural context. In Karlsruhe, the display focused on the two glass-roofed courtyards of the mnk, works from the Grässlin collection, and new pieces. In Madrid, the indoor sculptures were installed at the Palacio Velázquez, while outdoor works were placed in the Buen Retiro Park, alongside Lawrence Weiner's color inscriptions under the dome of the Palacio de Cristal. The exhibition featured West's signature Paßstücke (Adaptives), interactive furniture sculptures, and works like 'Qülze'—oversized aluminum sausages in brown, light blue, pink, and lime green—and 'Lemurenköpfe' (Lemur Heads), plaster cyclops heads with gaping mouths and nostrils. West's practice, described as a mix of banality and rambling, challenges the boundary between everyday life and representation, often requiring physical contortion from users. The collaboration between the two institutions aimed to capture the artist's dual nature centered on the body-object relationship, acknowledging differing bodily and spatial perceptions in Germany and Spain.