Illiberal Lives Exhibition at Ludwig Forum Aachen Critiques Liberal Market Logic Through Contemporary Art
From April 22 to September 10, 2023, the Ludwig Forum Aachen put on a group show called Illiberal Lives, curated by Eva Birkenstock, Anselm Franke, Holger Otten, and Kerstin Stakemeier. Artists like Pauline Curnier Jardin, Johanna Hedva, and Ho Rui An participated, among others. A key feature of the exhibition was how the artists connected their creations with items from the museum's permanent collection, highlighting the erosion of liberal values since 1989. This exhibition followed the 2021 Illiberal Arts event at Berlin's Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Located in a former umbrella factory, it displayed works such as Naumann's Ruinewert—Einstürzende Reichsbauten (2019-2023) and Sobczak's Upiór (2022), focusing on consumerism and historical themes.
Key facts
- Exhibition ran from April 22 to September 10, 2023 at Ludwig Forum Aachen
- Curated by Eva Birkenstock, Anselm Franke, Holger Otten, and Kerstin Stakemeier
- Featured works by 10 contemporary artists including Henrike Naumann and Mikołaj Sobczak
- Artists selected pieces from the museum's permanent collection to display with their own works
- Follows previous exhibition Illiberal Arts at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin in 2021
- Henrike Naumann created large installation Ruinewert—Einstürzende Reichsbauten (2019-2023) with 1980s furniture
- Mikołaj Sobczak's video Upiór (2022) examines Polish-Ukrainian historical tensions
- Jordan Strafer's film Loophole (2022) reinterprets a 1991 American courtroom case
Entities
Artists
- Pauline Curnier Jardin
- Johanna Hedva
- Ho Rui An
- Blaise Kirschner
- Jota Mombaça
- Henrike Naumann
- Melika Ngombe Kolongo
- Bassem Saad
- Mikołaj Sobczak
- Jordan Strafer
- Anselm Franke
- Kerstin Stakemeier
- Eva Birkenstock
- Holger Otten
- Wolfgang Mattheuer
- Magdalena Jetelová
- Lew Kerbel
- Jeff Koons
- Andy Warhol
- Daniel Beauvois
- Eugene Delacroix
- Mieczysław Potocki
- Ana Teixeira Pinto
- Michael Serres
- Adam Smith
- Astrida Neimanis
- Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris
- John F. Kennedy
- William Kennedy
- Roy Black
- Lisa Haller
- Bela Lugosi
- Karl Marx
- Michael Laundry
Institutions
- Ludwig Forum Aachen
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- ARTMargins Online
- Harwood Academic Publishers
- Bloomsbury Academic
- Routledge
- Modern Library
- Text Zur Kunst
Locations
- Aachen
- Germany
- Berlin
- Ukraine
- Russia
- China
- Cuba
- Switzerland
- New York
- United States
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- Holland
- Poland
- Algiers
- Algeria
- Africa
- Europe
- Moscow
- Chur
- London
Sources
- ARTMargins —
- ARTMargins —