On its 25th anniversary, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart shows important works from the Nationalgalerie Collection and the Haubrok Collection. A spacious architectural design was developed in the museum’s Historical Hall especially for the occasion.

The represented artists approach art as a political activity against ubiquitous violence and aggression, marginalisation and the lack of protection of common goods essential to life. In their works, the artists address the vulnerability of human existence in its social and cultural contexts and examine power structures in the private and public sphere.  

The Church for Sale exhibition takes its name from a series of works by Edgar Arceneaux from 2013 which shows billboards from the bankruptcy-threatened city of Detroit advertising the sale of church properties and, thus, the community-forming meeting rooms they provided. The exhibition brings together works of art that explore the tension between toughness and vulnerability in different social contexts. The show includes sculptures, photographs, graphics, wall and video works by Edgar Arceneaux, Siah Armajani, Christoph Büchel, Tom Burr, Claire Fontaine, Jenny Holzer, Alfredo Jaar, Emily Jacir, Carolyn Lazard, Park McArthur, Rodney McMillian, Bruce Nauman, Cady Noland, Ruben Ochoa, Santiago Sierra and Kara Walker. 

The exhibition architecture, conceived by architectural practice b+ (Arno Brandlhuber, Florian Jaritz, Gregor Zorzi), addresses the issues of the exhibition by making critical reference to the development plan approved for the area around the museum and the, as yet, not fully resolved future for the ensemble of buildings dedicated to art. It follows the construction line of the development plan and translates this two-dimensional line into a three-dimensional wall that cuts the Historic Hall in two along its north-south axis. 

With the exhibition, the collaboration that began in 2009 between the Nationalgalerie and the haubrok foundation continues. Since then, a long-term loan agreement has led to 13 outstanding works from the haubrok foundation being displayed in the Hamburger Bahnhof and other Nationalgalerie locations, including works by Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Olafur Eliasson, Paola Pivi, Gregor Schneider, Tino Sehgal, Andreas Slominski and Florian Slotawa. 

Curated by Gabriele Knapstein; Assistant Curator: Franziska Lietzmann

 The exhibition is supported by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie.

A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin