The first institutional solo exhibition of the US painter Christina Quarles in Germany, shows an installation that occupies the entire exhibition space: gauze panels divide the rooms, similar to translucent theatre scrims used to reveal and obscure actors, décors, and objects. The formal language of Quarles’ paintings explores the experience of living in a racialized, queer body. Her figures contend with the boundaries of identity, as they intervene with complex patterns and planes.

In “Collapsed Time”, Quarles exhibits her paintings alongside works from the Nationalgalerie (National Gallery) collection by, Absalon, Vito Acconci, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Annette Kelm, Nam Jun Paik, and Charlotte Posenenske. Quarles confronts several decades of diverse forms of artistic practices, from photography and sculpture to video and performance, that have dealt with notions of physical and psychological confinement, and their impact on the representation of the human body. The exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof features paintings and works on paper by Quarles from 2016 onwards, as well as a large-scale painting installation created for the show.

Exhibition Catalogue

Accompanying the exhibition is the first edition of the Hamburger Bahnhof catalogue series, published by Silvana Editoriale Milano, comprising 104 pages, available at Buchhandlung Walther König for €12. ISBN: 9788836655151

Curators

The exhibition is curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.

We would like to thank Elisa Nuyten for her support of the exhibition “Christina Quarles. Collapsed Time” at Hamburger Bahnhof.

A special exhibition by the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin