Kasimir Malewitsch's “Supremus No. 38” can be seen in the Museum Ludwig Cologne
Source: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Cologne
It was a difficult year for museums.
The corona virus caused and is still causing closings of the houses.
As a result, the public could only see many exhibitions for a few days or weeks, and some initiatives and projects had to be postponed or even canceled.
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But still: in the months in which the halls of the museums were open, there was a considerable variety and quality of the exhibitions.
We have therefore decided to conduct our survey of nine critics this year again - also to document: The cultural institutes are not short-distance runners, but rather, thanks to their long tradition, they also demonstrate marathon qualities in times of crisis.
Inventiveness in 2020
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This year the Cologne Museum Ludwig showed particular courage with its show "Russian Avant-garde in the Museum Ludwig - Original and Fake".
Here the own holdings of Russian modernism were viewed.
Many works from the collection of Peter and Irene Ludwig subsequently turned out to be forgeries.
It is a novelty that a museum examines its own collecting activities so critically.
For this, the show was named "Best Exhibition".
It was also mentioned in the categories “Best Staging”, “Best Exhibition Program” and “Museum on the Up”.
This year, the exhibition organizers have tried to present their programs in a particularly imaginative way.
For example the Museum Folkwang Essen with “Keith Haring”, which presented the artist as a political activist.
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And the star of the 19th century, Max Klinger, found a “pompous” performance in the Bundeskunsthalle.
Even if there was no unanimous vote for the “best exhibition program” this year, this should not be recorded as a penalty.
On the contrary: the houses mentioned in this category such as the Museum Ludwig, the Krefeld Art Museum and the Draiflessen Collection Mettingen have all developed an extremely ambitious program.
Digital exhibitions as an opportunity
There was a lot of praise for the ingenuity of museums in the Corona era: everyone learned the “digital upgrade” in a short time - or expanded it.
In the “Museum on the rise” category there is a winner - the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne.
“What will happen next with the ethnological museums that build on robbery and a Eurocentric worldview?” Asks the critic Stefanie Stadel.
Nanette Snoep, director of the museum, is not shy about addressing these problems aggressively.
That leaves the lemon of the year.
This time, this often went to politics: There was a lack of understanding expressed about the fact that hardware stores were allowed to continue opening in the first lockdown, while museums had to close.
At the top of the list of lemon winners is Minister of Culture Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen for her sentence: "Culture has to be careful that it doesn't always fry an extra sausage."
The critics and their opinion:
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Peter Dittmar, WELT AM SONNTAG, "Die Zeit"
Peter Dittmar;
WELT AM SONNTAG, "Die Zeit"
Source: private
Best exhibition:
“Arnt the picture cutter - master of inspired sculptures”, Museum Schnütgen Cologne: a
happy combination
of research and clarity
Best staging:
“Max Klinger and the artwork of the future”, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn:
pompous in the style
of secessions;
“Moebius” and his comics, Max Ernst Museum, Brühl
Museum on the rise
: The Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne with the seemingly casual exhibitions that are content with one room and
tell
of the
“poetry of the sea”
or love
The best exhibition program:
“Russian Avant-garde - Original and Fake” in the Museum Ludwig, Cologne:
doubts about the authenticity of
the company's own holdings are examined in an
exemplary
manner
Lemon of the year:
The museum
closings
: As if the houses were all constantly
crowded
with
blockbusters
Christiane Fricke, "Handelsblatt"
Christiane Fricke;
"Handelsblatt"
Source: private
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Best exhibition:
"Russian Avant-garde - Original and Forgery": The Cologne Museum Ludwig shows
courage
to pursue the difficult to understand subject of forgery
Best production:
“Russian Avant-garde - Original and Forgery”, Museum Ludwig Cologne;
“Life on the Dead Sea”
, LWL Museum in the Kaiserpfalz, Paderborn
Museum on the rise:
Krefeld art museums with Kaiser Wilhelm Museum,
Esters House and Lange House
Best exhibition program:
Thomas Schütte Foundation, Neuss-Hombroich: with
inspiring solo exhibitions
such as Erinna König and Bruce Nauman
Lemon of the Year:
The
unsuccessful digital implementation of
the otherwise excellent Hito Steyerl show in the NRW K21 art collection, Düsseldorf
Dr. Christiane Hoffmanns, WELT AM SONNTAG
Christiane Hoffmans;
WORLD ON SUNDAY, BLUE
Source: Moritz
Best exhibition:
"Russian avant-garde - original and forgery": The Cologne show at Museum Ludwig shows that the
art market does not always set the pace of
public houses
Best staging:
Mischa Kuball's
demanding and exciting examination of the
person and work of Nazi sympathizer Emil Nolde in the Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen
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Musuem on the rise:
The Draiflessen Collection Mettingen dares to
leap from the ivory tower into the 21st century
with exhibitions on
socially current topics
Best exhibition program:
Thomas Schütte Foundation, Neuss-Hombroich: with
inspiring solo exhibitions
such as Erinna König and Bruce Nauman
Lemon of the year:
The corona virus, because it
brings
all
cultural life to a standstill
Stefan Koldehoff, Deutschlandfunk
Stefan Koldehoff;
Deutschlandfunk
Source: Josy Swafing
Best exhibition:
"Russian avant-garde - original and forgery": the Ludwig Museum in Cologne becomes a place of
enlightenment and education
Best production:
"Peter Lindbergh - Untold stories", Kunstpalast Düsseldorf:
for old and new museum fans
;
"Arnt the picture cutter", Schnütgen Museum, Cologne: sensual art history at its best
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Museum on the rise:
the galleries in NRW who have shown not only in partial lockdown that
good art not only
give museums
t
Best exhibition program:
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne: pioneer in dealing with colonial history, because
art is never apolitical
Lemon of the year:
All colleagues who blindly accepted the criticism of the Düsseldorf purchase of the Kicken photo collection - without even asking
Magdalena Kröner, Art Forum International, "
Frankfurter Allgemeine Quarterly
"
Magdalena Kröner;
"Frankfurter Allgemeine Quarterly", Kunstforum International
Source: private
Best exhibition:
“Mapping the collection”, Museum Ludwig Cologne: The curator discovers insights into the themes of
gender, origin, identity
in the collection
and connects them to the present
Best production:
“Simon Denny”, K21, Düsseldorf: media and consumer criticism in
surprising formats
;
"Keith Haring", Museum Folkwang, Essen, shows the American as an activist
Museum on the rise:
Kunstsammlung NRW, K21, Düsseldorf: consistently
in tune with the times
.
You don't have to like everything that happens here, but see everything
Best exhibition program:
All institutes that
inventively counter the lockdown
with new digital formats
, that change the experience of art sustainably and open it to a new audience
Lemon of the year:
Ikea on?
Museums too?
Incomprehensible.
Right now, the possibility of artistic breaks from everyday life in the Covid 19 crisis would be more important than ever
Stefan Lüddemann, "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung"
Stefan Lüddemann;
"New Osnabrück Newspaper"
Source: private
Best exhibition:
“Keith Haring”, Museum Folkwang, Essen: no colorful pop wallpaper, but
virulent protest art
;
“Charlotte Posenenske”, K21, Düsseldorf: when art was still on the move
Best production:
“Brigitte Waldach - Shimmer and Shine”, in the Marta Herford Museum:
Bach's music as a room installation
;
In the Corona lockdown, the museum format of the hour - the digitorial
Museum on the rise:
Nicole Eisenman's fountain, hit by the Skulptur Projekte 2017, is
being reinstalled in Münster
;
"Russian avant-garde - original and forgery", Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Best exhibition program:
Christina Végh brings
momentum to the recently somewhat sleepy Kunsthalle Bielefeld
;
the Cologne Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum is leading the debate about looted colonial art
Lemon of the year:
A lemon for the
"extra sausage": With Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen
, a culture minister, of all people, is dismissing culture in the corona lockdown
Betram Müller, "Rheinische Post"
Bertram Müller;
"Rheinische Post"
Source: Andreas Krebs
Best exhibition:
"Real fictions & simulations of the same kind", Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen: a
captivating staging
around a film that turns out to be an illusion
Best staging:
“Keith Haring”, Folkwang Museum, Essen: the high art of a man who was
more than a graffiti star
Museum on the rise:
Museum Ludwig, Cologne:
considerable range of topics,
this time with the highlight "Russian avant-garde - original and forgery"
Best exhibition program:
Again and again the Morsbroich Museum in Leverkusen:
even under a temporary management
Lemon of the year:
The
lemon goes to NRW Minister of Culture Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen
for her unsolidary sentence: "Culture has to be careful that it doesn't always fry an extra sausage."
Carl Friedrich Schröer, "
Kunstzeitung
", Eiskellerberg.tv
Carl Friedrich Schröer "Art Newspaper", Eiskellerberg.tv
Source: Carsten Sander
Best exhibition:
“Subject + Objekt”, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf: Finally the great overview of the
rich photo scene on the Rhine and Ruhr
, obsessed with details, revealing, overwhelming
Best staging:
“Max Klinger and the work of art of the future”, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn: The curator has given us new
access
to the great artist.
Great opera, deeper insights
Museum on the rise:
Bundeskunsthalle Bonn: The program for which Rein Wolfs is still responsible shows the Kunsthalle at an
international level
Best exhibition program:
Museum Folkwang, Essen:
Peter Gorschlüter gets his employees on their toes
and
gives
the museum a new shine
Lemon of the Year:
The inability of politicians to provide clarity about the Kunstpalast's purchase of the Kicken gallery.
Embarrassing, sobering, shameful
Stefanie Stadel, WELT AM SONNTAG, "Kultur.West"
Stefanie Stadel WELT AM SONNTAG, "Kultur.West"
Source: private
Best exhibition:
“Arnt the picture cutter” Museum Schnütgen, Cologne: a wonderful exhibition about an
interesting stranger from
the late Middle Ages
Best staging:
The artist Hito Steyerl staged her
first major overview exhibition
in the Kunstsammlung NRW K21, Düsseldorf, in an
overwhelming way
Museum on the rise:
2020 was the year of
digital upgrade
for museums
.
The art collection NRW can be highlighted among the many good news in this area
Best exhibition program:
What will happen next with the ethnological museums that rely on
robbery and a Eurocentric worldview
?
The Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne is open to questions about the future
Lemon of the year:
the corona virus got
in the way of
so many
museum visits.
You are lucky if you prefer a furniture store or hardware store, where the risk of infection should not be lower
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