Local Histories Works from the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection at Hamburger Bahnhof, the Nationalgalerie Collection and Loans

"'The history of art and art's condition at any time are pretty messy', Donald Judd wrote in 1964 in an article on the New York art scene. In this piece Judd opposed traditional differentiations of style and genre, instead advocating a more casual encounter with works of art. His analysis of the local art scene is the starting point for an experiment that takes works from the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection and the Collection of the Nationalgalerie - enhanced by selected loans - and resituates them within the context of their making. The sometimes new juxtapositions of works not only reveal friendships and networks but also introduce shared themes and collaborative projects. What art was formative for Donald Judd? What links Konrad Lueg, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter? Which galleries supported Bruce Nauman or Jenny Holzer in their early years? How does Rirkrit Tiravanija make networking itself an artistic practice? Occasionally unusual constellations provide snapshots of New York and Düsseldorf in the 1960s and 1970s, Cologne in the 1980s, Berlin and Los Angeles in the 1990s."--Page 4 of cover.