ISA MONA LISA

ISA MONA LISA is the ironic and playful title of this lively glimpse at recent art featuring over 30 works by international contemporary artists. The exhibition title was taken from a photograph Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968) made of his artist colleague Isa Genzken (b. 1948), and both artists are represented in the exhibition. On display are numerous new acquisitions – both purchases and donations – being presented for the first time as well as loans from private collections and studios. A new collaboration with a private Hamburg collection (Schmitz-Morkramer) makes it possible to show works by Elisa Alberti (b. 1992), Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) and Silke Otto-Knapp (1970–2022), among others, and also many pieces by Alexandra Bircken (b. 1967). Entire rooms designed by artists, such as the Salon Livresque (2014) by Thorsten Brinkmann (b. 1971), give an impression of the many facets of today’s art. Visitors are welcome to browse through the books in this whimsical salon, which the artist originally furnished for the villa of a Hamburg collector couple (Beer). Another special room has been decorated by the Hamburg-based Japanese artist Asana Fujikawa (b. 1981) with ceramic sculptures, etchings and a text written on the walls that tells a fictional tale of mythical creatures, lust and murder.

The exhibition addresses urgent themes of our day while exploring aspects of power versus vulnerability, intimacy versus openness, naturalness versus artificiality. Many of the artworks reveal just how changeable our constructions of reality and identity can be. Around 150 exhibits are on view in the large-scale show filling the entire basement level of the Galerie der Gegenwart – including painting, sculpture, spatial installations, drawing, photography and film. During the two-year run, some works will be replaced for conservation reasons.

Featured artists: Etel Adnan, Elisa Alberti, Helene Appel, Alexandra Bircken, Louise Bourgeois, Thorsten Brinkmann, Nina Canell, Edith Dekyndt, Simon Denny, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Noi Fuhrer, Asana Fujikawa, Isa Genzken, Donald Judd, Joachim Koester, Maria Lassnig, Jochen Lempert, Dan Lie, Melanie Manchot, Robert Morris, David Novros, Silke Otto-Knapp, Sigmar Polke, Neo Rauch, Gerhard Richter, Andreas Slominski, Hyun-Sook Song, Andrzej Steinbach, Paul Thek, Wolfgang Tillmans, Thu-Vân Trần and Haegue Yan.

Permanently installed, site-specific works on view by: Bogomir Ecker, Jenny Holzer, Ilya Kabakov, Jannis Kounellis and Richard Serra.