Lot 51 | Wolfgang Tillmans | Kasper König's Bookshelf

TILLMANS, WOLFGANG
1968 Remscheid

Title: Kasper König's Bookshelf.
Date: 1995.
Technique: C-print.
Depiction Size: 23,5 x 34cm.
Sheet Size: 30 x 40cm.
Notation: Signed, dated, numbered, titled and inscribed (verso).
Number: 10/10 + 1 AP.
Frame: Framed.


Provenance:
- Kasper König Collection, Berlin (directly from the artist)

Literature:
- Cf. exhib. cat. If one thing matters, everything matters, Tate Britain, London 2003, p. 96

On visual freedom and the aesthetics of the everyday
Wolfgang Tillmans' works are a reflection of his vision, which elevates the ordinary to the unusual, makes the invisible visible and brings youth into the museum. In addition to documenting the rave and club scene of the 1990s, his preferred subjects also include the thematisation of the sometimes taboo queer lifestyle and politically motivated questions.

Das Achte Feld
After graduating from university, the Hamburg-born photographer moved to London, where in 2000 he became the first photographer and artist of non-British origin to be awarded the Turner Prize at the Tate Britain in London for his exceptional artistic work. A year later, together with Isa Genzken, he presented his works at the Museum Ludwig on the occasion of Kasper König's appointment as director and the opening of the newly named AC: Hall. By bringing in innovative artists and renaming the two main exhibition halls AC: and DC:, König laid the foundations for his many years of influential work as director of the Museum Ludwig when he took office. In 2006, König also took a stand with the exhibition ''Das Achte Feld'' (The Eighth Field), which included works by Tillmans that questioned the stereotypical notions of a heteronormative, binary narrative. In particular with regard to the photograph 'Dunst I' by Tillmans, which was intended as a poster motif for the exhibition, König vehemently opposes censorship and rejection from the Department of Culture.

Kasper König's Bookshelf
Of the five works in the collection, the photograph 'Kasper König's Bookshelf' from 1995, which takes the study of the then director of the Städelschule Frankfurt a.M. as its subject, refers in particular to the long-standing collaboration between König and the photographer. Tillmans describes the creation of the work as follows: '[Kasper König], for all his unconventionality, is also 'old school': so after all these years we are still calling us formally by our last names. The photo was taken in 1995 in his rector's room at the Städelschule in Frankfurt during a preparatory visit to my Portikus exhibition' (translated).