News on the LBBW Collection

Otto Dix

One hundred years of New Objectivity
2024-11-22 to 2025-03-09 | Kunsthalle Mannheim

The term "New Objectivity" was coined 100 years ago at the Kunsthalle Mannheim by the then young director Gustav F. Hartlaub. In 2024, the Kunsthalle will honor this with an extensive exhibition entitled "New Objectivity - A Centennial Anniversary" (2024-11-22 to 2025-03-09). The achievements of the time will also be critically scrutinized and expanded upon, with a particular focus on the work of female artists who were not represented in the 1925 exhibition. However, women were visible in portraits, for example in the famous painting "Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber" by Otto Dix, who is regarded as the founder of New Objectivity. This major work was acquired by LBBW in 2006 and has since been on loan to the LBBW Otto Dix Room at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Anita will now travel to Mannheim in the fall of 2024 for the anniversary and then return for the anniversary of the Kunstmuseum in 2025.

Hito Steyerl

Hell Yeah We Fuck Die
2024-06-06 to 2025-06-01 | Kunsthalle Mannheim

The LBBW Collection acquired works by female artists at an early stage. In addition to Rineke Dijkstra, Isa Genzken, Asta Gröting and Candida Höfer, new acquisitions in recent years have also focused on the production of artists such as Nevin Aladag, Shannon Bool, Anna Witt and Hito Steyerl, among others. In 2024, her multimedia installation "Hell Yeah We Fuck Die" (2016) will be presented in Mannheim for the first time. The enigmatic title of loosely connected terms is a list of the five most frequently used words in the English-language music charts of the 2010s. This lettering appears in several places in the installation, in videos or framed in concrete elements reminiscent of training modules for parcours. This is a sporting discipline that has evolved from the military obstacle course. Hito Steyerl, who works at the interface of art, media theory and film, once again refers in her installation to the complex relationship between militarization and civilian life, between technical innovation and everyday culture. In "Hell Yeah We Fuck Die", the themes of artificial intelligence, robotics and their use in military operations are interwoven in the conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebel groups.

Anselm Kiefer and Sven Johne

Focus Collection: Cracks & Fragments
2024-03-01 to 2025-05-18 | Kunsthalle Mannheim

The exhibition "Focus Collection: Cracks & Fragments" deliberately places works by Anselm Kiefer from the Grothe Collection in dialogue with contemporary artistic positions. Since February 2024, visitors can encounter Kiefer's works "Schwarze Flocken", "Böhmen liegt am Meer" and "20 Jahre Einsamkeit" in a constellation with photographs by Sven Johne from the LBBW Collection. Dealing with German history is central to Kiefer, whereby the rift as a figure of thought and reality is important. Johne's work "47 Faults between Calais and Idomeni" focuses on European history. On a journey from France to Greece, Johne took photographs in which he pointed the camera downwards, at faults that have manifested themselves as cracks in the asphalt or concrete.

LBBW Collection at Long Night of the Museums

As part of the Long Night of the Museums on March 16, 2024, the BW-Bank-Headquarter (Kleiner Schlossplatz) is opening its doors and giving insights into the LBBW Collection. The special exhibition "Lifeworlds. Between Economy and Ecology" is showing works by Christian Jankowski, Diana Thater and Anna Witt, among others.

As part of a guided tour (every 10 minutes, 6pm-1am), the BW-Bank and its art can be explored in the top floors. A special highlight is a music performance by Filderbahnfreundemöhringen (FFM). You can let yourself be carried away at 7pm and 9pm.

LBBW Collection presents special show at artKARLSRUHE

The LBBW Collection is presenting a special show titled „Nature – Beauty and Destruction” at art KARLSRUHE from February 22 to 25, 2024. In this exhibition curator Sarah Haberkorn focuses on depictions of nature oscillating between beauty and destruction. Selected works will be on show, that emphasise the relation between mankind and nature. The list of exhibited artists includes among others Franz Ackermann, Julian Charrière/Julius von Bismarck, Mark Dion, Thomas Grünfeld, Andreas Gursky, Anselm Kiefer, Gabriela Oberkofler, Maximilian Prüfer, Max Slevogt, Troika, Diana Thater and Corinne Wasmuht.

LBBW Collection shows new acquisitions at ART COLOGNE

From November 16 to 19, 2023, the LBBW Collection was guest at ART COLOGNE, showing a selection of its new acquisitions from the last five years. The theme of the presentation titled "past is present is past" was the artistic examination and adaptation of events and social upheavals, which have occurred in the past but nevertheless shape our present, identity and consciousness. In addition to two large-scale installations by Henrike Naumann and Franz Ackermann, works by Simon Herkner, Sven Johne, Annette Kelm, Morgaine Schäfer and Tobias Zielony could be seen at booth B303 in hall 11.2. As part of the fair, two LBBW Art Talks had also taken place on November 18 in cooperation with Monopol Magazine.

LBBW Collection with „Social Fabric” at art KARLSRUHE 2023

At this year’s art KARLSRUHE the LBBW Collection was showing “Social Fabric” - a selection of textile-based art. Textiles and artistic creation are interwoven with a long pictorial tradition and reception history. The weaving workshop at the German Bauhaus is considered the nucleus of textile art in the classical modern period. However, during the second half of the 20th century, the use of textile in art experienced a revival, although with a different approach. From May 4 to 7 at booth U5 in hall 1, visitors could explore a selection of works that are dealing with identity(ies), cultural imprint, social norms, and consumption behavior patterns. Participating artists are Nevin Aladağ, Mona Ardeleanu, Shannon Bool, Anna Grath, Thomas Grünfeld, Jörg Sasse, Wiebke Siem and Rosemarie Trockel, among others.

LBBW Collection at art KARLSRUHE 2022 with its own booth

At this year's edition of art KARLSRUHE from July 7 to 10, 2022, the LBBW Collection was for the first time showing a selection of representatives of abstract, concrete, and constructivist art as well as their contemporary interpreters at its own booth under the title "Sound of Silence." Works by Rupprecht Geiger, Erdmut Bramke, Camill Leberer, Helmut Dorner and Gerwald Rockenschaub, among others, was on display in Hall 3, Stand T01. In addition, on Saturday, July 9, at 2 p.m., an LBBW Art Talk featuring renowned experts on "The Länd Art. Art Landscape Baden-Württemberg" had taken place.

LBBW has been collecting art for 50 years. The result is an outstanding corporate collection of around 3,000 works - the LBBW Collection. In the special exhibition "Now or Never - 50 Years of the LBBW Collection", the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and LBBW will present selected works in the cube on Kleiner Schlossplatz from November 13, 2021 to February 20, 2022.