IN.SIGHT

The exhibition IN.SIGHT is being held in honour of the largest donation in the history of the Galerie der Gegenwart: The Berlin-based collector and gallery owner Alexander Schröder (b. 1968) has donated an impressive collection of 63 works with a total of 78 elements to the Hamburger Kunsthalle. After growing up in Hamburg, Schröder began collecting in 1994 while studying art at Berlin University of the Arts. That same year, he founded the Galerie NEU to exhibit art from the point of view of someone who himself was an artist. Today his collection spans a period of 30 years and covers a wide range of media in international contemporary art including photography, installations, sculpture and painting. 

IN.SIGHT sheds light on Schröder’s identity as a collector, its ambiguous title – borrowed from a work by Philippe Thomas (1951–1995) – alluding to central themes in Schröder’s collection. Socio-critical artworks ranging from the 1970s to the present day express diverse standpoints while questioning existing norms with respect to social spaces, architecture, institutions, gender identities, body politics, migration, the concept of the nation-state, racism and colonial history. Many of the works adopt the vantage point of identities that have been in the minority historically, focusing on what it is like to be marginalised and overlooked. This art renders changing viewpoints on these issues both visible and tangible.

Works by Philippe Thomas, Martha Rosler and Cameron Rowland comment on the social imbalances inherent in the capitalist consumer society and the associated exploitation of bodies. Based on normalised, standardised objects, Sung Tieu exposes how state, ideological and bureaucratic power structures exert control over society. In their interventions in the exhibition space, Marc Camille Chaimowicz and Isa Genzken break with architectural norms. Raising awareness of the spatial and structural exclusion of the gay community with the accompanying discrimination and taboos is central to the work of Henrik Olesen and Tom Burr.

With compelling works such as these, Alexander Schröder’s collection greatly enriches the holdings of the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The donated works on view in the exhibition not only take up issues already addressed by works in the museum collection, in some cases launching a dialogue with them, but also fill gaps and introduce new artists, thematic complexes and narratives. They thus broaden the collection’s horizons while intervening in and challenging the art-historical canon. 

Alexander Schröder’s generous donation to the Hamburger Kunsthalle has made it possible to make these artworks permanently accessible and visible to a broad public.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication (in German and English, 192 pages, Snoeck-Verlag) on Thursday, 9 January 2025, which will be presented at a book launch at 7 pm (admission free). The book with numerous illustrations contains a conversation between Alexander Schröder and Brigitte Kölle (Head of Collection Contemporary Art (Painting, Sculpture and Installation, Media) as well as texts by Hans-Christian Dany, Corinne Diserens, Dominic Eichler, Julia Kersting, Alexander Klar and Brigitte Kölle. It is available from the museum shop at a price of 35 Euros or from www.freunde-der-kunsthalle.de at a book trade price of 38 Euros.

Featured artists: Juliette Blightman, Tom Burr, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Alan Charlton, Anne Collier, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Isa Genzken, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Georg Herold, Samson Kambalu, Martin Kippenberger, Klara Lidén, Lucy McKenzie, Cady Noland, Ima-Abasi Okon, Henrik Olesen, Paulina Olowska, Manfred Pernice, Josephine Pryde, Martha Rosler, Cameron Rowland, Elfie Semotan, Andreas Slominski, Akeem Smith, Philippe Thomas, Sung Tieu, Danh Võ

Donations to the Hamburger Kunsthalle 
Since the founding of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, donors such as Alexander Schröder, along with permanent lenders and benefactors, have added new chapters to the history of the museum through their private commitment, also contributing contemporary artworks in order to keep the internationally renowned collection up to date. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, citizens of the Hanseatic city of Hamburg came together to jointly finance the construction of the magnificent museum building, opened in 1869, donating their private treasures to the collection. The cornerstone was laid in 1863 by the bequest of the art dealer Ernst Georg Harzen, comprising over 30,000 drawings and engravings.