Animal Revolution   200 Years of the Bremen Town Musicians in Art, Kitsch and Society   23.03. – 01.09.2019

Animal Revolution: 200 Years of the Bremen Town Musicians in Art, Kitsch and Society

“You can always find something better than death” – the Bremen Town Musicians’ journey in search of a dignified life is marked by hope and pragmatism. Two hundred years ago, the fairy tale was first published in the second edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales, 1819) by the Brothers Grimm. Donkey, dog, cat and cock have since gone through a wide variety of pictorial representations – from early book illustrations, kitsch and commerce all the way to fine art. Even if the animals in the fairy tale never arrive in Bremen, they have since become an integral part of Bremen's identity and its urban landscape and a symbol for courage and solidarity.

Together with the Staatsarchiv Bremen and as part of the citywide Town Musicians Summer, the Kunsthalle Bremen will host a comprehensive exhibition to trace the journey of the four animal protagonists: from historic precedents to the fairy tale, from the written word to visual form, from the city to the museum and from Bremen into the world. Besides a rich array of historical imagery and objects of popular culture, artworks by Gerhard Marcks, Maurizio Cattelan, Jeff Koons, Ayse Erkmen, Glenn Ligon, Hiwa K and many more shed light on the artistic treatment of the beloved animals and the themes of the fairy tale.

Maarten Vanden Eynde, Pinpointing Progress, 2018
Mixed media, Courtesy Maarten Vanden Eynde, Photo: Melanka Helms

Maurizio Cattelan, Love Saves Life, 1995 and Love Lasts Forever, 1998
Taxidermized animals, animal skeletons, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, © Maurizio Cattelan

Ayse Erkmen, One is missing, 2003
Series of four photographies, Offset prints, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, © Galerie Barbara Weiss

Drawing of the Bremen Townmusicians in the illustrated english edition by George Cruishrank of the Children’s and Household Tales, London 1823
Collection Dieter Brand-Kruth

Illustration by M. Majofisa, in: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Leningrad 1980
Staatsarchiv Bremen, Collection Röpcke , Photo: Koetzle

Mark Dion, Africotropical, from World Order of Animals, 2004
Screen print, Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, © Marc Dion and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Gimhongsok, The Bremen Town Musicians, 2006/07
Mixed media, Exhibition view: “Your Bright Future. 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2009/10, © Gimhongsok; Courtesy Kukje Gallery, Seoul

Hiwa K, This Lemon Tastes of Apple, 2011
Video still, © Hiwa K; Courtesy KOW, Berlin and prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Mailand/Lucca

Jeff Koons, Stacked, 1988
Polychromed wood, V-A-C Collection, Moskau, © Jeff Koons

Hotel Offer:

Along to the exhibition, the ATLANTIC Hotel Airport has created a package.
More information can be found here.

With the kind support of:

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