Precarious Worlds

Taking as its impetus a group of important new acquisitions at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Precarious Worlds explores thematic connections between some of the most influential artists working in Germany today. Works by Franz Ackermann, Cosima von Bonin, Charline von Heyl, Thomas Demand, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Isa Genzken, Sergej Jensen, Michel Majerus, Manfred Pernice, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Corinne Wasmuht are examined in light of how they mediate the radical political and societal transformations that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War as well as the worldwide effects of the digital age.            Characteristics such as the fragility of objects, the disorientation of visual perception and geographical location, and the instability of both historical memory and notions of the “real” recur throughout these otherwise diverse and unique paintings, photographs, installations, sculptures, and fabric works. This fully illustrated color catalog includes an essay by Sabine Eckmann and extended entries on each work by Svea Bräunert.

Author Biography

Sabine Eckmann is director and chief curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, where she also teaches in the Department of Art History and Archaeology. She is the author or editor of several books, including Sharon Lockhart: Lunch Break, The Art of Two Germanys, Thaddeus Strode: Absolute and Nothings, and Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany.