KLASSE GESELLSCHAFT

26.11. – 27.03.22

With Klasse Gesellschaft, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is dedicating a comprehensive exhibition to a chapter of one of the most multifaceted epochs in European art history – the art of the Dutch and Flemish 17th centuries – and its most renowned representatives, in which the two contemporary artists Lars Eidinger (* 1976) and Stefan Marx (* 1979) reflect on the themes and motifs of the old masters with new works.
Photographs and video works by Lars Eidinger and typefaces by Stefan Marx are partially woven in or in separate areas integrated into the tour. Eidinger has a very special affinity for the art of the old masters, which he has already dealt with in theater works, among other things. His motifs reflect everyday life: they are lively and profound, sometimes humorous images that reveal themselves. Seemingly banal everyday scenes which, on closer inspection, turn out to be multi-layered observations of reality that focus on the supposedly irrelevant. Without moralizing, his photographs are comments and make us look closely and question ourselves and our actions. Thanks to their fundamental openness and general validity, Stefan Marx’s linguistic images succeed in opening up new perspectives in dealing with the Dutch genre scenes. He comments on the representations. This pointed juxtaposition creates an exciting interaction: the surprisingly unbroken topicality of the Old Masters can be experienced – the figures shown appear lively.