BREMEN.- The internationally acclaimed conceptual and installation artist Thomas Hirschhorn (*1957 in Bern) is presenting a new exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen. His site-specific project in Bremen merges his current intense exploration of the theme of ruins with the specific location of the Kunsthalle Bremen and its collection.

In his most recent works, Hirschhorn has been investigating the idea of ruins and the state in which previously concealed things become tangible. For example, his work Abschlag, displayed at the Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg, demonstrated how the image of a ruin stands both for the collapsed facade of a destroyed building as well as forgotten history. Although a building or history itself can remain comprehensible in its entirety even in a state of collapse, a glimpse behind the facade opens a new vista into things that were previously concealed. The work in Bremen continues to play with the theme of concealment and revelation and apply it to the specific situation in Bremen. The installation of his work in the historical structure of the Kunsthalle Bremen, which opened in 1849 as a museum and was significantly enlarged in 1902, is important to Hirschhorn along with the immediate examination of the collection, the history of the institution and the structure of the Kunstverein. Five masterworks from the collection are included in the installation, these works include paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, Arnold Boecklin, Franz Marc, Oskar Schlemmer and André Masson.

Hirschhorn’s planned radical intervention and transformation of traditional museum architecture is part of a series of challenging projects at the Kunsthalle Bremen which reflect on the institution, its history and its future. These works include a restaging of Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s The Line of Hamburg as well as Sarah Morris’ monumental mural Jardim Botânico. Hirschhorn’s installation has been constructed at a period in time where the museum is in the process of reorienting itself, determining its identity, and becoming more open.

Supporters’ Circle for Contemporary Art in the Kunstverein Bremen
The Hirschhorn exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen is part of a series of monographic exhibitions which were initiated by the Förderkreis für Gegenwartskunst im Kunstverein in Bremen (Supporters’ Circle for Contemporary Art in the Kunstverein Bremen). Since 1971, the Supporters’ Circle each year has supported a contemporary art exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen and has funded the purchase of works of art. The exhibition series focuses on specific artists: A Gerhard Richter exhibition in 1973 was followed by presentations of such artists as Antoni Tàpies, Andy Warhol, Walter Stöhrer, Emil Schumacher, Georg Baselitz, Jerry Zeniuk, Isa Genzken, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Peter Campus, Jörg Sasse, Norbert Schwontkowski, William Kentridge, Marcel Odenbach, Sarah Morris and Andreas Slominski.

In 2003, Thomas Hirschhorn was awarded the Roland Prize for Art in Public Spaces by the City of Bremen.