Enlightenment

The exhibition at the Haus der Kunst enables viewers to experience the artistic work and musical compositions of Hanne Darboven across four decades of practice.

Hanne Darboven’s studio in Hamburg-Harburg, Hanne Darboven Foundation, Hamburg. Photo Felix Krebs

The first major retrospective since the Hanne Darboven’s death presents her proximity to the ideas of the Enlightenment, showcasing the extensive work series in which the artist explores themes of cultural history, music, literature, ethnography, anthropology, geography and the natural sciences.

One major exhibition highlight is the reconstruction of the “music room” from Darboven’s Hamburg studio, which contains an extensive collection of musical instruments that the artist combined with objects from other realms of thought, for example, an oversized Swiss Army knife, personal documents, small African sculptures, or her father’s hunting trophies. In this way, Darboven foregoes encyclopedic aspirations and establishes instead an individual classification.

The “music room” originally served as the drawing room in the Hamburg-Harburg home of the Darboven family, who had dealt in coffee and colonial goods for generations. In Munich, the room has been completely reconstructed for the first time in its entity and presented in a form accessible to visitors. This rich cosmos provides insight into aspects of Hanne Darboven’s life and work not previously available to the public.

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Hanne Darboven, Kulturgeschichte, 1880 – 1983. Installation view, 548 West 22nd Street, New York City. Photo: Cathy Carver. Courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York © Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015

Hanne Darboven, Erdkundearbeit, 1985-86. © Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2015

Hanne Darboven, Quartett ›88‹, 1988. Antique wax store-window mannequin, clothed, without arms, ink, photographs, and offset lithography on paper. 745 sheets, 42 x 29.7 cm each, Mannequin: 177.8 x 48.2 x 25.4 cm. Installation view Haus der Kunst Foto: Maximilian Geuter © Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015

Hanne Darboven, Inventions that changed the world, 1996. © Hanne Darboven Foundation, Hamburg / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2015

September 18, 2015 – February 14, 2016
opening Thursday, September 17, 2015, 7 pm
Hanne Darboven. Enlightenment
curated by Okwui Enwezor and Anna Schneider
a cooperation of Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, and Haus der Kunst, Munich, with Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg
Haus der Kunst
Prinzregentenstraße 1, Munich

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Enlightenment

The exhibition at the Haus der Kunst enables viewers to experience the artistic work and musical compositions of Hanne Darboven across four decades of practice.

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