Die Baustelle (the Building Site)

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World. December 7, 07.12.2019 to October 23, 23.10.2020

For its special exhibition “Resist! The Art of Resistance” (from 23 Oct 2020), the museum will record personal stories of quiet or vociferous resistance. In its newly created discussion forum “Die Baustelle” the museum will engage in conversation and discussion with visitors, artists, organisations and pressure groups. The exhibition will gradually emerge from an area around the discussion forum and will be based on the ideas of the participants.

Wade Guyton

Museum Ludwig. November 16, 16.11.2019 to March 1, 01.03.2020

Born in 1972, the American artist Wade Guyton has created a conceptually consistent and refreshingly idiosyncratic oeuvre for more than two decades. He is best known for his large-scale canvas paintings made with a conventional inkjet printer, which feature iconic subjects such as flames, the letters X and U, and the New York Times website.

Do not forget your name – The Children of Auschwitz

NS-Documentation Center of the City of Cologne. November 15, 15.11.2019 to February 23, 23.02.2020

At least 232,000 infants, children and adolescents were deported to Auschwitz from all over Europe or were born there under unimaginable conditions. Only a few survived. They bear the traces of suffering on body and soul. In the exhibition, life stories of children and adolescents who have survived Auschwitz are told on large-format panels. An exhibition of the International Auschwitz Committee in cooperation with the Memorial of German Resistance. Exhibition by Alwin Meyer.

Drunk with Sobriety: Wine and Tea in Chinese Art

Museum of East Asian Art. November 13, 13.11.2019 to May 3, 03.05.2020

In Chinese art, wine and tea as stimulants play a major role at social occasions, as artistic inspiration or as offerings to the spirits of ancestors and to deities. This cabinet exhibition provides insights into the importance and use of wine and tea in millennia of cultural life in China. This show presents sacrificial vessels for wine made of ceramics and bronze that were used in ancestor worship.

Sculpture through the lens of the camera. Alfred Tritschler’s photos of the Schnütgen collection

Museum Schnütgen. November 9, 09.11.2019 to February 16, 16.02.2020

This exhibition follows the view of the photographer Alfred Tritschler (1905–1970) on the collection. In 1948 Tritschler photographed more than 100 of the museum’s artworks. He staged the sculptures with his Leica camera in vivid “portraits” and found an individual artistic expression for these motifs. A selection of some 90 original prints, together with around 30 sculptures, will be shown for the first time.

500 Years of Latin American Conquest: Colonialism and Survival Strategies

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World. November 1, 01.11.2019 to January 5, 05.01.2020

(DE) Zum 500. Jahrestag der Ankunft von Cortés in Mexiko reflektieren die Universität Bonn und das RJM dieses Ereignis und seine bis heute spürbaren Folgen in einer Ausstellungsintervention. Sie ist im Bereich “Tod und Jenseits” der Dauerausstellung zu sehen, da mit der gewaltsamen spanischen Invasion auch viele der Totentraditionen des heutigen Lateinamerika als kreative Überlebensstrategien ihren Anfang nahmen.

Inside Rembrandt • 1606-1669

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. November 1, 01.11.2019 to March 1, 01.03.2020

Master painter, virtuoso, genius, star – there are numerous synonyms for Rembrandt, and his art, which is celebrated worldwide, is hugely versatile. What lies behind this multi-facetted artist and his works? This major special exhibition will explore this question and pay homage to the painter on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of his death. The show takes an in-depth look at the world of this Dutch artist.

„Von Jakob zu Jacques – Der Kölner Offenbach“

Historisches Archiv. October 24, 24.10.2019 to April 5, 05.04.2020

(DE) Der Titel der Ausstellung „Von Jakob zu Jacques – Der Kölner Offenbach“ verbindet zwei Ebenen von Leben und Nachleben Offenbachs: Er spielt auf die Kölner Wurzeln Offenbachs und auf das Bild an, das sich mit- und nachlebende Kölnerinnen und Kölner von ihm machten (und das sich vielleicht fundamental von der Wahrnehmung der internationalen Musikwelt unterschied).

Lucia Moholy: Writing Photo History

Museum Ludwig. October 12, 12.10.2019 to February 2, 02.02.2020

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Bauhaus, we will recount how the photographer Lucia Moholy rewrote the history of photography. In addition to her photographs, the Museum Ludwig archives include letters that demonstrate her lively exchange with the photography collector and historian Erich Stenger. The exhibition will cover this work as well as the relationship between Moholy’s writing and photography.

Saints and Ascetics – Jain Miniature Painting from India

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World. October 11, 11.10.2019 to February 16, 16.02.2020

The religious community of the Jains from India avoid anything that harms other living beings – humans, animals and plants. Their followers have a vegan lifestyle and live according to a principle of non-violence that is almost unfamiliar in a Western context. This exhibition presents a donation of precious miniatures from the holy Jain scripts dating from the period between the late 14th and the early 17th centuries.

Berliner Realismus

Käthe Kollwitz Museum. October 10, 10.10.2019 to January 5, 05.01.2020

(DE) Rau, ruppig und politisch unbequem: Die Berliner Kunst zur Kaiserzeit besitzt Sprengkraft. Von Wilhelm II. mit dem Verdikt der ›Rinnsteinkunst‹ belegt, widmen sich Künstler der Berliner Secession um 1900 erstmals dezidiert sozialen Themen. Sie begründen eine spezifisch berlinische Tradition des sozialkritischen Realismus, die in der Kunst der Weimarer Republik ihre konsequente Fortsetzung findet.

Rembrandt’s World of Graphic Art. Experiment. Competition. Virtuosity

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. October 3, 03.10.2019 to January 12, 12.01.2020

On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death, the Wallraf will devote two Special exhibitions to the painter. The first one to open will be a show of graphic art where visitors can enjoy a fine selection of some 30 etchings by the famous artist. His works are characterised by their high aesthetic quality and excellent state of preservation and reveal Rembrandt’s virtuosity as an etcher.

Delta Worlds: Living with Volatile Change

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World. September 27, 27.09.2019 to January 5, 05.01.2020

River deltas are particularly vulnerable ecosystems. They are the hotspots of global change and at the same time home to many people. This new ‘Intervention’ in the permanent collection looks at the everyday lives of inhabitants of river deltas.

The Amsterdam Mahzor. A Treasure returns home

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. September 25, 25.09.2019 to January 12, 12.01.2020

A special kind of homecoming will take place at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum: for the first time in fifty years the precious Amsterdam Mahzor, a Jewish prayer book from the thirteenth century, will once again be on show in Cologne. The richly adorned manuscript is a unique piece and numbers among the oldest still extant Hebrew illuminated manuscripts in the German-speaking world; indeed, it is one of the foremost of its kind.

HERE AND NOW at Museum Ludwig: Transcorporealities

Museum Ludwig. September 21, 21.09.2019 to January 19, 19.01.2020

The exhibition series HERE AND NOW at Museum Ludwig understands the museum as an open structure for experimental formats. It seeks to expand the spatial and conceptual boundaries of the institution beyond familiar comfort zones. Under the title Transcorporealities, the fifth exhibition in the series is dedicated to the complexity of corporeality.

Norman Seeff. The Look of Sound

Museum of Applied Arts. September 13, 13.09.2019 to March 8, 08.03.2020

Norman Seeff is one of the most famous portrait photographers in the USA and photographed the who's who of the music, art and film scene of the 1960s to 1980s. "The Look of Sound" combines more than 170 photographs, including mostly original vintage prints, but also sketches and collages. Also on view are videos taken during Seeff's photo sessions.

COLOGNE-ON-SEINE: The Pavilion of the City of Cologne at the Paris World Exhibition of 1937

Cologne City Museum. August 24, 24.08.2019 to January 26, 26.01.2020

Paris in summer 1937: For the last time, countries come together for a seemingly peaceful rendezvous at the World Exhibition. Cologne was the only city worldwide to set up its own pavilion. 19-year-old Cologne photographer Karl Hugo Schmölz documented the World Exhibition and the contribution of Cologne in brilliant photographs. This document of an exciting episode in the Franco-German relationship gives visitors an impressive panorama of the important year 1937.

COLOGNE-ON-RHINE: A journey through time

Cologne City Museum. August 24, 24.08.2019 to January 26, 26.01.2020

In 1947 the young photographer Karl Hugo Schmölz (*1917) documented this ravaged city of the post-war era. In his photographs he followed the model of the images of Cologne that his father, Hugo Schmölz (*1879), had taken in the 1920s and 30s and photographed squares, buildings and streets from the same angle. Images from the years 1994 and 2018 complement these photos to create a vivid and forceful portrait of the city.

It’s a gift! – Exchange of Dipomatic Presents

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World. June 7, 07.06.2019 to January 5, 05.01.2020

On the occasion of state visits it is customary to exchange gifts. But what do these diplomatic gifts tell us? The museum will present around 30 previously unexhibited state gifts from 15 non-European countries such as Togo, Mexico and Indonesia. The elaborate carvings, sophisticated ceramics and replicas of famous originals will be shown as ›interventions‹ in the permanent collection.