Exhibition

ConfrontationsPairings from the Collection

23 October 2025 until 27 September 2026

Zu sehen ist eine lebensgroße Pappfigur eines muskulösen, dunklen Comic-Superhelden, der wütend mit einer Faust auf den Boden schlägt, wobei Steine und Staub dramatisch umherfliegen. Die Figur ist kraftvoll in Szene gesetzt und scheint aus dem Boden zu springen, mit starkem Lichteffekt am Einschlagpunkt.

"Confrontations. Pairings from the Collection" brings together pairs of works from the Brandhorst Collection that have no art-historical or formal relationship to each other. These pairings unfold a special tension precisely in their contrasts: they open up new spaces for thought, address our intuition and evoke emotions. Sometimes touching, sometimes subtle, sometimes funny and always ambiguous, they create a conversation about and between art. The exhibition invites us to see confrontation in a productive way, to discover new connections, to question familiar interpretations and to link personal experiences with overarching questions of the present.

Exhibition info

Period

23 October 2025 until 27 September 2026

Location

Ground floor

Curated by

Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth with Lena Tilk

Press release

Confrontations. Pairings from the Collection

About the exhibition

What happens when two works come together that, at first glance, seem to have little in common? “Confrontations” invites visitors to test this question in the exhibition space. Unexpected pairings of works enter into dialogue: a Christmas tree made of steel (Philippe Parreno) encounters a single red child’s shoe (Robert Gober); a photographic series from Venice (Tarrah Krajnak) meets a brightly painted rod (André Cadere); a giant Black Hulk action figure (Arthur Jafa) is placed next to a small winner’s podium (Rosemarie Trockel). It is precisely in these encounters that tension emerges—at times emotionally moving, at times humorous, at times captivating.

Weißes Blatt, auf das eine schwarze Eins gedruckt wurde und darunter eine rechteckige Form in roten Pinselstrichen.

Encounters

Each work unfolds its meaning not only through interaction with the object placed opposite it, but especially through the individual perspectives of the viewers. The perception of art is not static; it responds to contexts and surroundings. In this way, each of the “Confrontations” carries the potential for a new encounter, one that can also allow for contradictions. In this sense, confrontation is understood not only as friction but also as an opportunity for openness and transformation. The exhibition “Confrontations” thus draws on the transformative power of difference—not in the sense of resolving opposites, but as an invitation to productively engage with tensions and to move beyond established habits of seeing and thinking.

Perspectives

At the heart of the show are the artists’ individual works, each bringing their own history, practice, and conditions of creation. Only in dialogue do new readings emerge, revealing what art knows to tell itself and us beyond art-historical narratives. Which stories come to the fore and which recede? Which perspectives shift? And what do the confrontations reveal about our present—shaped by social tension, political polarization, and cultural upheaval?

Arthur Jafa

A conceptual point of reference is the practice of the American artist Arthur Jafa, whose artwork is extensively represented in the Brandhorst Collection. In many of his pieces, it is the intelligent yet striking montage of starkly contrasting imagery that captivates viewers. He himself uses the term “affective proximity” for this kind of juxtaposition, a phrase coined by the British artist John Akomfrah. One gallery of the exhibition is dedicated to such inherent juxtapositions in the works of Jafa, as well as those of other artists in the collection. Beyond that, we invited Arthur Jafa to contribute his own “Confrontation” from our holdings. For this, he selected Andy Warhol’s “Diamond Dust Shadow” (1979) and Richard Prince’s “Live Free or Die 3” (1987).

Point of view

The exhibition brings together fifty-five works by thirty-nine artists, encompassing a wide range of positions, styles, media, and formats. Each work is accompanied by a text that provides background information on practice and context. It is not the museum that constructs a definitive interpretation; rather, visitors themselves enter into dialogue with the works, create connections, and allow themselves to be drawn into moments of friction and surprise.

With works by

Monika Baer, Nairy Baghramian, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Alexandra Bircken, James Lee Byars, André Cadere, Nicole Eisenman, Jana Euler, Louis Fratino, Lee Friedlander, Robert Gober, Richard Hamilton, Keith Haring, Rachel Harrison, Damien Hirst, Arthur Jafa, Mike Kelley, Tarrah Krajnak, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Tala Madani, Mario Merz, Tatsuo Miyajima, Philippe Parreno, Pope.L, Richard Prince, Raymond Saunders, Jim Shaw, Amy Sillman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Shin Yanagisawa

Curated by

Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth, Chief Curator, Museum Brandhorst, and Lena Tilk, Research Associate, Museum Brandhorst, with contributions by Dr. Katharina Fischer, Team Assistant, Museum Brandhorst; Dina Kagan, Student Assistant, Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation; Franziska Linhardt, Curator, Museum Brandhorst; and Benedikt Seerieder, Curator, Museum Brandhorst; with a special contribution by Arthur Jafa.