Love is a feeling of deep affection and connection. The call to "love human beings" suggests the idea that people only have a chance at the future through the love of each other... a call to a loving togetherness as the basis of a (new) community. Every form of loving connectedness is implied here.

Arising out of male–dominated art history are quasi male–dominated pictorial worlds which assign the upbringing of children to women and thereby often thrust that task out of the realm of pictorial worthiness. The current thematization of the connection between maternity and profession and also the care–gap discussion have a counterpart at the beginning of the 20th century in Käthe Kollwitz’s oeuvre. Considering the theme of Mutter und Kind (“Mother and Child,” 1910) to be worthy of artistic representation is a clear demonstration of feminist forcefulness. Likewise with her Selbstbildnis (1909), Kollwitz gives proof of the self–confidence with which, in an androgynous and ageless appearance, she relates to the depictions of women in the museum, most of which were done by men. Die Gefangenen (1908) stands in contrast to the humanity of Kollwitz’s two other motifs. Crowded together as in industrial livestock farming, people are reduced to an innumerable mass of physically similar figures who have been robbed of their individuality and whose rights have likewise been curtailed in their imprisonment.

Emma Talbot’s work arises out of profound issues of human consciousness and conveys them into a dreamlike aesthetic. Amid the whirling of colors and blending of bodies, the individual human being seems to be only a part of greater experiences. Keening Songs (2021) and Fluid (2018) delineate a life–foundation consisting of nature, love, life and energy: a mantra for viewers to give themselves over to stimulation through color and light, and to ponder the existential elements of humanity.

The non–binary artist Zanele Muholi works to raise awareness and engender respect for lesbians and transgender persons by means of photography. The self–portrait Zonk’zizwe, Green Market Square, Cape Town (2017) shows Muholi at Green Market Square (formerly a transfer site for human trafficking, now a market for souvenirs). Wrapped in the shadows of stark contrasts, the mysterious and self–confident person stands surrounded by the artifacts of her culture. In the meantime, however, these have come to belong to her personally to a lesser degree, inasmuch as they are produced for other cultures and for sale to tourists. The photograph raises questions regarding both the definition of an individual personality and the impacts of the West on African identities.

Heinrich Campendonk’s oeuvre is known for its kaleidoscope–like dissection of motifs into colored surfaces. In addition to this formal thematization of the faculty of sight, Mann und Maske (1922) also focuses on the ambivalence of visual appearance in terms of content. Dipped into intensive red, the pictorial levels of humankind and its surroundings are merged. The mask at the center of the picture can be understood as a symbol for the play of concealment and revelation and, on the basis of the bourgeois clothing of the man, can be set into relation with social norms. Mädchen mit Fröschen (1917) contains within itself a comparably mystical and, in this case, magical power. The depiction is of a young girl who, instead of by clothing, is covered in plants and forms. She seems to be part of nature, connected and concealed, even as she is protected by flora and fauna from what lies outside every natural order.

The title Helene mit blauem Turban (1911) identifies the depicted person as Helene Nesnakomoff, a young servant and lover of the artist. Many paintings by Alexej von Jawlensky show her in the clothing of various cultural spaces; they are staged in a costume–like manner and precisely documented by the titles of the works. Both the young woman and the symbolized cultures are interpreted and appropriated by the artist for his art. In spite of the passive role of being portrayed, Helene, with her direct gaze, takes up an active position in relation to the viewers. Mädchen mit niedergeschlagenen Augen (around 1912), on the other hand, evokes the power that is exercised by the gazer. From a current perspective arising out of the discussion about the gender problematic, the closed eyes cancel all means of controlling behavior and inducing shame, so that the gaze can wander freely over the girl being looked at.

Through the combination of media images, painting and drawing, Deborah Roberts creates depictions of people which, in their kaleidoscopic character, are complex and difficult to grasp. Portraits: When they look back (No. 1) (2020) is a particularly reduced and gloomy example of Roberts’ oeuvre. Blended with the black background, a Person of Color gazes self–confidently out of the shadows.

The art of Anys Reimann is known for its avoidance of establishing limits for identities or social roles. With their titles, the two works LE NOIRE DE… VII (2021) and ODALISKE (2022) open up references to specific skin colors, cultural backgrounds and social positions which, however, are deliberately abrogated in the works. In collages of diverse body parts and facial sections, visual differences complement each other poetically and cohere into individual People of Color.

Carlo Mense’s works are often marked by an extreme visual dynamism which visually takes into account the rapid transformations of his era. His motifs seem as if they were being swept past the viewers by a strong wind. The more–or–less realistic motifs mix with each other and become blended with the abstract forms pushing in around them. The linocut Drei Männer (1914) exposes the human being to this turbulent situation and compels him to strike a balance in his new relationship to the environment and his fellow human beings. Although one individual body may easily be identified, individual limbs detach themselves from the figures and enter into ambiguous contact with other bodies. The depicted figures are naked; they lean against and touch each other. Emerging out of the dark background, further figures seem to be intervening in the occurrence.

Ever since early modern times, there have been eroticizing pictorial elements in the mythological motifs utilized for the most part by male artists. One subject which has inspired artist for centuries and employs nakedness as an attribute is the Roman goddess of love, Venus. August Macke’s Venus mit Amor (1913) thematizes the stimulation of observation through the averted gaze of Venus and the person entering upon the scene in the background. Viewers are given control over deciding whether to wander freely with their eyes over the presented body and thereby to exercise a dominance of vision. They constitute a mirror image of the figure in the background disturbing the intimacy, interrupting the tender caress of mother and son, and emphasizing their nakedness in comparison to its clothing.

The central focus of Tschabalala Self’s oeuvre is on the human body which, filled with various textiles, colors and patterns, conveys cultural meanings and backgrounds. In the work Fade (2019), only the human silhouette is “typical.” The collaged physiognomy and bodily parts make it possible, through various forms and colors, to present a free image of a complex person. In spite of the eccentric, theatrical impact, the result seems familiar.

Although the descriptive title Weiblicher Torso (1910-1911) has the character of a formal study of the body, the emotionality of Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s sculpture can scarcely be disputed. The long neck, narrow shoulders and abstracted gaze evince a tenderness that wrestles for predominance with the down–to–earth nature of the muscular torso and the bleak stone. In spite of the visual heaviness and stability of the material, the depicted person seems vulnerable in her nakedness. The sculptures of Wilhelm Lehmbruck represent a struggle between transcendental potency and earthbound form.

Louisa Clement has been guiding her oeuvre for years along the interface between nature and humankind on the one hand, and technological developments on the other. In 2021 she created the group of works of the Repräsentantinnen, who have been programmed with artificial intelligence. In these copies of herself, she heightens their previously–attained level of ability in an uncanny manner, inasmuch as the dolls even reproduce the mimicry of the artist and are constantly learning through interaction with the visitors.

Awakening is a state of becoming aware as well as being affected. It shows the moment of recognition, of "waking up", in which the perspective changes and new things become visible and possible.

Andrea Bowers‘s art is based on clear political and especially feminist orientations. Works such as It is Good to Remember that the Planet is Carrying You, Quote by Vandana Shiva (Ecofeminist Oak Branch Series) (2021) embed environmentally aware statements within a language of color and form resembling comic books. Applied to the ground of a brown cardboard meshwork, these harsh colors establish a contrast between nature and the strident clash of colors in our media culture.

In the oeuvre of Nevin Aladağ, installations as well as sculptures, video and performance become tools for investigating and conveying cultural encounters. The works Social Fabric, jumping (2022) and Social Fabric, shifting (2022) focus on the carpet as an everyday item as well as an indicator of social affiliation and personal identity. Separated into pieces and reassembled into new patterns, the carpets may be read as cultural collages. The words “jumping” and “shifting” point towards the constant changes in culture and identity which, in Aladağ’s works as well, cannot be frozen.

It is not paint and brush that are the tool of the concept artist Lawrence Weiner but language. In humorous contradiction, he formulates the slogan A pursuit of Happiness asap / Ein Streben nach Glück so bald wie möglich (2004), with which he characterizes the human urge for optimization and the wish for happiness. In Weiner’s formulation, the inspiring mantra seems more like the harsh instructions of a CEO to his team to optimize the product of bliss “as soon as possible.”

The art of Max Ernst is characterized by a great degree of creativity in handling his material. He transforms everyday life and the nature around him into fantasy–filled worlds of colors and swirls. On the basis of its geometrical forms, the painting Von der Liebe in den Dingen (1914) allows viewers merely to guess which “things” it is about. But the passion which brings earnestness to the experiment and to the investigation of the essential nature of the living is clearly evident. His art attributes to the object as well as to nature an agency and a character which, among other things, form the basis for various strategies for raising ecological awareness.

The entreaty addresses others to see, to act, to participate, and to organize. It calls for a conduct.

Indignation implies a perceived injustice to which one responds with indignation. Indignation can lead to resistance against existing structures.

The artist uses the techniques of video and photo collage, sculpture and performance to create fascinating narratives at the interface between fiction and natural history. From Gondwana to Endangered, Who is the Devil Now? (2020) takes its place in Macuga’s investigation of the impact of human intervention in the world of flora and fauna. In Macuga’s 3–D tapestry, the primal continent Gondwana is only a distant memory of the forest being consumed by flames. While a few animals attempt to flee the conflagration, others bravely hold onto their demonstration banners—even though their home seems already to be destined for utter destruction.

In the face of contemporary technologization and urbanization, Sturm (1915) speaks of a struggle between nature and humankind. In its investigation of the dynamic development of new technologies, the gloomy, human–formed world that dominates Paul Adolf Seehaus’ world can be compared with current science–fiction dystopias. This world leaves no space for organic, round and natural forms; thus even the waves take on geometric corners which bring to light the potential for injury and destruction.

The wind is whipping wildly and every muscle—whether of human being or horse—is tensed. Max Liebermann uses a large number of curved lines to electrify the scene of a sword–wielding rider in Attacke (1914). The energy of the horseman is visible, but the goal is not. It seems to be an assault on something indefinite and unknown. Created in 1914, the year when the First World War began, the work makes reference to what was then a blind euphoria concerning war. The Prussian spiked helmet, which did not meet the demands of modern warfare and was replaced during the First World War, emphasizes from a contemporary perspective the tragedy of a readiness to attack that is devoid of both opponent and meaningfulness.

In our pop culture, worlds of science fiction are often based on the cornerstone of the competition between technology and nature. A struggle which, in these visions of the future, is decided through the displacement of the organic through sterility, controllability and a fundamental “optimization” of what grows naturally. Daniel Scislowski’s graphic works Ein Pflanzen Shuttle fliegt eine Ast Station an (2014) and Ein Raumschiff und ein Pflanzen Shuttle fliegen durch den Kosmos (2014) present a picture of nature as strength and potential, beyond the technology–related fears of a humankind oriented towards optimization. Here it is the organic and uncontrollable which facilitates new developments and can be read both emotionally and literally as a mother ship.

Franz M. Jansen’s works are marked by dominant lines and diagonal directions. They form a labyrinthine network of black and white through which the recipient gaze must find its way in order to slowly disentangle the pictures. In the coal drawing Die brennende Stadt (1916), the lines seem to be tugging the motif in opposite directions. In Überall Mord (1920), they enwrap the scene in a quiet order. There arises a leaden stillness containing the expectation that the depicted persons are merely actors who could inhale at any moment and break out of their roles. The stylized clothing offers a calming distance to the horrors of actual violent crime.

Yael Bartana characterizes herself as an “observer” and “pre–enactor.” In her art, various media help to bring to the surface the shared unconscious of diverse social groups. For the work Patriarchy is History (2019), Bartana argues from a clear feminist attitude inasmuch as she endeavors to overwrite the structural inequality of the sexes with the ideal state of equality.

Monica Bonvicini’s oeuvre makes particular use of painting and installations, which are often created for the specific exhibition site and frequently deal with power structures and space. The works on paper exhibited here, such as Beauregard, Afternoon 2019 (2019), combine these themes in the depiction of the point of contact between nature and civilization. Representations of destroyed buildings now taken over by nature illustrate the quiet and slow struggle between the natural and the manmade, thereby delineating an idyll of destruction.

The title of Georg Herold’s sculpture The Human Factor (2009) addresses the question as to the essential nature of humanity. From philosophical discussions of morality past religious and spiritual debates on the existence of the soul to a comparison of the mental capacities of humans and machines by means of the Turing text: one of the deep–seated interests of people is in their own specialness. Herold transfers this theme to the terrain of art, which is founded in any case on the early modern comparison of artists with the divine creator. On the basis of the creation of the human figure out of carpentered blocks, the focus is not only on the human being but also on external appearance, which can imbue a heap of blocks with an aura of humanity.

The historical investigation of various cultural spaces formed Kader Attia’s interest in the notion of repair, which is closely connected with the occurrence of injury and the process of development. Culture, Another Nature Repaired (2014–present) updates the traditional vocabulary of bust and pedestal by means of natural materials. The result seems to be split between acknowledgement and brutality. The depiction is of a soldier with a face, deformed by war, which was hewn into wood by Senegalese artists on the basis of photographs.