Select works from the HGN Collection, com­ple­mented by rep­re­sen­ta­tive loans from young art­ists, en­tered into an ex­cit­ing di­a­logue ques­tioning the way we ex­pe­ri­ence light and dark­ness. Sculp­tures, in­stal­la­tions, as well as films, pho­to­graphs, music, and per­for­mances of­fered a va­ri­e­ty of an­swers, some sen­su­ous, some as­so­cia­tive or poetic, in­vit­ing vis­i­tors to wit­ness a jour­ney through the night from dusk to dawn and to stroll through count­less shades be­tween dark­ness and light.

“Close-up Cuba” em­pha­sized Hans Georg Näder’s very per­son­al view of the Caribbean island. The col­lec­tor stayed there many times, vis­it­ing art­ists’ studios and en­gag­ing in a more and more in-depth di­a­logue with the art­ists. The seven po­si­tions on con­tem­po­rary Cuban art shown in the ex­hi­bi­tion shed light on socio-po­lit­i­cal ques­tions, ev­ery­day life in a so­cial­ist coun­try, and the fall­outs of co­lo­nial­ism.

Newton und Drtikol 03: Exhibition view

Helmut Newton (1920 — 2004) and František Drtikol (1883 — 1961) are rep­re­sen­ta­tive of two dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions within nude pho­to­graphy. Both are con­sid­ered as trail­blaz­ers for their re­spec­tive styles. The jux­ta­po­si­tion of 140 pho­to­graphs cre­ated a di­a­logue be­tween the art­istic visions of both pho­to­graphers and targeted their thematic pri­or­i­ties.