Immer feste druff

Immer feste druff …

is an exhibition of artworks from the Rhineland private collection 'Slg. Wilhelm Otto Nachf.', whose collector wishes to remain unnamed so as not to stand in the way of the art and the artists. Its roots are in Cologne in the late 80s, early 90s. .

In 1986, Cologne's Museum Ludwig opened, and in addition, the Josef-Haubrich-Hof was home to the Kunsthalle at the time, and Walther König's bookstore became a focal point for the entire art world. In this respect, Cologne attracted widespread attention in the international art world. When the Wall fell in 1989 and the Bundestag decided to move from Bonn to Berlin, Cologne galleries increasingly shifted their focus to Berlin as well, where the new powerhouse was established with the first Berlin Biennale in 1998.

Immer feste druff could have been a good leitmotif for the Cologne of the 80s and 90s, linking the entire Cologne art scene, the countless exhibitions, the many young galleries, the evenings at Cafe Central and the rollicking nights at six pack or the Roxy.

The Kölnischer Kunstverein hosted unforgettable solo presentations: among others Anna and Bernhard Blume (Trautes Heim. Fotos aus dem wirklichen Leben), Georg Herold (Geld spielt keine Rolle) or Martin Kippenberger (Heavy Burschi), then, under Udo Kittelmann, Antony Gormley (Total Strangers), Carsten Höller (GLÜCK) and Thomas Grünfeld together with Rei Kawakubo (Déformation Professionelle). Female artists were hardly represented at that time. This changed with Monika Sprüth's gallery, which also became a central contact and contact point because of its painterly positions at the time. Günther Förg, Albert Oehlen, Werner Büttner and Christopher Wool could be seen at Max Hetzler's, and the opening of Jeff Koons' "Made in Heaven" in 1991 was like a kind of public festival with great international resonance. The year before, in 1990, Christian Nagel started at Friesenplatz with works by Cosima von Bonin. Not far away, Paul Maenz closed his gallery with a bang with Anselm Kiefer's poppy- and history-laden, lead-heavy Battle Bombers, which required security to protect them from the crowds at the opening. In the years before, Paul Maenz had launched Mülheimer Freiheit, where he showed solo exhibitions by Walter Dahn, Jiri Georg Dokoupil, and Rob Scholte, whose Mis en bouteille dans nos caves (1985) would become the collection's first artwork. Georg Herold followed as the second artist in the collection with Dürerhase (1984), and works by Walter Dahn, Günther Förg, and Isa Genzken were added at only short intervals.

Over the years, a collection has been formed as a subjective imprint of the Cologne art landscape of the time, which can now be seen for the first time in this form in Haus Mödrath.

The exhibition is supplemented by artists and works of art that directly followed this Cologne period and form an important focus of today's collection. These include Kai Althoff, John Bock, Gregor Schneider and Thomas Zipp.

Artists List:

Albert Oehlen, Andreas Schulze, Anna und Bernhard Blume, Antony Gormley, Blalla W. Hallmann, Christopher Wool, Fischli/Weiss, Georg Herold, Gregor Schneider, Günther Förg, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Isa Genzken, Jochen Lempert, John Bock, Joseph Beuys, Jürgen Klauke, Kai Althoff, Katharina Sieverding, Marcel Odenbach, Peter Duka, Rob Scholte, Roman Signer, Rosemarie Trockel, Siegfried Anzinger, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Zipp, Walter Dahn

For more information please visit Haus Mödrath.