The experience of the last two COVID-19 years reveals that the less physical and social a society is, the more present the human body becomes, even if only as an image in media and visual culture. However, anyone who exhibits artistically formed nudity should be aware that it is not "natural" but the product of a complex process. What a body is and what it looks like, what it is allowed to look like, people talk about it all the time. Naked bodies are political. But how exactly? Who is looking at whom? Is it a liberation to show yourself? Or also a compulsion, an expectation? Which body image is the dominant one at a certain time, in a certain place? With its variety and depth of exhibited artwork, the Miettinen Collection can provide answers at its show TOUCH ME at Kunstraum Potsdam – more than a hundred works from many eras can be seen – it's about nudity in the context of ideals, self-determination or sexuality.
Nudity conceals and blurs, reveals, attracts and repels. The nude is the oldest genre of art and also the most enigmatic. To this day, it builds vulnerable connections across the deep divide between high art and pornography. Such works can be both at the same time: erotic source of inspiration and work of art.
It is precisely this tightrope walk that the exhibition TOUCH ME aims to demonstrate. Various aspects are used: nudity in the context of ideals, self-determination or even homosexuality are just a few points that are addressed.
The artworks are part of the Miettinen Collection.
Based on a text by Boris Pofalla.
Opening: Saturday, 12 February 2022, 14:00 – 18:00.
Artists: Patrick Angus, Alexander Basil, Katherine Bernhardt, Willi Baumeister, Amoako Boafo, Elina Brotherus, Sophie Calle, Miriam Cahn, William N. Copley, Rainer Fetting, Tom of Finland, Oskar Gutheil, David Hockney, Paul Hutchinson, Jürgen Klauke, Ville Kylätasku, Leiko Ikemura, Brandon Lipchik, Markus Lüpertz, Danica Lundy, Hans-Jörg Mayer, Bjarne Melgaard, Kirsi Mikkola, Athena Papadopoulos, A.R. Penck, Raymond Pettibon, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Aurora Reinhardt, Janne Räisänen, Jyrki Riekki, Thomas Ruff, Pola Sieverding, Henning Strassburger, Iiu Susiraja, Mari Sunna, Barthélémy Togou, Grace Weaver, David Wojnarowicz, Sonja Yakovleva
Source: Kunstraum Potsdam, Waschhaus
Kunstraum Potsdam
c/o Waschhaus Potsdam gGmbH
Schiffbauergasse 4d
14467 Potsdam
kunstraum@waschhaus.de
Tel. 0331 730 989 93
Opening times:
Wednesday – Sunday
13:00 – 18:00