Breakfast and Commission Viewing | Philipp Gufler

Just in time for the opening weekend of "Various Others", Museum Brandhorst presents the second edition of the "Flag Commission", for which artists play on the flags in front of the museum. This year the artist Philipp Gufler, who lives in Munich and Amsterdam, could be won for the project.

During a morning vernissage, Philipp Gufler will personally introduce the project in conversation with Monika Bayer-Wermuth, Chief Curator of Museum Brandhorst. Coffee and light food will be served.

With the “Flag Commission,” Museum Brandhorst presents specially commissioned artworks in the neighborhood of the Maxvorstadt district. Artists will use the flags in front of the museum to create interventions for the public space. Starting in September 2023, Philipp Gufler will occupy the space with a new work in which he recontextualizes queer history. He uses the visual impact of the flag medium to depict the jurist and journalist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in Pop Art aesthetics. Ulrichs coined the term “Urning,” which for the first time used a positive self-designation to formulate queer identity, and he demanded impunity for same-sex love. Gufler links this notable historical reference to a significant poster campaign by the initiative Act Up, which gained notoriety in 1995 for its protest against local Bavarian politicians. He updates the AIDS awareness campaign and creates a link between the historical treatment of queer identity and its relevance within current debates.

Philipp Gufler combines various media in his artistic approach, including screen prints on fabrics and mirrors, artist books, performances and video works.