Confrontations. Pairings from the Collection

Press preview: 21 October 2025, 11 a.m.
Opening: 22 October 2025, 7 p.m.
Duration: 23 October 2025 – 27 September 2026

You are warmly invited to a press preview on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, 11 a.m.

Please obtain accreditation by no later than 11 a.m. on October 20, 2025 at presse@museum-brandhorst.de.

Program

Inaugural address | Anton Biebl, Director Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

Inaugural address | Achim Hochdörfer, Director, Museum Brandhorst
Introduction | Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth, Chief Curator, and Lena Tilk, Research Associate

Following the introductions
Opportunity for questions to the curators
Exhibition viewing
Opportunity for film and photo recordings in the exhibition

“Confrontations. Pairings from the Collection” brings together works from Museum Brandhorst’s holdings that, at first glance, seem to share neither an art-historical nor a formal relationship. The exhibition reveals how contrasts, contradictions, and unexpected resonances can generate productive tension—both aesthetically and socially. Rather than prescribing fixed interpretations, it opens up spaces for perception, emotion, and reflection, inviting visitors to trace their own connections and to question familiar ways of seeing.

A Christmas tree made of steel (Philippe Parreno) encounters a single red child’s shoe (Robert Gober); a photographic series from Venice (Tarrah Krajnak) meets a brightly painted rod (André Cadere); a giant Black Hulk action figure (Arthur Jafa) is placed next to a small winner’s podium (Rosemarie Trockel). It is precisely in these encounters that tension emerges—at times emotionally moving, at times humorous, at times captivating.

Encounters

Each work of art unfolds its meaning not only through interaction with the object placed opposite it, but especially through the individual perspectives of the viewers. The perception of art is not static; it responds to contexts and surroundings. In this way, each of the “Confrontations” carries the potential for a new encounter, one that also allows for contradictions. In this sense, confrontation presents itself not only as friction but also as an opportunity for openness and transformation.

Perspectives

At the heart of the show are the artists’ individual works, each bringing their own history, practice, and conditions of creation. Only in dialogue do new readings emerge, revealing what art knows to tell itself and us beyond art-historical narratives. Which stories come to the fore and which recede? Which perspectives shift? And what do the confrontations reveal about our present—shaped by social tension, political polarization, and cultural upheaval?

“Affective proximity is a thing that happens when two things come together. Certain things seek to be next to other things.”

Arthur Jafa in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2020.

A conceptual point of reference is the practice of the American artist Arthur Jafa, whose artwork is extensively represented in the Brandhorst Collection. In many of his pieces, it is the intelligent yet striking montage of starkly contrasting imagery that captivates viewers. He himself uses the term “affective proximity” for this kind of juxtaposition, a phrase coined by the British artist John Akomfrah. One gallery of the exhibition is dedicated to such inherent juxtapositions in the works of Jafa, as well as those of other artists in the collection. Beyond that, we invited Arthur Jafa to contribute his own “Confrontation” from our holdings. For this, he selected Andy Warhol’s “Diamond Dust Shadow” (1979) and Richard Prince’s “Live Free or Die 3” (1987).

The exhibition brings together fifty-five works by thirty-nine artists, encompassing a wide range of positions, styles, media, and formats. These include eight new acquisitions—among them Louis Fratino, “Garden at Dusk” (2024), and Philippe Parreno, “Silent Transformation (Anathema)” (2022)—as well as thirteen works from the Brandhorst Collection that have never been shown before, such as Richard Hamilton, “Kent State” (1970), and Rosemarie Trockel, “Untitled” (1984). Each work is accompanied by a text that provides background information on practice and context. It is not the museum that constructs a definitive interpretation; rather, visitors themselves enter into dialogue with the works, create connections, and allow themselves to be drawn into moments of friction and surprise.

With works by

Monika Baer, Nairy Baghramian, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Alexandra Bircken, James Lee Byars, André Cadere, Nicole Eisenman, Jana Euler, Louis Fratino, Lee Friedlander, Robert Gober, Richard Hamilton, Keith Haring, Rachel Harrison, Damien Hirst, Arthur Jafa, Mike Kelley, Tarrah Krajnak, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Tala Madani, Mario Merz, Tatsuo Miyajima, Philippe Parreno, Pope.L, Richard Prince, Raymond Saunders, Jim Shaw, Amy Sillman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Shin Yanagisawa

Curated by

Monika Bayer-Wermuth, Chief Curator, Museum Brandhorst, and Lena Tilk, Research Associate, Museum Brandhorst

With contributions by

Katharina Fischer, Team Assistant, Museum Brandhorst; Dina Kagan, Curatorial Student Assistant, Udo and Anette Brandhorst Foundation; Franziska Linhardt, Curator, Museum Brandhorst; and Benedikt Seerieder, Curator, Museum Brandhorst; with a special contribution by Arthur Jafa.

Program

Opening: October 22, 2025

On opening night, DJ Ipek will perform a DJ set and get the audience in the mood for the exhibition with her music. DJ Ipek, a.k.a. Ipek Ipekcioglu, is an internationally successful and award-winning DJ, producer, curator, and queer activist based in Berlin.

Playlist for the Exhibition

To accompany the exhibition “Confrontations,” the actress Luisa Gaffron has curated a playlist that sets the mood for visitors with confrontational, surprising, and moving encounters with art.

Long Thursday | until 8 p.m.

Dialogues and themed tours of the exhibitions, creative workshops with artists, as well as drinks and music in the café

5:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Saturday

Activities for children and families, as well as overview tours of the exhibitions in German and English

2 p.m. to 4 p.m. | Kids Factory | Workshops for children and families

2 p.m. | Overview tour in English

2:30 p.m. | Family tour

3:30 p.m. | Overview tour in German

Sunday

Dialogues on art and creative workshops for everyone on 1-Euro Sunday

11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. | pi.lot project | Young art experts present their favorite works | every first Sunday of the month

1 p.m. to 4 p.m. | Art information: Dialogues in the galleries

1 p.m. to 4 p.m. | Open Factory for everyone

Holiday workshops: | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, on occasion until 6 p.m.

Fall vacation: November 4 to 7, 2025 | ages 12 and up

Easter vacation: March 30 to April 2, 2026 | ages 6 to 12 | April 7 to 10, 2026 | ages 12 and up

Pentecost holidays: May 26 to 29, 2026 | ages 6 to 12 | June 1 to 3, 2026 | ages 12 and up

Summer holidays: August 3 to 7, 2026 | ages 6 to 10 | August 10 to 14, 2026 | ages 8 to 12 | August 17 to 19, 2026 | ages 12 and up

Listen Up | An Audio Guide by Young People

To accompany the exhibition “Confrontations,” an audio guide by young people will be created during the fall vacation workshop. With the support of artists and authors, young people will write audio contributions on the various “Confrontations.” Together with speakers and sound artists, the contributions will be recorded in the studio. In this way, young perspectives will be incorporated into the official audio guide for the exhibition.

All dates can be found in our calendar on the website.

We look forward to your coverage.

#MuseumBrandhorst

#Confrontations