Make Your Own Life: Artists In & Out of Cologne

Written by Nicholas Busch Tuesday, 29 March 2011 23:44

Philadelphia, PA – On view until July 30, 2006 for the first time in this seminal exhibition ICA presents a look at the mythic and art historical significance of Cologne, Germany, bringing together three generations of European and American artists in “Make Your Own Life: Artists In & Out of Cologne.”

In the 1980s and early-90s, the German city of Cologne was one of the most important centers for contemporary art in Europe, if not the world. With its many galleries, artist run-spaces, and artist bars, the city assumed a kind of mythological dimension, a place where artists came to show, sell, socialize, and distinguish themselves and their work on levels symbolic and real. Bringing together over twenty-five artists, from Cologne, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Berlin, “Make Your Own Life” explores one of the defining legacies of this time: the privileging of the artist’s life and context as a basis for understanding artistic practice. The open question of how one makes one’s art in relation to a set of communities, histories, market conditions and social attitudes was at the core of the Cologne scene. It was fiercely debated, dramatized in exaggerated behavior, art works and exhibitions alike, and it contributed greatly to the impression that Cologne was a place of extreme self-consciousness and audacity.

Artists included in this exhibition are: Bernadette Corporation, Cosima von Bonin, Merlin Carpenter, Stephan Dillemuth, Michaela Eichwald, Kim Gordon, Andrea Fraser, Charline von Heyl, Gareth James, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jutta Koether, Michael Krebber, Louise Lawler, Hans-Jorg Mayer, Lucy McKenzie, Nils Norman, Albert Oehlen, Christian Philipp Muller, Stephen Prina, Josephine Pryde, Blake Rayne, Reena Spaulings, Josef Strau, Rosemarie Trockel, Christopher Williams, Filmgruppe West and Christopher Wool, among others.