Falckenberg Collection

The Falckenberg Collection includes about 2,000 works of contemporary art, with the emphasis on German and American contemporary art of the last 30 years. As of the mid-1970s, an art scene evolved in Hamburg and Berlin that gained increasingly in significance compared with the traditional strongholds of post-War German art, namely Cologne and Düsseldorf. Today, Berlin is one of the leading metropolises of current art. And it all started in Hamburg, where prominent artists such as Hanne Darboven, Anna Oppermann, Sigmar Polke and Dieter Roth lived and worked, where Punk ruled the roost as the music of young people who no longer believed in anything. A subversive form of essentially Neo-Dadaist art emerged that challenged the ruling system, relying in the process on irony, satire, acerbic scorn and even cynicism.

Artists representative of this current are, for example, Werner Büttner, Georg Herold, Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen, Andreas Slominski, and, at a later date, John Bock, Christian Jankowski, Jonathan Meese and Daniel Richter. They are all closely bound up with socially-critical US art, such as that produced by the likes of Vito Acconci, Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Victor Burgin, General Idea, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince, Jason Rhoades, Larry Sultan und Paul Thek. There are likewise clear links to European artists who share their outlook, such as Günter Brus, Öyvind Fahlström, Thomas Hirschhorn, Sarah Lucas und Franz West. The Falckenberg Collection offers a panoramic view of this strand of contemporary art, with its strong roots in counter culture. The Collection features work groups attesting to all the key positions involved.

The Falckenberg Collection and the exhibitions can be visited either during the previews or as part of a guided tour. Those are held regularly on Thursdays and Fridays at 6 p.m., Saturdays at 3 p.m., as well as Sundays at 12 and 3 p.m. Guided tours through the Collection are being held on Saturdays at 12 a.m.