Dirk Luckow Books

As early as the 1960s, Nancy Spero's work was breaking ranks with the establishment. Her unique pictorial vocabulary and insistent political engagement was a far cry--and a loud cry--from the styles of abstraction that dominated the American art world at that time. She articulated and has continued to drive at themes of burning interest to protest against the Vietnam War, the alienation of society and violence against women, for example against Jewish woman under National Socialism and in the historical contexts of witch hunts. A Continuous Present pairs her War Series (1966-70), a cycle of anti-Vietnam War gouaches, with an overview of her work from the last decade. Between 1992 and 2001, Spero created infinite-seeming works on long horizontal and vertical bands of paper--a format borrowed from Egyptian papyrus rolls, Chinese scroll painting and antique friezes--populating them with female figures taken from mythology, various epochs and diverse cultures, giving them feminist momentum via highly charged or parodistic confrontations.

The book FUZZY DARK SPOT accompanying the exhibition at Falckenberg Collection / Deichtorhallen Hamburg examines in 56 positions how video, as an artistic medium, interprets social and media irritations and manipulations. This refers to television, to progressive movements by the counter-public during the 1970s, the use of video as a surveillance medium and means of artistic narration as a psychosocial mirror or instrument of self-optimization in the digital present. The great influence of video images on our collective memory and consciousness in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries turns doubts about an image, discomfort with the established, and distrust of claims to truth into important motives for artistic reflection. The title of the exhibition brings together these strands and describes a nebulous, fuzzy, obscure point, place or state. The term Fuzzy Dark Spot comes from an Internet forum where mold contaminating camera lenses is discussed. The exhibition curated by Hamburg-based video artist Wolfgang Oelze in the context of the Falckenberg Collection offers a comprehensive look at work by artists from Hamburg.00Exhibition: Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany (13.04. - 03.11.2019)

The opening of the Elbphilharmonie by Herzog & de Meuron inspired the Deichtorhallen Hamburg to explore new artistic avenues. For this exhibition and book project, acclaimed artists with a strong connection to architecture were invited to create artworks during the building's test phase. This initiative led to a diverse range of pieces, including photography, installations, sculptures, and films. Since modernism's inception, artists have responded to architectural environments, often blurring the lines between visual art, architecture, and design. Peter Buggenhout's large-scale installations reflect a dystopian yet picturesque world of construction, while Candida Höfer's large-format photographs capture the Elbphilharmonie's monumental essence, emphasizing its intricate details in the tradition of architectural photography. The exhibition also resonates with Minimal Art, a significant influence on contemporary art, as seen in works by Monica Bonvicini and Sarah Morris. Although the exhibition concept originated from the Elbphilharmonie, the artworks were developed independently, sharing a critical perspective that explores essential questions about aesthetics and the realities of life within the dialogue between architecture and fine art. Featured artists include Baltic Raw Org, Jean-Marc Bustamente, Janet Cardiff / George Bures Miller, Tacita Dean, Uli M. Fischer, Liam Gillick, Thomas Ruff, and Tomás Saraceno. The exhibition

The Viehof Collections at Deichtorhallen Hamburg showcases one of Germany's most significant private contemporary art collections across two venues: the Hall for Contemporary Art and the Falckenberg Collection in Hamburg-Harburg. Featuring over 950 works, the collection emphasizes German art from the post-war era to the present, including pieces from the Speck and Rheingold Collections. The exhibition highlights outstanding works by artists such as Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Candida Höfer, and Sigmar Polke, among others. Curated by Dirk Luckow, the presentation aims to foster dialogue between artistic and curated spaces, showcasing larger bodies of work with artist participation. This comprehensive exhibition reveals the collection's extraordinary range, covering movements from Minimalism, represented by Carl Andre and Dan Flavin, to the influential 1980s Cologne scene with Walter Dahn and Martin Kippenberger, as well as the Düsseldorf School of Photography with Struth and Ruff. The display also includes contemporary figurative art from the 21st century, featuring works by André Butzer, Peter Doig, and Neo Rauch, alongside numerous other notable artists. The exhibition runs from October 1, 2016, to January 15, 2017.

No artist of the 20th century garners as much public attention as Pablo Picasso, whose works draw large museum crowds and inspire a diverse array of artists. Since 1912, when Juan Gris created the Cubist portrait "Hommage à Picasso," Picasso's art has served as both a challenge and an incentive for generations of creators. Iconic pieces like "Les demoiselles d'Avignon" (1907) and "Guernica" (1937) have been reinterpreted in myriad ways, regardless of the artists' individual styles. The boundless imagination in Picasso’s work fosters ongoing dialogues between abstraction and figuration, artistic creativity, and political commentary. This extensive volume accompanies an exhibition marking the reopening of the renovated Nordhalle, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Deichtorhallen. Featured artists include Dia Al-Azzawi, Art & Language, Kader Attia, Donald Baechler, Georg Baselitz, Walead Beshty, Mike Bidlo, Erwin Blumenfeld, and many others, showcasing a wide range of interpretations and responses to Picasso's profound influence on contemporary art. The exhibition runs from January 4 to December 7, 2015, at Deichtorhallen Hamburg.

Harry Callahan (1912-1999) is regarded as one of the most innovative and influential 20th century American photographers. By amplifying the abstract tendencies of New Vision in a lyrical mode evincing great sensitivity, he was able to overcome the prevailing realist aesthetic in American photography. This retrospective presents Callahan's multi-faceted photographic oeuvre, the product of tireless and prolific creative labours over the course of nearly sixty years. With nearly 200 works, it shows the entire spectrum of Callahan's production.

Auf der Basis des analytischen Instrumentariums einer konzeptionell orientierten Kunst, die Elemente der lateinamerikanischen und der New Yorker Avantgarde vereint, hat Camnitzer eine eigenständige bildnerische Sprache entwickelt, deren besondere Eindringlichkeit sich erst im Prozess der Rezeption und durch das eingebrachte Wissen der Betrachtenden voll entfaltet. Camnitzers Kunst erzeugt mit spärlichen Erzählmitteln vielschichtige Deutungsmöglichkeiten. Sie wirft Fragen nach der gesellschaftlichen Verantwortung des Künstlers ebenso auf wie sie unsere Aufmerksamkeit auf die inhumanen Konsequenzen hegemonialer Bestrebungen lenkt. Camnitzers besondere Leistung besteht in einer Politisierung der Konzeptkunst, die im New York der 1960er Jahre eher apolitisch ausgerichtet war.

„Ich habe nie die Malerei zugunsten des Schachspiels aufgegeben (.)“. Dieses Zitat des Erfinders des Ready Mades, Marcel Duchamp, wirft die Frage auf: Lässt sich das Malerische auch als eine Sichtweise oder Denkform bestimmen? „Malerei ohne Malerei“ geht dieser Frage nach. Es wird eine Auswahl von Werken vorgestellt, in denen keine Malerei zu sehen ist, die aber nach malerischen Gesichtspunkten interpretiert werden können. In der systematischen Erkundung der Prinzipien der Malerei in den Kunstformen der Installation, der Fotografie, in digitalen Bildmedien und im Film macht das Buch auf die subtile Poetik, die uns im Kunstwerk anspricht, aufmerksam.