Das Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts: Es kommt noch besser
Ein Dialog mit der Sammlung Marx
Eugen Blume/Catherine Nichols

Shortly before his death, Beuys created his sculpture “The End of the 20th Century”— four years before the fall of the Berlin wall. This existential interest in the future that survived all disappointments and aberrances of the 20th century forms the starting point for the new exhibition at the National Gallery, part of the State Museums of Berlin. Works from the Collection Marx and more recent positions are presented in ten chapters that take on the wording of Beuys’s eponymous sculpture “The End of the 20th Century” in an associative way, while simultaneously widening the scope of the title and calling it into question. The catalogue is based on the principle of the collage developed by the Berlin graphic design office cyan in collaboration with the editors specifically for the art works shown in the book and the selected texts. The different texts and text formats — from philosophy to poetry, reflecting the 20th century as a mental space — enter into a dialogue with the images. The exhibition is on view from September 13 to March 31, 2014, at the Hamburger Bahnhof.