Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
April 2022
April 29–August 28, 2022
The Neue Nationalgalerie presents Barbara Kruger's first institutional solo exhibition in Berlin and in Germany for over ten years. For Please laugh / Please cry, Barbara Kruger is developing a site-specific text installation for the Neue Nationalgalerie’s exhibition hall that addresses the political and social effects of social media. The intervention will occupy the entire floor of the exhibition space and invites public discourse.
The conceptual artist has been known since the 1970s for her large-format graphics featuring sharply worded statements or short texts, which she uses to interrogate common social stereotypes from a feminist and consumption-critical perspective. As an homage to architect Mies van der Rohe and his famous Berlin building, the essential parts of the architecture will remain untouched by Kruger’s artistic intervention. From a distance, visitors may not even notice the exhibition; only when they enter the building itself do they truly become aware of it. The exhibition has completely preserved the visual connection between the interior and exterior space. At the same time, the graphic impact of Kruger’s text work, reduced to the colors black, white and red, creates a strong contrast with the architecture.