Jimmy DeSana & Paul P. Ruins of Rooms

In the organizer's words:

Ruins of Rooms looks at portraits from the perspective of Jimmy DeSana (1949-1990, US) and Paul P. (* 1977, CA).

Jimmy DeSana was a photographer whose photographs of the New York East Village scene in the early 1970s would later prove highly influential due to their sensitivity, playfulness and narrative joy. He began by shooting nudes against the uniform architecture of the suburbs where he had spent his childhood and continued to explore the human body throughout his artistic career. DeSana's extensive portfolio is characterized by twisted limbs, cloaked figures, saturated colors and surreal stagings. A fixture in the New York punk and no-wave scene as well as the queer fetish subculture of the late 1970s and early 1980s, he also dabbled in music photography and portrayed the likes of Yoko Ono, John Giorno, David Byrne and Debbie Harry, who, like him, were part of the city's avant-garde scene. His infection with HIV at the end of the 1980s led to a radical change in his artistic work as a result of the changes in his own body and the polarized political climate at the time of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: He moved away from the subject of the body and now created abstract, unreal images.

The Canadian artist Paul P. has been known for around 20 years for his melancholy drawings and paintings and, more recently, sculptures in the form of furniture. He finds most of the motifs for his portraits in the archives of gay magazines, especially from the period between the beginning of the gay movement and the start of the AIDS crisis. He thus draws on existing images of young gay men and stages them anew. His fragile and dreamlike works, reminiscent of 19th century portraiture, distance and liberate the subjects from their specific context and give them something mysterious that is as timeless as it is seductive. In his more recent work, the artist has further developed his expression of beauty full of cultural tragedy and presents his brooding motifs in the context of atmospheric abstraction, sombre landscapes and allegorical sculptures.

Ruins of Rooms not only presents a comprehensive overview of the work of both artists, but also brings them together in dialog for the first time.

Visit

Short dialogic tours with KW Guides
The KW Guides are in the exhibitions Monday to Friday during regular opening hours and offer short dialogic tours for our visitors. The KW Guides can be contacted at any time for individual tours or if you have any questions. The service is free of charge.

Simple language and questions to discover

Find our exhibition content in simple language. The texts can be accessed via the website or QR codes in the exhibition. For further inspiration, you will also find questions that allow you to discover the exhibition content in a playful way.

Tickets for the exhibitions can only be purchased on site.

Free admission every Thursday from 6pm to 9pm

Free admission on Museum Sunday Berlin, May 5, 24 with a pre-booked day ticket via museumssonntag.berlin

Price information:

Tickets can only be purchased on site and by card payment. The following cards are accepted: Girocard, Mastercard, VISA, Maestro, VISA Electron and ApplePay. Regular €10 / Reduced €6 Berlin Welcome Card holders €6 / Reduced €4.50 Reduction applies to school pupils, students, those doing federal voluntary service, BBK members, ALG 1 recipients, trainees, holders of the volunteer card and severely disabled persons (at least 50 % MdE) on presentation of proof. Free admission up to and including 18 years, for friends of KW and Berlin Biennale and KW Lover* every Thursday evening from 6-9 pm for all visitors every 1st Sunday of the month as part of Museum Sunday Berlin. Please book a ticket in advance via the booking system. Some tickets are available on site. Proof of eligibility holders (formerly berlinpass), recipients of ALG II matriculated students of the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and Berlin University of the Arts ICOM members Museumsbund members