In the organizer's words:

EXHIBITING NETWORKS
A study day on the occasion of the exhibition Five Friends. John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly

The event is free of charge. Please register at events@museum-ludwig.de by 5.12.2025

For a long time, artworks and objects were the main protagonists in art exhibitions. They were used to illustrate artistic developments and thematic or regional focuses. Accordingly, common formats such as retrospectives, group exhibitions or motif histories have become established. But what does it mean when, in the last two decades, exhibitions have increasingly focused on the networks and systems in which the works and objects were created and continue to exist? Are the works and objects receding into the background in favor of their networks of production, authorship and distribution? How can the works and objects be staged as representatives of networks? And what does such a shift in focus mean for established exhibition formats and displays?

Program:

Thursday, 11.12.2025, 18:00, MUSEUM LUDWIG/FILMFORUM

KunstBewusst lecture:
Isabelle Graw (Frankfurt, Hochschule für Bildende Kunst-Städelschule)
Beneficial friendships in the art world. Between affection and calculation
Admission: 4€ reg. / 2€ con.

Friday, 12.12.2025, 10-17.30h, MUSEUM LUDWIG/FILMFORUM

From 10h Admission and welcome coffee

10:30-11:00h
Yilmaz Dziewior, Stefanie Heraeus, Christian Spies
Welcome and introduction

11:00-12:00h
Stephanie Weber (Curator for Contemporary Art, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich)
Friendship, antagonism and exile in the exhibition "But live here? No thanks. Surrealism + Antifascism" at the Lenbachhaus

12:00-13:00h
Yilmaz Dziewior and Kerstin Renerig
Discussion about the curatorial concept of the Fünf Freunde exhibition

13:00-14:00h
Lunch break

14:00-15:00h
Tour of the exhibition Five Friends. John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly

15:00-16:00h
Maren Butte (Institute for Media and Cultural Studies, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)
Connected Movements: Merce Cunningham and the topology of aesthetic relations

16:00-17:00h
Dirk Hildebrandt (Institute of Art History, University of Cologne)
Broken Relations? Asger Jorn and the networks of the post-war period

17:30h
End of the event

A study day of the Master's program Curatorial Studies of the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Institute of Art History of the University of Cologne with the Museum Ludwig, supported by the Rudolf-August Oetker-Stiftung.

Price information:

The event is free of charge. Please register at events@museum-ludwig.de by 5.12.2025