Participating artists:Jana Ehls, Jonas Erler, Benjamin Friedle, Takeki Hayashida, Lucie Löchel, Anita Orlarescu, Heidi Specker, Stephan Stahn
Venue:Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne
Neumarkt 18-24
50667 Köln
www.kollwitz.de/RE: stands for ‘regarding’ [English], meaning ‘to refer to’ – and at the same time for ‘further reflection’ and
reinterpretation. During the 2025/26 academic year, Heidi Specker’s photography class at the HGB Leipzig engaged intensively with ‘Re: Kollwitz’. The result is 19 works in various media – ranging from sculpture to photography and film to installation. Eight of these works are now on display as part of the ‘Bildstörung’ series at the Kollwitz Museum in Cologne.
The works approach her from different perspectives: Kollwitz as an artist,
as a woman, as a witness to her times, or as a politically engaged individual. They draw on her
work, her artistic techniques, as well as her personal accounts in
diaries, letters and photographs. The result is a range of
engagement that are personal without remaining private. Some take up Kollwitz’s
visual language or motifs, whilst others examine the material conditions of her
work, the person behind the art, or gaps in her body of work. What unites them is the
attempt not merely to view Kollwitz from a historical perspective, but to re-examine her themes and her stance
from a contemporary perspective.
However distinctive Käthe Kollwitz’s works may be in their expression and message
, a look at both history and the present clearly shows just how deeply her
work is embedded in an ongoing artistic dialogue. This dialogue ranges from
a general thematic, motivic and technical affinity with the works of other
artists from all centuries, right through to specific references to Käthe Kollwitz by later
generations to Käthe Kollwitz.
In our new exhibition series ‘Bildstörung’, we showcase works by artists who
interact with Kollwitz’s works in various ways. Embedded within the
collection display and through direct juxtaposition, parallels are
become apparent; at the same time, familiar perspectives are challenged, new associations
and discourses are broadened.
Re: Kollwitz.
The photography class taught by Heide Specker at the HGB Leipzig is the second instalment of ‘Bildstörung’ in this
series.
