Art & Architecture

Art

Art and apple trees at documenta (13)

Person riding a bike with documenta banner in background

Every four years, the city of Kassel is transformed into a global art capital during the documenta contemporary art fair. The event may be a little ways off, but preparations are already in high gear.

Destination Germany 2012

Art

A copy of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa painting is displayed at Madrid's El Prado Museum

First copy

Spanish art curators identify what they think is the earliest copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Digging to give the name a face

Berlin

Berlin today

Despite the tragedies of the past, the German capital has a magic pull on young Israeli artists.

Germany remembers Holocaust on Auschwitz liberation anniversary

Euromaxx deluxe

Discover Europe's most unique architecture.

Discovering a museum's seldom viewed treasures

It's like playing football, says museum director Andreas Bluhm: Some paintings play first string while others warm the bench - or the cellar. Cologne's Wallraf Richartz Museum has been clearing out its cellar.

Czech artist plans to 'recycle' Sarrazin's controversial book

A Czech artist has urged people to drop off a controversial German bestseller at collection points. He plans an art installation of thousands of copies, to be 'recycled' afterwards. Critics are reminded of Nazi practice.

Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Protest art

From the revolutions in the Arab world to the Occupy Movement, 2011 was the year of demonstrations. That's reason enough to let art have something to say about it. Frankfurt Kunstverein's exhibition "Demonstrations. How Normative Orders Develop" shows which forms protests can take - from iconic demonstrations to all the little ballyhoo.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Folk for show

The Hambach Fest (Hambach Festival) on May 27, 1832 saw the first public protest in which demonstrators demanded the unification of all the German states, conveyed by the flag with Germany's national colors (black, red and yellow). Officially, however, the event at the Hambach Castle ruins had to give the appearance of being a folk festival rather than something political.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Oath as pressure

At the beginning of the French Revolution in June 1789, the demonstrators chose a particular way of applying pressure: They pledged "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established." The so-called Tennis Court Oath contributed to the fall of the monarchy.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Against the government

A group of people holding signs and chanting slogans faces off with armed police. This picture was taken in 2009 at a protest in Thessaloniki. People are still taking to the streets in Greece to demonstrate against the austerity measures of their government.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Glossy images

This barrier of South Korean police look as though they're part of a scene from a film - but the photo is just one of many documentary images by Noh Suntag of Seoul.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

The accoutrements of protest

Posters, flags and banners show up at nearly every demonstration. Most have demands or slogans written across them; many are painted. Greek performance artist Yorgos Sapounzis attached colorful banners onto buildings in Athens in 2009.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Fun or serious?

Considering the protests in Greece, this image almost seems political. But artist Christodoulos Panayiotou gathered these pictures of Carnival in Cyprus from 1970 to 2008 into his "Wonder Land" slide show installation.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

From politics to pop

She's been a pop icon for ages, but the original image of this female fighter holding the French flag by Eugène Delacroix - entitled "Liberty Leading the People" - was created during the July Revolution of 1830. Now the image graces everything from album covers to cover pages and puzzles.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

The non-political masses

What does this picnic have to do with a demonstration? Massimo Vitalis took this photo on July 14 - the day commemorating the storming of the Bastille in 1789, and which has long been a national holiday in France. The history surrounding that date doesn't seem to interest many in Paris' Parc du Luxembourg nowadays, however.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

Political flashmob or party?

An apparently non-political group of people appears on this image. But how quickly a party can become a spontaneous protest! The Occupy Frankfurt Movement demonstrated in front of this exhibition's museum because the group believed the show was preventing protests by locking them away within the exhibition space.
Demonstrations - from the street to the museum

On to the street!

The exhibition is only partially taking place in the museum. Performances in Frankfurt are supposed to get people out onto the street. Under the title "Burning Beasts," artist Claudia Bosse asks people to work together in investigating new forms of protest. This photo shows how she practiced a civilian uprising at the 2011 Quadriennale in Prague. The show in Frankfurt runs through March 25.