Martin Kippenberger - The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika' (1994)

Kippenberger's vast installation references Kafka's unfinished novel, in which the protagonist, Karl Rossmann, having travelled across America, navigates an immense employment recruiting centre, the biggest theatre in the world. Arranged on a reconstructed football field, the installation is comprised of work by other artists including Jason Rhoades, Tony Oursler and Donald Judd; classic twentieth-century furniture by designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Marcel Breuer; remnants from Kippenberger's previous exhibitions; and flea market acquisitions. The work is an absurd and touching testament to the vulnerability of the individual within the power dynamics of the social order. Reflecting Kippenberger's belief in the fundamental importance of relationships and dialogues, his final work also provides a witty critique of the position of the artist at the end of the twentieth century.

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Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective is the first major retrospective of the work of Martin Kippenberger (German, 19531997) to be mounted in the United States. One of the most significant and influential artists of our time, Kippenberger produced a complex and richly prolific body of work from the mid-1970s until his untimely death in 1997 at the age of 44. This large-scale exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, installations, multiples, drawings, photographs, posters, announcement cards, and books, offering a comprehensive examination of the artists expansive 20-year career. The exhibition will be on view in MoMA's Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Gallery, sixth floor, from March 1 to May 11, 2009. Kippenbergers installation The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika' (1994) is installed in the Museum's Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium.

Kippenberger's life and work were inextricably linked in an exceptional practice that centered on the role of the artist in the culture and within the system of art. With references, subjects, and sources as wide-ranging and diverse as his production, his work examined and expanded upon that role as he also cast himself as impresario, entertainer, curator, collector, architect, and publisher. Kippenberger drew from popular culture, politics, history, art, architecture, music, and his own life. He was an exceptional appropriator—transforming and challenging his subjects with incisive criticism, self-deprecating humor and formal invention. Working with the support of Estate Martin Kippenberger, as well as public and private collections in Europe and the United States, this first American retrospective offers new insights into the accomplishments and complexities of the artist's remarkable practice.

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