Peter Krueger Peter Krueger Art Bridge ARTISTS Art Bridge New York – Cologne – New York GALLERIES Things have been changing in art as they have been in other areas internationally, and COLLECTORS the changes that began warily have become dynamic, and global in scale. In the space of just half a century, Cologne has become a major player on the European and inter - ART HISTORIANS national art market. Together with its Rhine and Ruhr catchment, Cologne is a magnetic pole, a major European counterweight to New York, which remains the focus of the ART CRITICS Art Bridge international art scene. The period since 1989 has been an important one historically, with significant economic change in western and eastern Europe, and a boom in Berlin. ART ASSOCIATIONS But this has in no way diminished Cologne’s signi ficance as one of the key cultural ART FAIRS New York – Cologne – New York crossroads in Europe. “Art Bridge Cologne – New York – Cologne” reviews the artistic, economic and art AUCTIONS historical relations and ties that exist between the Cologne and New York art markets, Photo: Arno Jansen, Cologne and examines the creative and economic system we call art, in terms of its present MUSEUMS status and future potential. Over the last half century, Cologne and New York have had a decisive influence on the Peter Krueger, Cologne art world in America, Europe and Asia. Relations between the two cities were initially activated on an artistic level by Fluxus, Pop Art and Dada-inspired work of the Sixties Peter Krueger was born in 1948. In and Seventies. During the Eighties and Nineties, the two cities were similarly affected by the Seventies he worked in Berlin as the market forces that rule the art and exhibition worlds, and in turn the thinking of an electrical engineer, and remained artists, art dealers and exhibition curators has been transformed in the new market- in the city as an artist until 1989. driven media universe. Since then he has lived and worked In the interviews, essays and memoirs in this book, critics, artists, dealers, collectors, in Cologne as an author and artist, curators, exhibition organisers and museum directors explore the development and and as the German representative dynamism of the art market in Cologne and New York. These personal views and critical of Dr. Irene Lehr Art Auctions, Berlin. snapshots, covering the past four decades, are an approach to the celebrated Art Bridge He has travelled and studied in the New York – Cologne – New York, an attempt to assess it even if the various perspectives capitals of Europe and in North not only complement but sometimes even contradict each other. What this kaleidoscope America, was a visiting professor in implies is a correction of the usual art historical perspective, with its clear-cut success Denver, Colorado, and has published stories of museum art. In their place are the multiple dimensions of a much more a number of books. Peter Krueger broadly based system of production, supply, marketing and text. This makes alternative has exhibited widely in one-man and ways of reading official art history available. group shows in Germany and the If the essays and interviews in this volume range freely in their content and the positions Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Brazil they adopt, the arrangement of text and images is similarly arranged on several levels, and the US. creating a network of open references, relationships, commentaries and contrasts. Established Cologne and New York artists, dealers and museum staff have had a decisive impact on art history over the last fifty years. As the new century and millennium gets under way, and the global information society becomes a reality, it is important to consolidate the innovative microstructures of the art market and to strike a balance between the artistic and economic aspects. The fresh input of young artists and youthful, independent dealers either side of the Atlantic, in terms of the production and brokering of works, and the economic strategies and cultural contexts that accompany them, is of the first importance. So too is a critical sense, if art is to flourish, and a resolve to continue working creatively at an inter - national level. Art Bridge New York – Cologne – New York 50 YEARS OF TRANSATLANTIC DIALOGUE Photos: Peter Krueger, Abe Frajndlich Peter Krueger Art Bridge New York – Cologne – New York 50 YEARS OF TRANSATLANTIC DIALOGUE MUSEUM LUDWIG COLOGNE Edition: Peter Krueger 1 2 3 4 Each of the four motifs appears in an edition of 200, signed by the artist and numbered from 1 to 200. The lithographs are hand-printed in two colours on a Mailänder press at the Quensen workshop. The paper is handmade deckled Rives paper, 250 g/qm, format 10.03 by 8.85 inches (25.5 by 22.5 cm). The special edition of Art Bridge New York – Cologne – New York contains two graphic works, one each by Peter Krueger and Bernd Schwarzer. The price of these together with the book is 248 Euros (480 Deutschmarks) or $228. The lithographs may only be purchased together with the book. Distributed by: Art Office Peter Krueger, Cologne tel. +49/221/25 44 47 fax +49/221/25 44 47 Artcase (dialogue of cultures) Edition Gallas GmbH · Licence by Expo 2000, Hannover (World Exhibition) © by Dr. Klaus Gallas/EA Quensen and authors (see enclosed separate leaflet in the book Art Bridge New York – Cologne – New York) Published by: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen · Berlin Edited by: Peter Krueger, Cologne Copyright: © 2001 Peter Krueger English translation: © 2001 Fiona Hulse and Michael Hulse Typesetting and layout: BARTEN & BARTEN – Die Agentur GmbH, Simone Schütze, Cologne; Thomas Senft, Cologne; Angelike Schaedle, Cologne; Peter Krueger, Cologne Graphic supervision: Markus Haupenthal, RHEINgrafisch, Bonn Lithography: Ceynowa GmbH, Cologne; asmuth satz & druck, Cologne Printed and bound by: asmuth satz & druck, Cologne ISBN: 3-8030-3302-0 All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction on film, radio, television or audio recording systems, the right to excerpt and reprint, and the right of electronic data capture. Printed in Germany 6 New York - Cologne - New York Cologne - New York - Cologne FOREWORD To essay a comparison between exhibitions have transferred from Cologne and New York may at first MOMA or the Guggenheim to the glance appear presumptuous. The Museum Ludwig. Dealers such as one is the fourth largest city in Michael Werner, Max Hetzler, Germany, an economic centre in the Rudolf Zwirner, Paul Maenz, Monika west of the federal republic, closely Sprüth or Rudolf Kicken have had involved in processes of exchange galleries or close associates in New with our neighbours in France and York. Cologne has long been directly the Benelux countries – a city with a involved with the shifts in New York two-thousand-year history and a trends. New York artists have settled charismatic, lively present. The other in Cologne, and Art Cologne has is the biggest city on the US east been a major German fair for inter- coast, the pulsating heart of national contemporary art. America, the economic centre of In this book, Peter Krueger assesses the globe, the seat of the United the intimate relations of two cities Nations, and for decades the capital in the field of art. It is an important of contemporary art. Considered thing to have done at this time, aright, New York is beyond com- showing as it does what has been pare. Nothing quite equals it. achieved in recent decades and at Peter Krueger has nonetheless the same time calling upon us to attempted to see the two cities in make renewed efforts, so that this relation to each other, and readers shall not be a mere review of the of this book will find that there is past but a progress report. The N sufficient ground for the attempt. financial latitude available to the In contemporary art, both cities play arts is becoming more constricted E a leading role, afford the kind of wherever we look, but that circum- climate that artists value, and pos- stance should not allow us to ques- W sess institutions that both challenge tion the ongoing New York – and support the art scene. Ever Cologne – New York relationship. since Peter Ludwig began collecting Pop Art in the Sixties and inspired Y others with his interests, Cologne O has been developing numerous and diverse ties with New York art insti- R tutions. A network has come into being, linking galleries and artists, Norbert Burger K collectors and museums. Major Former Lord Mayor, Cologne 7 Peter Krueger, Cologne / New York 12 Art Bridge New York New York - Cologne - New York In art, too, the equilibrium has Over the past fifty years, Cologne contradictory perspectives. This dent dealers either side of the been shifting, at first cautiously, and New York have had a decisive implies correcting the customary Atlantic can introduce in order to then dynamically, and finally on a influence on the art world in Amer- viewpoint of art history, and dividing deliberate critically on the produc- global scale. Within half a century, ica, Europe and Asia. In the Sixties up the unambiguous success story tion of work, the trade in art, and Cologne has evolved into a capital and Seventies, through Dada, of art in the museums into a many- economic and cultural strategies of the European and international Fluxus and Pop Art, relations dimensional multiplicity of produc- and presentation, and creatively art market. However its weight is between the two locations were tion, communication, marketing, advance them on an international to be assessed at the present mo - still powered by factors primarily and textual complement. In this level. ment, Cologne – with its regional artistic and cultural.