A look back in anger, Miriam Cahn’s painting of ethical responsibility

In her work, Miriam Cahn condenses contemporary debates, current hotbeds of conflict, and pressing social problems into memorable key images. In her case, everything is a key work. They give us a visual key to our own thinking. They seduce, they impress, they shock, and they settle into memory. Painting shows us what the artist herself finds scandalous and worthy of consideration. It guides our gaze: everything that is important stands out, whether that is eyes, genitals, the heart region, amputated limbs or gesticulating hands. Everything that is particularly bright or dark, particularly colorful or has contrasting contours, is what we are not supposed to avert our gaze from. The picture often looks back in the process. For most of the time Miriam Cahn's figures are oriented frontally - rarely in profile. They stand en face in the picture, seek our gaze, become the opposite and their empty or piercing eyes demand a reaction. They make it impossible to glide over them indifferently, to let our gaze wander unconcerned. Their faces, no matter how summary, express emotional states and seek reflection in the other person - in us. In a cross-section of the work, the speaker will illuminate this process in selected works.

Dr. phil. Kathleen Bühler was born in 1968, studied art history, film studies and philosophy and completed her doctorate at the University of Zurich on the experimental film work of Carolee Schneemann (Marburg 2009). She currently is chief curator at the Kunstmuseum Bern. Previously she worked as a curator and research assistant in various Swiss art museums and has written exhibition reviews for the feature section of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, as well as regular contributions on international contemporary art to newspapers, magazines and exhibition catalogues.

Ticket included in the entrance fee. Please take notice of our current safety guidelines.

The lecture is in German. It will be recorded and provided on YouTube afterwards. The event is part of a series in cooperation with the Art History Department at the University of Siegen and the Art History Institute at the University of Cologne.

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