From left, Andy Warhol, Five Brillo Boxes (3¢ off), 1963-64, 5 parts, each 33 x 40,6 x 29,2 cm; Andy Warhol, Kellogg’s Cornflakes Box, 1964, 63,5 x 53,3 x 43,2 cm; Andy Warhol, Mott’s Apple Juice Box, 1964, 46 x 76,3 x 56 cm; Andy Warhol, Brillo Soap Pads Box (white box), 1964, 43,4 x 43,4 x 35,7 cm.

Steven Parrino, Bradley "The Beast“ Field R.I.P., 1997, ca. 84,7 x 148 x 138 cm.

Aeronaut Mik, Middlemen, 2001, Videoinstallation, 21’.

James Turrell, Twilight Arch, 1991, 450 x 630 x 1776,5 cm.

MMK Museum
für Moderne Kunst
Frankfurt am Main
Domstraße 10
Frankfurt am Main
+49 (0)69 / 212 30 447
Yellow And Green
Positions from the collection
of the MMK
March 7-August 30, 2009

Thomas Bayrle, Martin Boyce, Angela Bulloch, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria , Thomas Demand, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Dan Flavin, David Hockney, Donald Judd, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Lozano, Teresa Margolles, Aernout Mik, Claes Oldenburg, Blinky Palermo, Steven Parrino, Sigmar Polke, Charlotte Posenenske, Robert Rauschenberg, Tobias Rehberger, Gerhard Richter, James Rosenquist, Fred Sandback, George Segal, Santiago Sierra, Markus Sixay, Keith Sonnier, Frank Stella, Armando Andrade Tudela, James Turrell, Andy Warhol, Franz West and others.

MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, which opened in 1991 as a museum dedicated to contemporary art, today boasts a collection that includes over 4,000 works of international art dating from the 1960s to the present. The MMK’s collection is not only very wide-ranging and of exceptional quality, but also unusually diverse. It has an internationally incomparable profile, indebted to both the unique nature of its backbone, the former Karl Ströher Collection, and the personal visions of its previous directors and curators. The history and range of the collection have established the MMK as one of the 21st century’s leading art museums. Over the next few years, an intense and programmatic focus on the collection will highlight the function and importance that a museum of contem-porary art carries today, as well as underline the opportunities it enjoys compared to other kinds of art institutions and the art market.

Today, the numerous masterpieces in the collection of the MMK and their countless different facets go well beyond what the museum could possibly show at any one time. In order to make accessible the numerous facets of this collection to its public, the MMK will concentrate on different focal points and thematic approaches, which will be presented in regular exhibitions over the coming years. In this process, works from different periods and varying media will be juxtaposed; familiar works with new acquisitions, classics with young positions, installation with individual work, film with painting, and text with image. The MMK will function not only as an institution for exhibitions and discourse, but also as a venue for an active historical and comparative understanding of art.

The first presentation from the MMK’s existing portfolio focuses on American and European art from the 1960s and the outstanding examples of Pop Art and Mini-malism that stem from the former Ströher Collection. These works enter into an excit-ing dialog with pieces produced in the subsequent decades as well as new acquisitions from recent years. In addition to some of the oldest works in the collection by Robert Rauschenberg and John Chamberlain, and classics of American Pop Art such as Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, George Segal and Andy Warhol, the exhibition shows positions in contemporary art as exemplified by Thomas Bayrle, Peter Fischli & David Weiss and Jeff Koons. Works by Thomas Demand, Aernout Mik and Tobias Rehberger suggest a strong reference to the world of everyday images and the media, illuminating how relevant such subject matter was not only to Pop Art, but still is to practicing artists today. Alongside minimalist works by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Lee Lozano, Fred Sandback, Blinky Palermo and Charlotte Posenenske we are showcasing pieces by Martin Boyce, Steven Parrino and Franz West from the 1990s. A particular highlight of the show is James Turrell’s Twilight Arch, which has been re-installed for the first time in a decade. Works by Teresa Margolles, Santiago Sierra and Markus Sixay illustrate how the formal aspect of Minimalism extends deep into the language of contemporary art. Moreover, the MMK is displaying new acquisitions, such as a slide projection by Armando Andrade Tudela and a light installation by Angela Bulloch, both of which are on view in the museum for the first time.

On May 30, 2009, alongside this presentation of the collection, we will be opening an extensive exhibition of works by American artist Sarah Morris (born 1967). In her work, which spans across film and painting, Morris takes up the formal idiom of Pop Art and Minimalism, but extends the range of media used, placing that vocabulary in a new discourse. Sarah Morris’ new film Beijing will be exhibited in a European premiere.