MIS(S)TREATED - MORE THAN YOUR MUSE

22. February – 8. August, 2025

KUNSTHALLE BREMEN

Curators: New Perceptions (young curators team) and Jessica Fritz
Project Coordination New Perceptions: Dina Koper

New Perceptions are: Ediz. Altunöz, Stella Beßlich, Marleen Dalinghaus, Musa Kinteh, Noemi Kpofonde, Mia Kuntze, Emily Kunusch, Seda Kurtoglu, Charlotte Lewe, Eva Natenzan, Lenja Potthast, Jakob Reipschläger, Nathan Rubbe

Download the exhibition booklet (German) here

details & installation views, THE FIRST SUPPER (2023), wallpaper 340 x 230cm

copyright of all photos: Isabell Spengler / MATERNAL FANTASIES 

MIS(S)TREATED - MORE THAN YOUR MUSE

Exhibiting Artists:

Christa Baumgärtel, Vivien Bendlin, Charlotte Berend-Corinth, Mary Cassatt, Elif Celik, Talia Chetrit, Camille Claudel, VALIE EXPORT, Nan Goldin, Eva Gonzalès, Hannah Höch, Käthe Kollwitz, Marie Laurencin, Margit Manz, MATERNAL FANTASIES, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Shirin Neshat, Fatma Özay, Yoko Ono, Natalie Paneng, Clara Rilke-Westhoff, Ulrike Rosenbach, Razan Sabbagh, Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld, Ngozi Ajah Schommers, Cindy Sherman, Floria Sigismondi, Taryn Simon, Sibylle Springer, Gabriele Stötzer, Hana Usui, Suzanne Valadon, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Carrie Mae Weems

In its new exhibition, the New Perceptions team of young curators is working with curators from the Kunsthalle to address the topic of the representation of female artists in the Kunsthalle. In doing so, it is focussing in particular on feminist positions. The focus is on works from the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen. complemented by selected loans of contemporary art.

"Why have there been no great women artists?" This provocative question was posed by US art historian Linda Nochlin in 1971, laying the foundation for feminist art historv. In her essay, she was one of the first to examine how women artists have been structurally discriminated against and excluded from exhibitions and museums. One of the consequences of this has been that women have long been popular subjects, but rarely figured as artists. Though the situation has improved somewhat over the past 54 years - thanks to ongoing struggles for women's rights, which also extend into the cultural sector - works by women artists are still underrepresented in museums, including the Kunsthalle Bremen.

In the exhibition "Mis(s)treated", the New Perceptions team of young curators, together with curators from the Kunsthalle, therefore exploring for the first time the representation of female positions in the museum. In doing so, it draws attention to feminist perspectives that are rarely included in the permanent exhibition. Works from the collection of the Kunsthalle - many of which have rarely or never been displayed - are presented alongside loans from contemporary women artists, filling in some of the gaps and offering previously missing perspectives.

The exhibition explores how since the 19th century women artists have gradually claimed their space, breaking free from male-dominated art history and enriching both the art world and societal debates with their unique perspectives. Themes such as the body, identity, gender roles, care work and sexualized violence, which might otherwise have been mostly ignored, are brought to the forefront.

Text in German & More information, materials, interviews under: Kunsthalle Bremen