The museum Marta Herford presented an exhibition from March 4th to June 4th, 2017 on a topic that affects almost everyone: shame.

Hardly any other feeling has such a strong effect on those affected. You blush and just want to sink into the ground. Given the prevalence of nude images in the media, the issue seems more relevant than ever. But can an increasing “deterioration in shame” actually be diagnosed, or is the opposite more likely to be observed? With sensual, touching and humorous contributions, the star-studded exhibition explored the phenomenon, which is as familiar as it is difficult to explain.

Artists involved

Represented with works included: Ulf Aminde, François-Marie Banier, John Bock, Michaël Borremans, Louise Bourgeois, Miriam Cahn, Donigan Cumming, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Albrecht Dürer, Nezaket Ekici, Tracey Emin, EVA & ADELE, VALIE EXPORT, Gao Brothers, Josephine Garbe, Leigh Bowery / Fergus Geer, Toussaint Gelton (Kelton), Bruce Gilden, Nan Goldin, John Isaacs, Jamie Isenstein, Jürgen Klauke, Gustav Kluge, Eva Kotátková, Clemens Krauss, Oleg Kulik, Ulrike Lienbacher, Johannes Lingelbach, Sarah Lucas, Boris Mikhailov, Michael Najjar, Shahryar Nashat, Virgile Novarina, Yoko Ono, Oksana Pasaiko, Laure Prouvost, Jon Pylypchuk, Jan Symonsz Pynas, Lotte Reimann, Julian Rosefeldt, Lars Rosenbohm, Bojan Šarčevic, Gary Schneider, Mark Setteducati, Santiago Sierra, John Stark, Juergen Teller, David Teniers DJ, Miroslav Tichý, Larry Towell, Stefanie Trojan, Gillian Wearing, Erwin Wurm.

I was with the main motif from my series about one anti-authoritarian children's store in Kiel in 1970 also represented in the exhibition.

“Beautiful, even in art, is unthinkable without shame” (Hugo von Hofmannsthal)

Almost everyone knows it - the unpleasant feeling that arises when you are defenseless and exposed to someone else's invasive gaze. You would like to sink into the ground out of shame. The German word shame is derived from “skem”, which means “disappearance” and describes the core of this feeling. As one of the most violent affects, shame is expressed not only in the desire to disappear, but paradoxically at the same time in the opposite tendency to attract attention to oneself. This is most clearly visible when blushing: the skin reacts to an internal, psychological state and thus exposes the vulnerable side of the shamed person.
Given the widespread prevalence of nude images in films or advertising and sometimes naively uninhibited exhibitionism on television or on the Internet, the topic seems more relevant today than ever. Shame arises not only in sexual contexts, but also when one feels that one does not meet one's own or social standards. Beauty flaws, poverty or social exclusion can also cause an intense feeling of shame or embarrassment.
The exhibition asks what (at all) still shames or provokes today. In view of this sometimes uninhibited freedom of movement, is there a need for special “equipment” or can viewing and sharing intimacies create a feeling of community in another way? Is there actually an increasing “decrease in shame” or, on the contrary, is it actually possible to diagnose a worsening of modesty and taboos? And what role do artists play in this context – as sensitive observers of social processes, radical provocateurs or self-ironic border crossers?

Excerpt from the introductory text of the exhibition catalogue, courtesy of the Museum Marta Herford