Neue Nationalgalerie

Jannis Kounellis

An exhibition of the National Gallery, made possible by the Friends of the National Gallery and the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. With the friendly support of the Greek Culture Foundation in Berlin.

The exhibition shows works of the Greek-Italian artist Jannis Kounellis, specifically assembled to match the architecture of the Upper Hall of the Mies van der Rohe Building. Among the European artists who fundamentally changed art in the 1960s, Kounellis is one of the few who are still working today. At the age of 20, the artist moved to Rome. There, at the hub of occidental art, he began to develop an artistic oeuvre which, at first sight, has little to do with this tradition. After an initial series of paintings with numbers and letters, today Kounellis works with materials not generally used in art - gas, wool, or coffee, for instance - which he combines into mysterious installations. Past and memory play an important role in his works. By staging them in ever changing ways, the artist subjects his works to a constant metamorphosis.