On Everyone’s Lips. From Pieter Bruegel to Cindy Sherman
Mouth, lips, tongue, and teeth; speech, pain, and screaming; eating, devouring, spitting, and spewing; lust and passion: The oral cavity is a literally stimulating bodily zone. Not only have science and medicine always been involved in the exploration of the oral cavity, but also art and cultural history, from antiquity to the present. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg traces this broadly diversified path of the history of the motif within the frameworks the exhibition On Everyone’s Lips. From Pieter Bruegel to Cindy Sherman. With over 250 works of art by, among others, Albrecht Dürer, Pablo Picasso, Max Klinger, Marina Abramović, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois, it is the most comprehensive exhibition on the theme of the oral cavity in art in Germany to date.
The broadly conceived exhibition is devoted to monster mouths (Alfred Kubin) and vampire bites (Edvard Munch), considers the mouth as a Hellmouth and gateway to the “world-innerspace” (Pieter Bruegel). Dental culture, in turn, is illuminated in a variety of ways, from the tooth breaker in Jan Steen’s work and the depiction of the patron saint of dentists, Apollonia, in the work of Andy Warhol to tooth jewelry from non-European cultures. Mona Hatoum penetrates into the esophagus, while artists such as Man Ray and Anselmo Fox capture their breath in glass, soap, or chewing gum bubbles. And finally, the aesthetics of the lips, heightened in the kiss and oral libido, is a subject that Wolfgang Tillmans, Natalia LL, Picasso, Marilyn Minter, and many others address with their works in the exhibition. On Everyone’s Lips comprises paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, drawings, prints, and video art, juxtaposed with individual exhibits from ethnological and scientific collections, film and advertising, music and literature.
The exhibition On Everyone’s Lips has been curated by Uta Ruhkamp and developed in cooperation with the cultural scholar Hartmut Böhme and the dentist Beate Slominski.
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Mouth, lips, tongue, and teeth; speech, pain, and screaming; eating, devouring, spitting, and spewing; lust and passion: The oral cavity is a literally stimulating bodily zone. Not only have science and medicine always been involved in the exploration of the oral cavity, but also art and cultural history, from antiquity to the present. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg traces this broadly diversified path of the history of the motif within the frameworks the exhibition On Everyone’s Lips. From Pieter Bruegel to Cindy Sherman. With over 250 works of art by, among others, Albrecht Dürer, Pablo Picasso, Max Klinger, Marina Abramović, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois, it is the most comprehensive exhibition on the theme of the oral cavity in art in Germany to date.
The broadly conceived exhibition is devoted to monster mouths (Alfred Kubin) and vampire bites (Edvard Munch), considers the mouth as a Hellmouth and gateway to the “world-innerspace” (Pieter Bruegel). Dental culture, in turn, is illuminated in a variety of ways, from the tooth breaker in Jan Steen’s work and the depiction of the patron saint of dentists, Apollonia, in the work of Andy Warhol to tooth jewelry from non-European cultures. Mona Hatoum penetrates into the esophagus, while artists such as Man Ray and Anselmo Fox capture their breath in glass, soap, or chewing gum bubbles. And finally, the aesthetics of the lips, heightened in the kiss and oral libido, is a subject that Wolfgang Tillmans, Natalia LL, Picasso, Marilyn Minter, and many others address with their works in the exhibition. On Everyone’s Lips comprises paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, drawings, prints, and video art, juxtaposed with individual exhibits from ethnological and scientific collections, film and advertising, music and literature.
The exhibition On Everyone’s Lips has been curated by Uta Ruhkamp and developed in cooperation with the cultural scholar Hartmut Böhme and the dentist Beate Slominski.
Artists on show
- Albrecht Dürer
- Ana Mendieta
- Andreas Slominski
- Andy Warhol
- Ane Tonga
- Anna Maria Maiolino
- Anselmo Fox
- Antje Engelmann
- Anton Büschelberger
- Aura Rosenberg
- Barbara Steppe
- Benjamin Houlihan
- Bernhard Johannes Blume
- Bernhard Martin
- Birgit Dieker
- Bogomir Ecker
- Bruce Nauman
- Charles Meryon
- Cheryl Donegan
- Christian Keinstar
- Christian Marclay
- Christoph Knecht
- Cindy Sherman
- Daniel Spoerri
- David LaChapelle
- David Teniers the Younger
- Dirk Bell
- Eberhard Havekost
- Edvard Munch
- Elfie Semotan
- Fabian Marcaccio
- Francesco Clemente
- Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
- Franz Erhard Walther
- Franz von Bayros
- Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
- Gary Hill
- Gauri Gill
- Georg Pencz
- Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
- Godfried Schalcken
- Gottfried Helnwein
- Hans von Aachen
- Hans Wechtlin
- Harun Farocki
- He Xiangyu
- Herlinde Koelbl
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Isa Melsheimer
- Isabell Kamp
- Jake & Dinos Chapman
- Jan Steen
- Jan Steen
- Jeanne Mammen
- Jenny Holzer
- Jeppe Hein
- Joe Tilson
- Johann Georg Kern
- Johann Gottfried Schadow
- Johann Gottlieb Hantzsch
- Johannes Bendzulla
- John Currin
- Jonathan Meese
- Kemang Wa-Lehulere
- Kiki Smith
- Klara Hobza
- Kris Martin
- Kurt Kranz
- Lee Lozano
- Lenora de Barros
- Lili Reynaud Dewar
- Louise Bourgeois
- Louis-Léopold Boilly
- Luca Cambiaso
- Lucas van Leyden
- Maerten de Vos
- Man Ray
- Marcel Odenbach
- Maria Lassnig
- Marilyn Minter
- Marina Abramović & Ulay
- Mark Dion
- Martin Creed
- Max Klinger
- Michael Kalmbach
- Michele Rocca
- Miguel Rothschild
- Mithu Sen
- Mona Hatoum
- Natalia Lach-Lachowicz
- Natalie Czech
- Nobuyoshi Araki
- Oliver Mark
- Otto Coester
- Pablo Picasso
- Paul Thek
- Peter Stauss
- Peter Weibel
- Piotr Uklánski
- Pipilotti Rist
- Raimund Kummer
- Raphael Sadeler
- Richard Hamilton
- Richard Hamilton
- Robert Haiss
- Rona Pondick
- Rosemarie Trockel
- Sam Samore
- Sam Taylor-Wood
- Sarah Lucas
- Semefo
- Slavs & Tatars
- Teresa Margolles
- Thomas Demand
- Thomas Feuerstein
- Thomas Schütte
- Tom Wesselmann
- Tony Cragg
- Tony Oursler
- Ulrich Meister
- Ulrike Rosenbach
- Urs Fischer
- Vito Acconci
- Vivian Greven
- Walter Crane
- Wilhelm Trübner
- Wolfgang Tillmans
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