The Horst Janssen Archipelago - the journey continues
Exhibition from Sept. 17, 2016 - Jan. 15, 2017

The month of September will see the launch of “The Horst Janssen Archipelago” exhibition, the museum’s most personal and most comprehensive show to date on the life and work of Horst Janssen.

Starting out in the first half of this year in Hamburg’s Altona Museum, the route of discovery now takes us to Oldenburg, where numerous new and surprising exhibits await.

In their journey to the Horst Janssen Archipelago, visitors can navigate between six “topical” islands, where they will be able to discover the places Janssen worked, explore his somewhat unconventional communication strategies and forms, and encounter his “entourage”, his cohort of artists and other friends.

On display will be Janssen’s masterly line drawings from the 1960s, his professional drawings from his later years, along with poster designs, prints and many little-known and rarely seen works. Special attention is paid to personal objects, such as notes, photographs, letters or gifts for his life partners, and even objects that were part of the artist’s everyday life, such as his telephone and his studio mirror.

Three short works by Hamburg filmmaker Hinrich Lührs will shed light on the Janssen Archipelago – a collection of artwork, paraphernalia, and personal effects – thanks to previously unknown footage by Peter Voss-Andreae’s documentary “Horst Janssen: EGO “ (1989). The cinematic material that Lührs specially curated for this show stimulates a fascinating dialogue between the objects on display, making for a multifaceted and gripping journey.