Alexander Kluge – Pluriversum

Alexander Kluge is a filmmaker, literary scholar, philosopher and artist. In his texts, cinematic works, TV movies, video collages and numerous hybrid formats, he addresses the major issues of our times and constantly reveals astonishing associative and poetic relationships between various themes and eras. On the occasion of his 85th birthday, the Museum Folkwang has developed a comprehensive exhibition focusing on his masterful cinematic collages. It introduced visitors to Kluge’s distinctive methods, themes and ways of thinking, and presented his artistic “Pluriversum”. The exhibition examined Kluge’s references to filmmakers and philosophers such as Sergei Eisenstein, Fritz Lang and Walter Benjamin, all of whom significantly influenced his own work. On the basis of numerous examples, the exhibition presented the principle of collaboration which plays such a central role in his works. It illustrated his method of “thinking together” with academics and artists, and his elaborate interview technique as demonstrated in his collaboration with the social philosopher Oskar Negt, or his interaction with fine artists like Thomas Demand, Gerhard Richter and Christoph Schlingensief. The thematic focuses of the exhibition ranged from “History and Philosophy” to “Love and War” to “the Universe and Evolution”. Several new films were produced for the exhibition, for example, the five-channel projection “Pluriversum” modelled after the “expanded cinema” tradition. For the first time, Kluge offered viewers a look into his extensive archive of short film sequences from which he draws inspiration for new films. Developed in close cooperation with the artist and his team, the event programme enabled the audience to performatively experience the genesis of ideas in Kluge’s intellectual cosmos.

Artist: Alexander Kluge

Additional Venues:

21er Haus, Vienna: : February – April 2018