The Future Has a Silver Lining. Genealogies of Glamour

This exhibition presents a variety of histories – and counter-histories – of the relationship between art and glamour. As a radiant, strategic category of aesthetic practice, glamour is ubiquitous, but it has never really been acknowledged and honoured as such.

The following questions might help to structure your visit to the exhibition: How have artists reflected the demands of mass-culture models of beauty and superiority? What was – and is – the influence of film stars and pop musicians on artists’ self-image and identity? How, and under what circumstances, do artistic practice and the construction of glamour cross paths? To what extent does an engagement with glamour imply an engagement with the archives and catalogues of the glamorous?

The exhibited works do not offer any simple answers. Instead, they persistently raise even more questions, showing the complexity of the links between art and glamour. The significance of these links for art history and contemporary art are only just beginning to be acknowledged, despite the recurrent evocations and condemnations of the glamorous within the art world.

Curated by Tom Holert and Heike Munder