A German museum re-examines its artistic diversity

For the exhibition "Mapping the Collection," Museum Ludwig Director Yilmaz Dziewior inventoried the collection from a post-colonial viewpoint and organized numerous artistic loans. Long marginalized artists were made the focus. The show includes this photo of a performance by Mexican-American artist collective Asco. Entitled "The Gores" (1974), it addresses Los Angeles society in a cinema style.

For more than six decades, artists have been questioning inherited gender rolls, yet their works are missing from museum collections. The Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta stuck her male friend's beard hair on her upper lip for her 1972 performance "Facial Hair Transplants" (photo above). The act raises the question: Is she (still) a woman or (already) a man?

The artist T.C. Cannon once said he wanted to simply be a good artist — and not a good Native American artist. Cannon, a member of the Kiowa Tribe, often depicted themes of Indigenous daily life in the US to challenge widespread prejudices against Indigenous populations. He drew inspiration from Matisse and van Gogh, as well as from Pop Art stars Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers.

Many influences flowed into Senga Nengudis' performances with stockings (such as the above from 1976), including post-minimalism, feminist self-assertion and feelings of African American self-worth. These kept her from being categorically pigeonholed, and her art defied what was expected then of African American artists. At the same time, her identity kept her shut out of established art circles.

Who belongs? Who stands apart? In his work "Rimbaud in New York" (1978-79), the gay artist David Wojnarowicz sought out places where he thought the 19th-century French writer Rimbaud would have gone, were he still alive then. By photographing a friend in a Rimbaud mask, Wojnarowicz brings the viewer into a historic New York City as experienced by a social outsider.

How did the politics of the 1960s affect white artists? Pop artist Claes Oldenburg took part in the August 1968 anti-Vietnam protests in Chicago that overlapped with the Democratic National Convention. The demonstrations were violently disbanded by police with help from firefighters. To memorialize the events, Oldenburg created this "Fire Plug Souvenir — Chicago, August 1968."

Conceptual artist Adam Pendleton (right), born in 1984, is one of the youngest artists represented in the exhibition. However, his work also draws on the past. His video projects grapple with African American history and art history. Above, a still from the 2016-17 project "Just back from Los Angeles: A Portrait of Yvonne Rainer," about the titled choreographer, filmmaker and writer (left).

These and other works are part of the exhibition "Mapping the Collection" at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Two years of research preceeded the show. The process identified clear gaps in the collection. The museum set a goal of acquiring works by African American, Indigenous and queer artists to permanently fill its holes.