‘Double Cheese Platter: Centenary of the Collection’ Featuring Christian Jankowski at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany
2 March 2025
From 8 March – 12 October, the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart will present ‘Double Cheese Platter: Centenary of the Collection’ featuring Christian Jankowski. The exhibition was inspired by and takes its title from Dieter Roth’s monumental food picture Double Cheese Platter. It consists of various types of cheese whose surface structure soon changed due to decomposition and mould processes. In his use of perishable materials, Roth’s piece poses programmatic questions about the production, reception, and momentum of art. This is precisely where the current exhibition has its point of departure: what does the municipal collection look like after a century? What sort of maturation processes does the collecting of art undergo? How does its perception and authority change over the years?
Structured into seven thematic rooms that bear the individual signatures of the Kunstmuseum’s curators, the exhibition highlights both the historical context of the collection and its relevance to today’s real-life issues—such as consumerism and racism. The juxtaposition of works that have not been on view for a long time, if ever, with recent donations and new acquisitions, creates a fascinating display.
By utilising the medium of human relationships, the comedic slapstick humour of Formulae, or indeed any of the other innumerable tools of modern communication available, Christian Jankowski trades blows with history, politics and the language of art. His works are almost always 'performances' – both literally and figuratively – in so far as his carefully calibrated set-ups and interactive scenarios engage occasionally unsuspecting collaborators: televangelists, fortune-tellers, border guards and professional magicians have all innocently colluded with him to become 'co-authors' of his wide-ranging work.
Find out more via Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.
Image: Christian Jankowski, Antikstübchen Nachwort (House Clearance Counter Culture) (Video still), 2024, © Christian Jankowski, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
