BIENALSUR | THE HEAVY HEART.
Käthe Kollwitz, Las Tesis, Adriana Lestido, Heinrich Zille
September 27, 2025 to January 18, 2026
Opening: September 27, 2025, 5 p.m.
Art is a fundamental means of knowledge. With the enormous range of its content, it can, on the one hand, use visual means to reflect on itself, its processes and mediality, as well as its cultural codes; on the other, it focuses its interest on the world, our society, and our coexistence. In any case, it makes critical artistic thought visible and thus opens up dialogue between artists and viewers.
The exhibition "THE HEAVY HEART. Käthe Kollwitz, Las Tesis, Adriana Lestido, Heinrich Zille" at the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr showcases such an exchange of observations and ideas.
Selected works by Käthe Kollwitz and Heinrich Zille from the Kunstmuseum's collection address the living conditions at the beginning of the 20th century, characterized by social and political upheavals and tensions in a world undergoing ever more rapid and radical change as a result of industrialization. The photographs by Adriana Lestido from Argentina and the video work by Las Tesis, a feminist women's collective from Chile, similarly reflect the enormous social challenges posed by the global crises of the 21st century.
The exhibition "THE HEAVY HEART" focuses particularly on the role of women, their resistance, their motherhood, structures of power and control, and lust and desire. And although more than 100 years separate their creation, the systemic injustice, patriarchal power structures, but also the hardship and misery of a society in uncertainty are clearly evident in all the works.
Exhibited artists:
- Käthe Kollwitz (GER)
- Adriana Lestido (ARG)
- Colectivo Las Tesis (Daffne Valdes Vargas, Paula Cometa Stange, Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem) (CHL)
- Heinrich Zille (GER)
Curators:
Anja Bauer-Kersken (DEU), Stefanie Kreuzer (DEU), Cristina Sommer (ARG), Heike van den Valentyn (DEU)