The art of the second half of the 20th century is characterized by a variety of materials, media and methods. At the same time, hardly any other era has been so marked by division and disunity but also renewal: “Orthodox. “Art between politics and society” is the name of this collection presentation by the Neue Nationalgalerie on art from 1945 to the turn of the millennium.
The Holocaust and war, awakening and emancipation, the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall led to tensions within society and to fundamental new directions in the visual arts. The title is based on the radical performance of the Viennese actionist Günter Brus from 1970, in which he exposed himself to the pull of steel cables to his physical limits. 14 chapters address central artistic and social themes of the 20th century, such as the question of realism and abstraction, politics and society, everyday life and pop, feminism, identity or nature and ecology.