Exposure to the best works and history of others helps us elevate our craft.
Matt Mullenweg
Monday
Monday morning came with an unexpected surprise, in which everyone at Automattic was given a “homework assignment” to visit a museum that week. To say I was overjoyed to have time to stop by a museum (other than the one I’ve been slowly filling up after the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update a couple of weeks ago) was an understatement.
I lived within the Kunstareal (“Art Quarter”) when I first moved to Munich, and managed to squeeze in multiple weekend trips to iconic museums like the Museum of Egyptian Art (Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst) hidden inside of a WWII bunker, to the Pinakotheks Alt and Neu (old and new) housing, old masterpieces and modern art respectively.
Still, I never found the time to see the Museum Brandhorst when I lived in the area (other than using the cafe inside to pick up a cup of coffee), and the museum had quietly sat on my to-do list since then. On Friday, I wrapped up work a tad earlier and dragged my partner along to go finally see it.
The museum presents the collection of Udo and Anette Brandhorst, which was made accessible to the public in 2009, and now is part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Alongside that, it also houses the largest collection of Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly’s work outside of the United States.
Los geht’s! ✨
Not pictured: Fujifilm X100V + Black Mist 1/8 + Kodak Gold 200. Minor corrections in Darkroom.
Confrontations
First stop: Confrontations. Confrontations is a gallery that “brings together pairs of works from the Brandhorst Collection that have no art-historical or formal relationship to each other.” The centerpiece of this room is, oddly enough, a Christmas tree by Philippe Parreno simply labled Fraught Times.
Next to it, the quote: “It is a work of art for eleven months of the year, and in December it is Christmas”. i hate it when people are more clever than me.
In the next room, A Vessel in a Vessel In A Vessel And So On (Pope.L), in which a pirate sculpture was beheaded and replaced with a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. It slowly drips with chocolate syrup you’re politely asked not to touch (nor eat).
This one was actually really intriguing to me, as the German translation spent time to explain the words “race” and “gender” in context of the American civil rights movement (versus the German understanding of Rasse [race]).
Sometimes I forget that not everyone around the world has a shared American history (and likewise, German history) context, and it always shows up when I least expect it.
To the left, a pair of continuous ticking counters that omit the number “0” (Opposite Harmony, Tatsuo Miyajima) symbolizing Buddhist ideas of impermanence, and to the right juxtaposed with Raymond Saunders’ Recuerdos, Not in the Chair (which reminded me of walking down a busy street in New York City, with all of the mess and grime).
Long Story Short
Next, a trip downstairs to see Long Story Short. This exhibition “strings together selected movements, aesthetic concerns, and artistic positions from the 1960s to today, creating a sequence of individual art histories.”
I really enjoyed my entire time within Long Story Short, as it covered a wide range of digital art from the 1960s to now. To the right specifically (Felix the Cat, Mark Leckey) was clearly the main attraction of the entire exhibition room, both in its height and in its loudness. Felix the Cat was the first ever image broadcast electronically, and Leckey uses it as an “allegory for the internet’s atomization of mainstream culture into ever more precise demographics of desire.” A proto-meme, as you will, stretching the time between 1928 and now.
A painting, titled “💩💩💩💩” made up of tiny little stamped poop emojis once you looked closer at it.
This one was very interesting (unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the work’s name), but was an early example of AI usage rom 2013. The artist attempted to digitally erase two dancers using available AI of the time, and the resulting mess is chaotic and yet empty at the same time. It seemed like the program had a difficult time erasing the hair specifically, which appeared mostly untouched as the bodiless dancers moved around the room.
My partner remarked that with AI being “too good now”, that getting a model like Nano Banana or etc to also digitally erase the dancer would have ended up with just a blank room with nothing happening, none of the creative Black Mirror-eque redaction of 2013.
Or maybe, attempting it again would make it more impactful.
I adored this one! Titled Easter Nudes (Albert Oehlen), these works are early digital drawings from a consumer-brand laptop, which were then screen-printed onto canvas and further spray-painted over. For 1996, this was quite impressive work. I loved the old MS Paint grids and patterns, too.
Next, fun in a blacklight room (thank you, white sweater!) showcasing the glowing art of Jacqueline Humphries, which the museum pointed out all symbolize the “glow” of a CRT monitor reflecting back at you.
And now, rapid fire: many Warhol repetitions of art, money, communism, and capitalism; Rosemarie Trockel’s reflections on feminism (and yes, lots of genitals); various collections from Italy’s 1960 “Arte Povera” (poor art, using everyday and “poor” materials) movement; and a section of the grand “Roses” room by Cy Twombly.
Note: during my trip to the Brandhorst, the “Roses” gallery above was reported as closed until January 30th, but was open at the time of my visit.
extras
Museum Brandhorst delightfully also included a Spotify playlist for two of the exhibitions, which I found really delightful:
After our visit, my partner and I stopped by Mamma Bao on Adalbertstrasse, which offers traditional Chinese cuisine and homemade noodles. It was absolutely delicious, spicy, and warm; exactly what I needed as a snowstorm slowly moved in our direction overnight. My dish was the Simply Biang Biang noodles, and my partner picked the Vegan Mock Duck and Tofu Baos.
Highly recommend! 🍜
Brin Bliss 
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