Happy Days
16. MAY – 20. OCTOBER 2024
Based on Samuel Beckett's play of the same name from 1960, the exhibition Happy Days in the Underground Museum, Bochum, asks about forms of happiness under difficult conditions. A total of 12 artists present film, photographic, painting and sculptural positions as well as installations in around 15 works. Works will be shown that reflect experiences of happiness or think about happiness and were partly created in the context of war or repression. The spectrum of works on display ranges from 1970 to today.
Represented in the exhibition are: Yevgenia Belorusets (*1980, Kyiv), Rui Chafes (*1966, Lisbon), Tamara Eckhardt (*1995, Berlin), Nan Goldin (*1953, Washington D.C.), Barbara Hammer (Los Angeles 1939– 2019 New York City), Carsten Höller (*1961, Brussels), Ken Lum (*1956, Vancouver), Johanna von Monkiewitsch (*1979, Rome), Yoko Ono (*1933, Tokyo), Felix Gonzalez-Torres (Guáimaro, Cuba 1957–1996 Miami), Heike Weber (*1962, Siegen) and Stefan Wissel (*1960, Hamburg).
The curator of the exhibition is Prof. Dr. Markus Heinzelmann, Chair of Museum Practice with a focus on international contemporary art, Art History Institute, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), with the collaboration of students from the Art History Institute.