30 years after the end of the Soviet Union, a group exhibition is on view at the Gropius Bau that brings together paintings created during the Cold War from both world political power centers - including works by Andy Warhol, Ilya Kabakov, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, and Erik Bulatov.

Under the title "The Cool and the Cold. Painting of the USA and the USSR 1960-1990. Ludwig Collection," works by Andy Warhol, Ilya Kabakov, Erik Bulatov, Lee Lozano, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Viktor Pivovarov, Natal'ja Nesterova, and Ivan Čujkov, among others, from the Ludwig Collection will be juxtaposed. Peter and Irene Ludwig were among the first European collectors of American Pop Art and art from the Soviet Union; their extensive collection thus enables the critical juxtaposition of works from both camps of the East-West conflict. The exhibition in the Gropius Bau examines how artists reacted to the political and aesthetic questions of their time and negotiated ideas of individual and social freedom; in the dialogue between Conceptual Art and Pop Art from three decades, art becomes legible as an expression of and commentary on ideologies.

Curated by Benjamin Dodenhoff and Brigitte Franzen
Organized in cooperation with the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation