Christina Quarles – Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of the Present, Germany

The first institutional solo exhibition of the American painter Christina Quarles in Germany shows an expansive installation in the Hamburger Bahnhof: large panels of gauze divide the exhibition space. They resemble translucent fabric backdrops from the theater that reveal and conceal the actors, stage design and props. Quarles’ (b. 1985 in Chicago) painterly formal language deals with the experience of living in a racialized, queer body. Color patterns and different pictorial levels reflect the struggles of her characters with the constraints that the outside world imposes on their identities.

“Collapsed Time” at the Hamburger Bahnhof shows Quarles’ paintings together with works from the National Gallery’s collection  by Absalon, Vito Acconci, Stanley Brouwn, Daniel Buren, Annette Kelm, Nam June Paik and Charlotte Posenenske. The exhibition juxtaposes art forms from several decades – from photography and sculpture to video and performance – that deal with the spatial and psychological confinement of humans and their effects on the representation of the human body. The presentation at the Hamburger Bahnhof shows paintings and works on paper by Quarles that have been created since 2016, as well as a room installation that was specially designed for the exhibition.

Publication for the exhibition

A bilingual publication (German/English) will accompany the exhibition with a text by the curators Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, an extensive interview with Christina Quarles and a contribution by Jillian Hernandez, Associate Professor at the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research at the University of Florida, USA.

Curatorial Team

The exhibition is curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.