Hip Hop and contemporary art in the 21st century
The exhibition explores the profound influence of Hip Hop on contemporary art and culture in our society.
Over 100 artworks by internationally renowned contemporary artists
A major interdisciplinary exhibition
Contemporary issues and debates—from identity, racism, and appropriation to sexuality, feminism, and empowerment
- Derrick Adams, Heir to the Throne, 2021, NFT, Dauer: 11 Sekunden, Privatsammlung
- The Culture, Hip-Hop und zeitgenössische Kunst im 21. Jahrhundert, Ausstellungssansicht, © SCHIRN 2024, Foto: Emily Piwowar/NÓI Crew
- Hank Willis Thomas, Black Power, 2006, Chromogener Druck, 40,6 x 50,8 cm, Barret Barrera Projects, © Hank Willis Thomas
- The Culture, Hip-Hop und zeitgenössische Kunst im 21. Jahrhundert, Ausstellungssansicht, © SCHIRN 2024, Foto: Emily Piwowar/NÓI Crew
- The Culture, Hip-Hop und zeitgenössische Kunst im 21. Jahrhundert, Ausstellungssansicht, © SCHIRN 2024, Foto: Emily Piwowar/NÓI Crew
- Tschabalala Self, Seta’s Room 1996, 2022, Fototransfer, Papier, Acrylfarbe, Faden und bemalte Leinwand auf Leinwand, 243,8 x 213,4 cm, Courtesy des Künstlers und Pilar Corris, London, © Tschabalala Self
- El Franco Lee II, DJ Screw in Heaven, 2008, Acryl auf Leinwand, 96,5 x 121,9 cm, Privatsammlung, Houston, © El Franco Lee II
- The Culture, Hip-Hop und zeitgenössische Kunst im 21. Jahrhundert, Ausstellungssansicht, © SCHIRN 2024, Foto: Emily Piwowar/NÓI Crew
- Rammellzee und K-Rob, mit Jean-Michel Basquiat, Beat Bop / Test Pressing, 1983, Nachdruck 2001, Vinylplatte, 31,1 x 31,1 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Commitee on Prints and Illustrated Books Fund, 2013, © Rammellzee Estate. Digitales Bild © The Museum of Modern Art/Lizenziert von SCALA / Art Resource, NY
- The Culture, Hip-Hop und zeitgenössische Kunst im 21. Jahrhundert, Ausstellungssansicht, © SCHIRN 2024, Foto: Emily Piwowar/NÓI Crew
Sponsored by
Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain
With additional support by
Deutsche Börse Group
Alpha IndustriesMedia partners
Hit Radio FFH
Monopol Magazine
Journal Frankfurt
VGF
Lookin’ FridayLogistics partner
Lufthansa Cargo
Tour Supporters
Ford Foundation
Henry Luce Foundation
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
The Culture
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop, the SCHIRN dedicates a major interdisciplinary exhibition to hip hop’s profound influence on our current artistic and cultural landscape
Introduction
Hip hop first emerged in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s as a cultural movement among Black and Latinx youth. Hip hop has now evolved into a global phenomenon that has driven numerous innovations in music, fashion, and technology, as well as the visual and performing arts.
Lorem ipsum
Hip hop quickly proliferated through large-scale block parties to encompass an entire culture that focuses around four pillars: MCing (or rapping); DJing; breaking (or breakdancing); and graffiti writing and visual art. From its inception, hip hop critiqued dominant structures and cultural narratives and offered new avenues for expressing diasporic experiences and creating alternative systems of power—which lead to a fifth pillar of social and political consciousness and knowledge-building.
“Hip hop’s influence on culture is so significant that it has become the new canon—an alternate set of ideals of artistic beauty and excellence, and one that rivals the Western art historical canon around which many museums orient and develop exhibitions.”
Lorem ipsum
Grounded in the origins of hip hop in the US yet with a focus on art and music, the exhibition “The Culture” features over 100 artworks mainly from the last twenty years, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, videos, and fashion, by internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Lauren Halsey, Julie Mehretu, Tschabalala Self, Arthur Jafa, Khalil Joseph, Virgil Abloh, and Gordon Parks.
It is structured around six themes: Pose, Brand, Adornment, Tribute, Ascension, and Language. “The Culture” illuminates hip hop’s unprecedented economic, social, and cultural resources that have made hip hop a global phenomenon and established it as the artistic canon of our time. The exhibition furthermore addresses contemporary issues and debates—from identity, racism, and appropriation to sexuality, feminism, and empowerment.
The Culture is co-organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum, and is presented in collaboration with SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT
Co-Curators
Asma Naeem (Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, Baltimore Museum of Art),
Gamynne Guillotte (former Chief Education Officer, Baltimore Museum of Art),
Hannah Klemm (former Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Saint Louis Art Museum),
Andréa Purnell (Community Collaborations Manager, Saint Louis Art Museum)SCHIRN Project Manager
Matthias Ulrich (Curator, SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT)
Further locations in Frankfurt
The exhibition “The Culture” at the SCHIRN will be continued at the KUNSTVEREIN FAMILIE MONTEZ with the video installation ISDN by Stan Douglas as well as with an exhibition on hip hop milestones at the MOMEM, a film series on the 50-year history of hip hop at the DFF – DEUTSCHES FILMINSTITUT & FILMMUSEUM and an event organised by the DIAMANT OFFENBACH: MUSEUM OF URBAN CULTURE.