Meredith Lemke '23: Photos from Study Abroad - K21 in Düsseldorf

My favorite museum that I visited during my study abroad in Germany was K21 in Düsseldorf. Unfortunately, I was unable to visit the museum’s partner-museum K20, but it’s on my bucket list for my next visit to Germany. 

Each exhibit in K21 is incredibly experiential. You enter a room and are suddenly surrounded, not by paintings on walls, but by a new, exciting, often challenging environment. I remember entering one room where I had to squeeze between massacred mannequins while surrounded by bloody, pornographic imagery. Another room looked like a scene out of Sherlock Holmes. The floor was strewn with newspaper clippings to hide panels that, when you stepped on them, emitted curious noises and clips of voices so that you could explore and discover the mysterious narrative of the room. My favorite installations, though, were in the basement and in the ceiling. 

“in orbit” (2013)

A series of nets separated from each other by giant inflated balls or “planets” spans the ceiling of K21. Inspired by spiderwebs and planetary orbits, these nets are in fact an interactive art piece that visitors can climb though. I did not think I was afraid of heights, but Tomás Saraceno’s installation “in orbit” truly surprised me. You start out by crawling out onto nets suspended only above the fourth floor. I felt secure with only around 10 feet between myself and the floor. But if you continue further into the installation, the 4th floor ends and you can peer down through the net to the entrance atrium nearly five stories below. My stomach dropped over and over again each time I looked down. A piece of artwork has never before made me feel that way. It was exhilarating and beautiful. 

When I visited K21 in 2019, the basement collection was Ai Wei Wei’s series of installations entitled “Everything is art. Everything is politics.”  His piece “Laundromat” (2016) features hundreds of articles of clothing left behind by former residents of a refugee camp in Idomeni. His piece “Life Cycle” (2018) consists of a giant bamboo boat filled with life-size bamboo figures, evoking imagery of the dangerous, harrowing Mediterranean passage which many refugees are forced to take. The room was filled to the brim with political art and artful politics. I will never forget it. I highly recommend looking through Ai Wei Wei’s work in the K21 archive linked above.

“Laundromat” (2016)

"Life Cycle" (2018)