Sprengel Museum

Elementary Parts

DoubleSlap in the Face — Bruce Naumann - Double Slap in the Face, 1985

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the donation of Bernhard and Margit Sprengel to the city of Hannover and in celebration of the 40th year of its existence, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is staging this exhibition.

Ten themed rooms are devoted to both simple and fundamental questions about the museum as an institution and its art: What are the institution's core elements? What is its contractual basis? What collections does it house? What departments are there and what are they each responsible for? What does a sponsoring association do?

What does art actually consist of, and what material does it use? Which reality (or realities) does it refer to? What is art about, what stories does it tell? By resorting to more than 150 works – all part of the museum's own collection or on permanent loan – "Elementary Parts" is presenting the museum and its collection as a broad spectrum of means of expression in painting, sculpture, graphic art, photography and film from the beginning of the 20th century to the immediate present.