Presentation of archival materials during the exhibition Flower Planet

February 1 – April 24, 2025

On the occasion of the exhibition Flower Planet exhibition, photographs by Renate Kern will be presented in the archive room and an insight into the former picture library of the Kunstverein will be given.


“Kern was the Kunstverein’s Head of Administration from 1976 to 2007. When the Archive Space was initiated in 2020, she gave former archivist Adrian Djukić several color prints of photos she took over the years she worked there. These mostly document the social environment of the Kunstverein, including art trips for members, events, and openings—occasions at which Kern was present, often amongst people in an audience. Whereas professional photographs of exhibitions predominantly record the Kunstverein’s official history, Kern’s snapshots document a more embodied, lived experience of the organization. Seeing the Kunstverein from her perspective, we can rethink how and by whom an institution’s history is formed, and what more “amateur” forms of documentation can contribute to contextualization.” [1]

Renate Kern's snapshots contrast with the staged photographs by Kosen Othsubo that are on display. They also refer to Kosen Othsubo and Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham's understanding of art, namely that anyone, not just experts, can create ikebana. Ikebana workshops are therefore held with members, other interested parties and children during the exhibition Flower Planet.

In addition, a review on the Bildleihstelle at Kunstverein München (1960–1985) is highlighted in the archive space. The Bildleihstelle (picture lending service), founded in a bookstore by the “Friends of Young Art” in 1952, was intended, as Eva Pietsch described it in 1982, “primarily to represent young, promising talents. [...] The borrower receives the picture in a simple exchangeable frame and can now closely engage with it at home. One of the most important considerations in the creation of the picture lending service was to allow our contemporaries to really engross themselves in a single picture in their domestic milieu, without any hurry or great pecuniary sacrifice.” After various stations, among others in the Maxburg and at the Lenbachhaus, the picture lending service was housed at the Kunstverein from 1960 to 1985 (later as “Picture Repository”). As the annual Jahresgaben became more important and after the founding of the municipal Artothek, it increasingly lost its significance.

The third part of the presentation in the archive space is the article “The First Ikebana Exhibition: A Personal History of Postwar Ikebana #1,” which was first published in いけばな評論 / Ikebana Criticism in May 1973 and now translated into English by the Art Translators Collective on the occasion of the exhibition.