Curated by Gregor Jansen

As Ferdinand Kriwet has often made clear, processes of reception rarely play themselves out in linear form. So perhaps it is fitting that the artist (known since the 1960s as KRIWET) would receive a major institutional retrospective in his hometown only after numerous substantial showings elsewhere. A pioneer of new-media art, this self-described concrete poet quickly expanded his range to involve explosive mixed-media image-sound collages in the public sphere utilizing mass-culture outlets ranging from wall painting, signage, and spoken word to radio, TV, and film. In Düsseldorf, a selection of 150 works—from his earliest to several new commissions—will thematize the acts of seeing and hearing. The accompanying catalogue will be the first to address the full reach of this multifaceted oeuvre.

Translated from German by Oliver E. Dryfuss.

— Astrid Wege