In the second half of the 20th century, artists broke radical new ground. This did not happen without reason. The Cold War and the fear of the end of humanity dominated the situation, especially in Europe and divided Germany. Artists reflected on cultural developments and asked about new human identities. The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is now devoting itself to an era in human history that was marked by division: Extreme Tension. Art between Politics and Society presents works from 1945 to 2000 from its own collection. The selection includes paintings, objects, photographs, video art, and recorded performance art. The particularly long run underscores the importance of this show for the present, running for nearly two years from November 18, 2023 to September 28, 2025.
The main work of the exhibition is the performance Zerreißprobe (1970), which also gave it its original title. The Viennese actionist Günter Brus exposed himself to the merciless pull of steel cables and plumbed the physical limits. It was a radical performance and also his last: he shied away from the fame it had brought him. Also represented in the exhibition are Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys, Francis Bacon, Lee Bontecou, Rebecca Horn, VALIE EXPORT, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Louise Nevelson, Bridget Riley, Pipilotti Rist, and Andy Warhol, among others. New acquisitions, for example by Kiki Kogelnik or Ewa Partum, which were not previously in the collection, are also among the exhibits.
