On Friday, 16 June – just in time for his 88th birthday – the Kunsthaus Göttingen opened the extensive exhibition of the work of the internationally successful US pop artist Jim Dine.

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Entitled “Storm of Memory”, the exhibition on three floors shows Dine’s extensive range of facets from over 60 years of creativity, from drawings, prints and sculpture to his books and poems. Among others, works such as the “Secret Drawings”, “History of Communism” and the “Pinocchio” series can be seen. The Kunsthaus celebrated the artist, who was present with family, friends and his team of assistants, with about 150 guests.

“Jim has been associated with the city of Göttingen for many years and we are pleased to celebrate his anniversary with the opening and at the same time the two-year anniversary of the Kunsthaus, which has successfully established itself as an art anchor in southern Lower Saxony since its opening with top-class exhibitions such as the documenta fifteen project, diverse accompanying programmes and 24,000 visitors in the meantime,” said managing director Dr Dorle Meyer in her opening speech on Friday evening.

Further impressions from the opening

The artist’s attachment is also reflected in the donation he made to the city in 2021: the room installation “Flowering Sheets” has been permanently on display in the “House of Words” in the courtyard of the Kunsthaus ever since. As part of the exhibition, it is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm. Here, the Förderkreis Kunsthaus Göttingen e.V., founded in spring, was able to catch a glimpse of the works and the artist present at its first members’ meeting the evening before.

88 years old and not a bit tired yet: the newly completed, impressive sculpture group “Elysian Fields” from Dine’s Swiss studio was brought to Göttingen especially for the exhibition and will be presented here for the first time. Fifteen large plaster heads, accompanied by music and speech, illustrate the Elysium in an atmospheric installation. “This is already a small sensation,” comments publisher Gerhard Steidl proudly, who, as a long-time friend of Dine’s, curated the exhibition on an honorary basis. Another new work that came into being at the beginning of June in the Günter Grass Archive next door is a joint project by Jim Dine and the artist and designer Theseus Chan from Singapore. Together, the two have interwoven lyrical texts and motifs on the walls. The Grass Archive opens its doors at the same times as the main exhibition at the Kunsthaus.

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Picture on the left (from left): Theseus Chan, Gerhard Steidl, Jim Dine & Dorle Meyer