Café Deutschland (Städel Museum)

A comprehensive research project at the Städel Museum is currently investigating the art scene in West Germany in the period between 1960 and 1989 from the perspective of contemporary witnesses. Important stations of recent German art history are being considered and debated in conversations with more than 70 artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, and journalists, who were actively involved in the development of the West German art scene. Artistic careers, the structures of relationships within the art scene of the said period, the formation of groups, and important artistic processes and events are being reconstructed. In the past several years, there have been repeated attempts to secure historical data through interviews with contemporary witnesses. Yet, until now, no attempt had been made to make a diversified network the object of investigation with targeted questions from the very beginning. The conversations focus on individual sociological and societal contexts which had an impact on art after 1945. This comprehensive oral history project represents an important historical testimony to the Federal Republic of Germany.