THE SCHIRN FOCUSES ON ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE AND REVOLUTIONARY
20TH-CENTURY MOVEMENTS WITH “SUMMER OF LOVE”

SUMMER OF LOVEArt of the Psychedelic Era
2 November 2005 – 12 February 2006
Press preview: Tuesday, 1 November, 11.00 a.m.
“Summer of Love” is a ground-breaking exhibition about psychedelic art which illustrates theunique connections between contemporary art, popular culture, and political protest during
the 1960s and early 1970s. The presentation reveals that psychedelia constitutes one of themost exciting but also one of the most neglected phenomena in the history of the 20th century.
The dialogue between psychedelic art and the political revolution and counterculture of thetime manifested itself in an extraordinary aesthetic that gave expression to the social, political,ethnical, and sexual liberation. Striving for an ecstatic art stimulated the expansion ofconsciousness and the deliberate sensory overload. This was sometimes achieved with thehelp of hallucinogenic agents that were an essential element of the psychedelic movement.
The presentation of more than 350 works including paintings, photographs, films, light shows,environments, and record covers, as well as documentary material from Europe, the USA,South America, and Japan presented within a sensational exhibition architecture designed by
UN Studio (Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos) emphasizes the international character of themovement.
The exhibition “Summer of Love” is sponsored by “Škoda Auto Deutschland GmbH” and“Galeria Kaufhof, Frankfurt, An der Hauptwache.”
Christoph Grunenberg, curator of the exhibition and Director of Tate Liverpool: “At a time when
the stylistic and formal elements of the art, design, and music of the 1960s and 1970s areagain being liberally exploited, it is important to move beyond a purely nostalgic reception andattempt to grasp the original creative and visionary potential of the period. A great many
discoveries remain to be made which will help us to understand and appreciate not only thetrue revolutionary nature of the art and politics of the period but also how they continue toshape what we think and how we act today.”Max Hollein, Director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt: “The Schirn has repeatedly regarded
it as its responsibility to highlight artistic and social developments. There have been fewmovements in the 20th century where art and everyday culture intertwined in such a symbiotic
fashion. It is one of the central issues explored by ‘Summer of Love’ how an art that sodeliberately evaded the conventional institutional contexts can, from some distance in time,
be transferred there.”
Psychedelic art has traditionally been relegated to the realm of applied art and bad taste,always obscured by the historically and institutionally sanctioned art of the era, the center ofwhich was occupied by Pop, Minimal and Conceptual Art. The psychedelic style was thePRESS RELEASE “SUMMER OF LOVE,” SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, 6 October 2005, PAGE 1 OF 3

result of a productive interaction between art, technology, drug culture, music, and manyother influences that created an extraordinary aesthetics deeply steeped in the spirit ofemancipation and freedom. Most important was the expansion of the range of forms, colors,
and media triggered by mind-expanding approaches and linked with a new perception ofspace. Another crucial achievement of the movement was the fusion of quite different artistic
techniques which culminated in a new hybrid art form variously labeled “intermedia,”“multimedia” or “mixed media” art. It was this fusion which made those multisensory
spectacles possible for which the sixties became famous. In addition, contemporary visual
artists began experimenting with light shows or ventured into music, film, fashion, design, or
architecture establishing a close affinity with the ephemeral yet highly compelling
manifestations of the fast-moving popular and commercial culture.
Psychedelic aesthetics and politics, however, made their mark not only in popular culture but
also had an impact on major artists and avant-garde movements of the period. In 1966, on
different sides of the Atlantic, artists pioneered the use of slide and film projections at live
concerts; Andy Warhol at the New York discotheque Dom and Mark Boyle and Joan Hills at
the legendary UFO Club in London. And the emergence of performance as a major art form
coincided with psychedelia’s playful events in which the human body was exploited as anintegral and expandable perceptual instrument, stimulated to reach a state of ecstatic frenzyor apathetic inward contemplation.
Offering a wealth of 350 items from the fields of painting, sculpture, photography, film, video,environment, architecture, graphic design, and fashion, “Summer of Love” comprises works
by Isaac Abrams, Richard Avedon, Lynda Benglis, Bernard Cohen, Richard Hamilton, RobertIndiana (his legendary “Love” pictures), Yayoi Kusama, Richard Lindner, and John
McCracken. One of the major environments of the show is Mati Klarwein’s “New AlephSanctuary” (1963–1971), which brings together many of his motifs (which he also used in hisdesigns for Santana album covers) in a spectacular installation. Vernon Panton’s amorphous
walk-in furniture landscapes unfold Utopian visions of liberated and relaxed living. Works byArchigram, Hans Hollein, Haus-Rucker-Co and others convey an impression of what
visionary architecture is about.
A special emphasis of the presentation is placed on environments as well as film, video andmultimedia installations replicating the total experience of psychedelic light shows and music
performances. Andy Warhol employed light shows and film and slide projections for the“Exploding Plastic Inevitable” and “The Velvet Underground.” Major film installations include
a room with multiple projections of Mark Boyle and Joan Hills’ films, first used in light shows
for the psychedelic band “The Soft Machine” and a liquid crystal projection by GustavMetzger. The medium of film is integrated into the exhibition through large-scale projectionsof works by Lawrence Jordan, Stan VanDerBeek, Andy Warhol, James Whitney, Jud Yalkut,and Nam June Paik. The documentary sections of “Mapping the Underground” dedicated tothe psychedelic scenes in New York City, San Francisco, London, and Frankfurt outline thehistorical background and portray the movement’s protagonists such as the author AllenGinsberg, the LSD guru Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey, who dedicated himself to thepopularization of psychedelic drugs with his Merry Pranksters.
On the occasion of the exhibition “Summer of Love,” the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt will
PRESS RELEASE “SUMMER OF LOVE,” SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, 6 October 2005, PAGE 2 OF 3

realize a new work by Yayoi Kusama in cooperation with the Galeria Kaufhof, Frankfurt,
encompassing its façade, its shop windows, and part of its interior, as well as the Schirn
Rotunda.
An exhibition organised by Tate Liverpool in cooperation with the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
and the Kunsthalle Wien. The exhibition was shown in Liverpool (27 May – 25 September2005) and will be presented in Vienna (12 May – 3 September 2006) after the Schirn (2November 2005 – 12 February 2006).
WEBSITE: In addition, a website will go online with the beginning of the show underwww.schirn.de/summeroflove. It will offer the possibility to navigate through the years from1938 to 1972 along a chronology structured after art, music, society, and literature. Users
have the option to defamiliarize the various pages visually with psychedelic effects. Thewebsite was developed and realized by Neue Digitale GmbH. Kreativagentur für digitale
Markenführung, who also act as media partner of the exhibition.
CATALOG: “Summer of Love. Art of the Psychedelic Era.” Edited by Christoph Grunenberg,
Tate Liverpool. With a preface by Christoph Grunenberg, Max Hollein, and Gerald Matt, as
well as texts by Joe Austin, Barry Curtis, Diedrich Diederichsen, Günther Feuerstein,
Christoph Grunenberg, Dave Hickey, Uwe Husslein, Chrissie Iles, Barry Miles, MarkusMittringer, Simon Reynolds, Catherine Sadler, Sally Tomlinson, and Fred Tomaselli. Englishand German editions, 273 pages, 276 color and 47 black-and-white illustrations, TatePublishing Millbank, ISBN 1 85437 595 4 (English), Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2005, ISBN3-7757-1670-X (German), 29,80 €.
VENUE: SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, Römerberg, D-60311 Frankfurt.
EXHIBITION DATES: 2 November 2005 – 12 February 2006. OPENING HOURS: Tue.,Fri.–Sun. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Wed. and Thur. 10 a.m. – 10.00 p.m. INFORMATION:
www.schirn.de, e-mail: welcome@schirn.de, phone: (+49-69) 29 98 82-0, fax: (+49-69) 2998 82-240. ADMISSION: 7 €, reduced 5 €, family ticket 15 €. CURATOR: Christoph
Grunenberg, Tate Liverpool. PROJECT DIRECTION: Matthias Ulrich. EXHIBITION
ARCHITECTURE: UN Studio (Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos). PROMOTION: Saatchi &Saatchi. MEDIA PARTNERS: Frankfurter Rundschau, plan.F – Das Stadtmagazin fürFrankfurt und Rhein-Main, AD – Architectural Digest, hr2-kultur, Neue Digitale.
Kreativagentur für digitale Markenführung, RMV – Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, Ströer
Deutsche Städte Medien

PRESS OFFICE: Dorothea Apovnik (head), Simone Krämer
SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, Römerberg, D-60311 Frankfurt,phone: (+49-69) 29 98 82-118, fax: (+49-69) 29 98 82-240,e-mail: presse@schirn.de, www.schirn.de (texts and images fordownload under PRESS)PRESS RELEASE “SUMMER OF LOVE,” SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, 6 October 2005, PAGE 3 OF 3