Wolfgang Bauer Reading 1990

Curator: This photo, "Wolfgang Bauer Reading" by Martin Kippenberger, looks like a flyer for a reading. Immediately, I'm struck by the casual bravado of it all. Editor: It is, isn't it? That peace sign, the dark glasses. But the red shirt… it feels less like confidence and more like… exposure? A vulnerable heart on display. Curator: It’s interesting to use a photo to promote drawings in 1990. In Austria, Wolfgang Bauer was a very important and popular dramatist. Kippenberger, like Bauer, was known for pushing boundaries and challenging societal norms, so I think that the red could be interpreted as aggressive. Editor: Yes, but it is as if that heart is bursting out of the image, revealing what is beneath the cool exterior. Curator: Perhaps Kippenberger is suggesting a shared vulnerability between himself and Bauer? Editor: Maybe. Regardless, it is a photo that sticks with you. The artist makes you question what are you seeing.