Acquisitions/
2003/
Wolfgang Tillmans/
Chicago Installation

Wolfgang Tillmans was born on August 16, 1968 in Remscheid. It was during his childhood that he first discovered his interest in photography when he began collecting photographs and magazine clippings. During his first visit to England as an exchange student in 1983, he discovered the British youth-culture and the local fashion and music magazines of the time. From 1987 through 1990, he lived in Hamburg, where he also had his first solo exhibitions at Café Gnosa, Front and Frarik-Foto-Forum. From 1990 through 1992 he studied at Bournemouth and the Poole College of Art and Design. After his studies he moved to London, and then in 1994 to New York for a year, where, in 1995, he met the German painter Jochen Klein. After moving back to England, Tillmans lived together with Klein until he died of AIDS-related complications in 1997.

Since 1995, Wolfgang Tillmans has lived and worked in London, and since 2007 he divides his time between his studios in Berlin and London. After his guest professorship at the Hochschule für bildende Kunst in Hamburg from 1998 to 1999, and an Honorary Fellowship at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth (2001), Tillmans has been a professor for Interdisciplinary Art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main since 2003. In 2001, Tillmans was awarded first prize in the competition for the design of the AIDS-Memorial for the City of Munich, whereupon the memorial was erected after his designs at the Sendlinger Tor.

In April 2006, Wolfgang Tillmans opened the exhibition space Between Bridges with works from the New York artist and activist David Wojnarowicz, who died in 1992 from AIDS-related complications. In this small gallery located in the same building as his London studio he has developed a program of exhibitions with political art from other artists who he believes have not been given the proper attention they deserve, specifically in London.

Tillmans’ work has been shown in large solo exhibitions at internationally renowned museums, for example the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and most recently at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. In the summer of 2010 he will have a solo exhibition at The Serpentine in London. Wolfgang Tillmans’ works are represented in private collectors and public museums internationally.

This acquisition has multiple pieces associated with it. Click on any image for a larger picture and information about the individual piece.