The exhibition What’s New, Pussycat? focuses on the countless new acquisitions and pieces gifted us over the last three years as well as main works from the former private collection of Karl Ströher — the latter forms the backbone of the MMK’s unique collection. This concentrated focus takes the MMK’s exploration of the "idea of a museum" a logical step forwards.

The permanent collection forms the mainstay of the museum and works on loan for a specific period are no substitute for it. A public collection must be permanent, as any critical inquiry into artworks is a long-term affair. Only if we can repeatedly scrutinize the same works, and only if we can repeatedly look at them from a new point of view and interpret them from a new vantage-point, will we avoid finding hasty answers to profound questions, will we get closer to a real understanding of the works. Which is why it is so indispensable to ensure the permanent presence of works that span the past and present, or even bridge generations. What's New, Pussycat? thus takes a clear stance on the interaction of public and private property in museums today. The creative advancement of a contemporary art collection for Frankfurt has been made possible by a unique partnership model with various corporations and the City of Frankfurt. This model is linked to a forward-looking commitment to cultural policy in light of the Museum's mission in society. Moreover, countless artists, donators and the Friends of the Museum are emphatically supporting the MMK in its fundamental tasks. On the occasion of the exhibition, we are publishing a limited edition of a special card game. A catalog on the new acquisitions is also being prepared.

Parallely to the exhibition What's New, Pussycat? we present an exhibition space designed by Anton Henning in the context of the Dornbracht Installation Projects®. Taking as his title "Frankfurter Salon", the painter Anton Henning, born in Berlin in 1964, is transforming a large MMK hall into an elegant reading room and communicative hub. The "decorative" ambience he has created is in keeping with the hall's new function as a salon and forms an atmospheric backdrop for his paintings. Henning proceeds with playful earnest here, working both subversively and with irony: he cuts across the history of painting with Seven Mile Boots; the choice of art shifts explosively from one system of painterly references to another.

For more information please visit www.cultureprojects.com