Paul Thek: "In Process"

In the winter of 1973, the painter and object artist Paul Thek (1933-1988), who was born in Brooklyn, has been a guest in the LehmbruckMuseum: Along with his installation "Ark, Pyramid - Christmas" ("Die Krippe"), a further development of his room which he realized at the documenta 5 in Kassel (1972), Thek, for the first time, also directed a theatrical work in the form of a nativity play with orphans.

Paul Thek: "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", photo: LehmbruckMuseum

Strongly influenced by Robert Wilson's "Deafman Glance", in which Thek himself played a role two years before, now, almost 40 years later, this play will be again central to the exhibition "Paul Thek, in Process", which will also be showcased, at a later date and with varying emphases, in the Kunstmuseum Luzern and the Moderna Museet Stockholm. It is not by coincidence that the LehmbruckMuseum is the first station since it was not only the venue for Thek's installation and performance, it was also the first museum in Germany that bought works by the artist who was born in 1933.

Half documentary, half exhibition, "Paul Thek, in Process" admittedly foregrounds Thek's works of art and works by other artists from his milieu, but, by means of correspondences, photographs depicting the construction, films and interviews, the project also shows what happened in the LehmbruckMuseum back then. Thus, among other things, photographs of the nativity play at the original location in the Lehmbruck wing will revive Thek's work.