Barbie and Klaus

Repro­duc­tions of 15 Hugo Boss post­cards of 1998 – 99 winter fashion, and repro­duc­tions of 4 post­cards with illus­tra­tions of Spanish soldiers and their sweet­hearts from the 1960’s (or 70’s) are sealed under plex­i­glass and mounted. Since 2010, Tanya Ury has been working on the research project Who’s Boss – Empire’s New Clothes, as PhD. in Human­i­ties candi­date at Leiden Univer­sity, Insti­tute for Cultural Disci­plines (NL)

The Spanish post­cards from the Franco era are water­colours of armed soldiers with their doll-like part­ners in romantic poses. The Boss cards show couples model­ling clothes against a grey volcanic beach land­scape. Some of the images feature the models covering their faces with cloth so that they appear to be anony­mous and blind­folded, or terror­ists and their victims; one leather coat design closely resem­bles those worn by the German Lufwaffe in WW2. The title makes refer­ence to the Barbie doll, the first child’s toy to be devel­oped with an adult female body in America of the 1960’s. Later, Barbie’s partner, a male doll named Ken, came onto the market. Claus Barbie, known as the Butcher of Lyon, was a noto­rious mass murderer, a war crim­inal of the Third Reich.

Jacob’s Ladder – a collec­tion of works:

Who’s Boss — a collec­tion of works:


Presen­ta­tion

2002 Jacob’s Ladder (solo), Hochbunker Cologne-Ehren­feld (9th Nov. 2002 Cologne’s Long Museum’s Night) (D)
2006 (26.7. – 9.8.) Solo exhi­bi­tion, Seminar in the exhi­bi­tion, Tüzraktér Inde­pen­dent Cultural Centre, Budapest (HU)
2006 (28.8. – 3.9.) Who’s Boss as Seminar presen­ta­tion, c.sides Festival, Jerusalem ICC (Inter­na­tional Conven­tion Center)(IL)
2006 (3.11. – 24.11.) Solo exhi­bi­tion, 9 – 12 hours work­shop with pupils from the Anne-Frank-Realschule (secondary modern). Opening 20 Uhr 3.11., Bochumer Kulturrat, (D)
2007 (4. – 7.4) Who’s Boss power point presen­ta­tion Saturday, April 7th, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., Salon K , Fashion, Appear­ance and Consumer Iden­tity, Popular Culture Asso­ci­a­tion, Thirty-seventh Annual Meeting, Boston Marriott, Boston (USA) www​.popu​lar​cul​ture​.org
2008 (16. – 18.5) Who’s Boss power point presen­ta­tion in German, Limmud-Festival Werbellinsee (Jugen­der­hol­ungs- und Begeg­nungsstätte) www​.limmud​.de (D)

Publi­ca­tions & Press

2011 (9.5.) Presen­ta­tion of the exhi­bi­tion Jacob’s Ladder mentioned in the Veedel (Neigh­bour­hood) Website: ​“Hochbunker Körn­er­straße: Ein beson­derer Ort für beson­dere Kunst” (The Above Ground Bunker in Koerner Street: A Special Place for Special Art), by Jürgen Brock-Milden­berger 4veedel​.de/ Cologne (D)

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