HAMBURG, GERMANY.- Deichtorhallen Hamburg, House of Photography - Contemporary Art presents Jonathan Meese - Mama Johnny, on view through September 3, 2006. Jonathan Meese (born 1971) belongs to the German elite of younger artists who are currently finding international recognition. He grew up near Hamburg where he studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste until 1998. After appearances in Tokyo and at the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern in London in February of this year, he is now presenting his first extensive exhibition in his home town.

With a total of 150 paintings, sculptures, photographic works and installations the show at the Deichtorhallen is the first comprehensive overview of Jonathan Meese’s work in Germany.

This premiere is accompanied by two others. For the first time in 14 years, the 18 meter high moveable walls of Europe’s largest coherent exhibition area, the north hall of the Deichtorhallen, will be removed in order to create a direct dialogue between Meese’s work of art and the architecture within 2,500 square meters. At the center of the exhibition is an 8 meter high, 20 meter wide and 40 meter tall „Black Box“ in which Meese will install the stage setting and revolving stage that he created for Frank Castorf’s „Kokain“ production at the Berliner Volksbühne. A giant painting will surround the central stage.

Whereas Meese is well-known for his extraordinary performances, the fusion of „grand“ theatre and exhibition is new terrain for the exceptional multimedia artist.

In invariably overextravagant scenery settings made out of pictures, texts, emblems, signs and symbols, objects, and word-creations that deal with every imaginable person of power, myth and historical greatness of mind, stars and starlets of pop-culture, or with his heroes from fiction and film, Meese creates his own universe far removed from the norm. It is populated by Caligula, Stalin, Marquise de Sade, Richard Wagner, Balthus, Zardoz or Dr. No, to name but a few of the people and figures whom Meese gives new contexts of meaning to, and in doing so, intentionally goes beyond conventions and follows his own laws.

„I fight for free spaces in which there is no one anymore. There is no one en route anymore,“ said Meese once about his work which can only be assigned to a hard-to-define style. Nevertheless, he has entered the creative debate several times with different artist colleagues. „Works in Collaboration“ which thereby arose – with Jörg Immendorff, Albert Oehlen, Daniel Richter and Daniel Richter and Tal R – have their own spaces devoted to them. One of them is the installation „MOR“ (MUTTER) („MOR“ (MOTHER)), a pink castle which Meese conceived with TAL R for their mutual exhibition in the Kopenhagen Statens Museum.

Along with the castle and the „Black Box,“ the large North Deichtorhalle will receive another two huge, freestanding and traversable sculptures. The five meter high „Maldororturm,“ which Meese gave final form to in 2000 and bestowed to the Abteimuseum in Mönchengladbach contains photocollages, writings, videos and sculptures in which Meese occupies himself with the nature of state tyranny. In addition there is the revolving „Parsival Head“ – actually the skull of Richard Wagner – in which Meese presented the performance piece „JONATHAN MEESE IST MUTTER PARZIVAL“ („JONATHAN MEESE IS MOTHER PARCIVAL“) at the Berliner Staatsoper last spring.

The exhibition will be presented at the Magasin - Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble, from 15 October 2006 to 7 January 2007.