The Eighth Square
Gender, Life and Desire in Art since 1960

When a pawn in a chess match reaches the eighth square on the far side of the board, the player can swap him for a piece of his or her choice. So the pawn can transform into a queen, a man into a woman.

This metaphor is at the heart of The Eighth Square an exhibition on display through December 11th, 2006 at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne Germany. Dealing with one of society’s most taboo subjects, the exhibition aims to shed light on the way the world of the arts has presented an unflinching view of “kink” in an un-idealized manner. If nothing else, artists have never been afraid of breaking new ground in areas of the world others may be afraid to acknowledge even exists.

Sexuality does not end in family politics or a TV series. Sexuality is always a quaking and transmuting, is desire and power, seduction and sadness, splendour and misery. Looking beyond vaudeville or pornography, only art enables the subject to be discovered in all its fascination and specificity. It not only permits a game with the sexes and with forbidden desires that is free of danger, but is alone able to grasp all of sexuality’s inherent contradictions.

The Eighth Square casts a new and sharp eye on art, it sounds out the historical and social developments. This is the first exhibition in which drag and gender, queerness and transsexuality are presented on a broad platform, in all of its facets, and above all where it is allowed to be erotic.

More information about the exhibition can be found at www.museum-ludwig.de