How long does the exhibition run?

The exhibition runs from 28.02.2026 to 17.05.2026 at BLMK Diesel Power Plant Cottbus.

Where is the exhibition taking place?

At the Brandenburg State Museum for Modern Art - Diesel Power Plant Cottbus, Uferstraße/Am Amtsteich 15, 03046 Cottbus.

Is the museum accessible?

Yes, the exhibition rooms in the Diesel Power Plant are accessible via elevators.

Are there guided tours for the exhibition?

Yes, BLMK offers guided tours of the exhibition. A tour with Christopher Straub is scheduled for 06.05.2026.

How much is the admission fee?

No general ticket price was clearly stated in the web search for the exhibition itself. Separate admission prices were mentioned for guided tours.

Made Men shows how art shapes, disrupts, and retells masculinity.

Name: Made Men. Bodies, Gestures, Habitus of Masculine Imagery
Start: 2026-02-28T12:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-05-17T21:00:00+02:00
Location: Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst - Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus

Made Men at BLMK Cottbus: How Images Shape Masculinity

The exhibition Made Men. Bodies, Gestures, Habitus of Masculine Imagery at the Brandenburg State Museum for Modern Art in the Diesel Power Plant Cottbus opens a precise view on the staging of masculinity since the Weimar period. Approximately 90 works from the collections of BLMK, including painting, drawing, graphic art, and poster art, illustrate how body images, gestures, and social roles have been historically shaped, politically charged, and continuously renegotiated.

Between the Ideal Worker and Body Politics

The show focuses on those visual worlds where the male body appears as a sign of discipline, strength, and belonging. Spanning from the Weimar Republic through the GDR to the present, an art historical arc makes visible both the idealization of the worker's body and its ideological instrumentalization. These shifts lend the exhibition a particular analytical sharpness.

Works with Historical Depth

Featured are works by Ines Arnemann, Norbert Bisky, Andreas Dress, Albert Ebert, Günther Friedrich, Jakob Ganslmeier, Ana Zibelnik, Jost Giese, René Graetz, Erich Gerlach, Peter Graf, Otto Griebel, Erhard Großmann, Lea Grundig, Ulrich Hachulla, Bert Heller, Joseph W. Huber, Joachim Jansong, Klaus Killisch, Wilhelm Lachnit, Helge Leiberg, Harald Metzkes, Elke Riemer, Jürgen Schieferdecker, Harald K. Schulze, Volker Stelzmann, and Max Uhlig. The selection shows how differentiated painting and graphic arts respond to questions of habitus, gesture, and power.

From the Disciplined Worker to Fragile Modernity

The exhibition becomes particularly impressive where heroic image formulas break apart. The bodies appear not only as carriers of strength but also as projection surfaces for crisis, adaptation, and self-staging. Thus, a viewing of the works emerges that combines aesthetic experience with cultural-historical reflection and simultaneously reveals the power of images in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Exhibition Atmosphere in the Diesel Power Plant

The Diesel Power Plant with its industrial architecture provides an appropriate resonance space for this thematic exhibition. The building on Uferstraße appears clear, factual, and at the same time open to concentrated art mediation. Those who walk through the exhibition rooms experience an art experience between historical materiality and contemporary debate.

Guided Tours, Education, and In-Depth Insights

The BLMK context stands for curatorial precision and strong art educational offerings. The exhibition includes a guided tour program with Christopher Straub that deepens the view of image strategies, collection contexts, and historical connections. For art-interested visitors, this creates a place where art history, social discourse, and museum pedagogy productively meet.

Conclusion: Made Men is not just a mere presentation of collections but an enlightening study of the malleability of images of masculinity. Those who wish to read art as a mirror of social order should definitely experience this exhibition live at BLMK Cottbus.