"I want to have an effect in this time" - this statement is indelibly linked to the work of Käthe Kollwitz, a woman who is rightly considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Like few others, Kollwitz linked her work with a socio-political, humanitarian and pacifist commitment. Again and again, her works revolve around the theme of man oppressed by war or poverty. Internationally celebrated graphic series such as the "Weavers' Revolt" or the woodcut series "War" have lost none of their emotional force even today. With prints, drawings and sculptures, the exhibition covers the entire spectrum of her artistic work.

The works of the Beirut-born artist Mona Hatoum, who was prevented from returning to her homeland from London by the outbreak of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975, add a global perspective to the exhibition in the form of interventions. Like Kollwitz, Hatoum, winner of the 2010 Käthe Kollwitz Prize, also addresses basic human experiences. Pain, suffering and vulnerability, but also the familiar and domestic, which is destroyed, endangered or alienated by institutional violence and systems of power, are central to her work. Both artists also show how the private is always to be understood as part of a larger social whole.

The exhibition, curated by Jonas Beyer and Hannelore Fischer, presents around 120 works by Käthe Kollwitz and five large-format works by Mona Hatoum. The works unfold their full effect on a total area of 700 m2 in the Chipperfield Building.

The exhibition is being created in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Bielefeld and in collaboration with the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne.