THE HISTORY AND CONCEPT OF THE KARL ERNST OSTHAUS-MUSEUM

On the outskirts of the metropolis, far away from the mainstream of culturetourism, it has always been very plain that art, and above all contemporary art, is only of interest to very small parts of the population. It was usually here that the value of artistic work was first and fundamentally disputed, and here that the question of whether and how artistic achievements and understanding could be used for the benefit of everyday life was more acute than anywhere else. This is why the provinces often provided a more suitable background for artistic innovations than the metropolis: For where the very role and meaning of art was in dispute, the only way artists could interest people for their work and reach new clientèles was to break with convention.