The Best Show Ever
Kunsthalle Nürnberg will be presenting the exhibition “The Best Show Ever” from 1 November 2025 to 22 February 2026. It features works by 28 international artists who adopt a humorous, critical perspective on the art world, the current hype surrounding contemporary art, and the developing event-like character of art exhibitions.
The art world has been experiencing an unprecedented boom since the mid-1990s. In just a few decades, a small and manageable community has developed into a global industry. New museums, galleries, biennials, auctions, fairs, and art events are springing up world-wide. The number of artists is growing steadily, and innovative exhibitions are playing an ever-increasing, key role in the art world: the spectrum of openings, lectures, guided tours and discussion events is almost overwhelming today – making it difficult to keep track.
Competition in the art world is growing, rivalry is intensifying, and everyone involved is experiencing more pressure to succeed. Artists need to be constantly innovative. Museums and exhibition venues are expected to put on spectacular blockbuster exhibitions and keep breaking visitor records, while everyone working in the cultural sector is constantly on the lookout for novelty, hunting for previously undiscovered gems. Every year, numerous rankings select the best art exhibitions, the most important museums, the most expensive paintings, and the most significant living artists – thereby fuelling an art industry that is becoming increasingly defined in terms of visibility, success, and market value.
The concept of blockbuster exhibitions has brought about lasting change in the exhibition industry. The focus has shifted more towards attracting bigger numbers of visitors, while content-related discussions and more profound questions have been relegated into the background. Constant media bombardment, high advertising budgets, long queues and overflowing museum shops show clearly that the event and consumer culture is shaping international exhibition programmes. American artist Dan Graham said in an interview as long ago as 2008: “There are many artists who are not truly outstanding artists, but excellent entertainers.”
What strategies are artists developing to deal with this growing pressure to succeed? What impact is the globalisation of the art world having on artistic freedoms and the development of new forms of artistic expression? To what extent does media attention influence the artistic production process? What impact does art’s “eventisation” have on curatorial concepts? Is quality losing out to quantity? Do people consume art today rather than reflecting upon it? What happens when the experiential value of an exhibition becomes more important than its content? Is art becoming more of a lifestyle product for a visually oriented audience? These and other questions are addressed in the exhibition The Best Show Ever, which shows around 28 artistic positions that examine – in a critical and amusing way – the creative process, the concept of art, and the peculiarities of today’s art world.
Participating artists: Massimo Bartolini (IT), Brent Birnbaum (US), Jan Bräumer (DE), Lars Breuer (DE), Marcel Broodthaers (BE), Michael Conrads (DE), VALIE EXPORT (AT), FORT (DE), Daniela Friebel (DE), Philipp Goldbach (DE), Haus-Rucker-Co (AT), Candida Höfer (DE), Christian Jankowski (DE), Howard Kanovitz (US), Maik and Dirk Löbbert (DE), Paul McCarthy (US), Stephan Reusse (DE), Claus Richter (DE), Patrick Rieve (DE), David Shrigley (GB), Wolfgang Stehle (DE), Sebastian Tröger (DE), Ben Vautier (FR), and Johannes Wohnseifer (DE) as well aa a documentation of temporary works by Michael Asher (US), VALIE EXPORT (AT), Haus-Rucker-Co (AT/DE), Yves Klein (FR), Allen Ruppersberg (US), Jean Tinguely (FR)
