15 September to 14 August 2023
Beau comme un Buren mais plus loin
Room 14 and in the city of Cologne in the public space
Beau comme un Buren mais plus loin (As beautiful as a Buren but further) is a flag made of blue and white fabric designed by Dafa Diallo. It is part of a project by Éric Baudelaire entitled Tu peux prendre ton temps, which Baudelaire realised together with 20 pupils over a period of 4 years in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis and which can be seen in Kolumba until mid-August. The flag transports Daniel Buren’s institutional critique into the present. Just as Buren left the museum behind him in the 1970s to take his art into the public space and respond directly to a situation with his striped paintings, so this flag is made to mark and make visible a specific place outside the museum.
We leave Kolumba and make our way into the city, in order to get to know young people and find out what attaches them to »their« place in their view. Back in the museum we continue the conversation: what kind of place is a museum? Who shapes this place? How does it impact on us? Which works do we find relevant today? What are we moved by? What do we view critically? Where do we feel represented and where do we feel like strangers? Who belongs and who doesn’t? At this point, the young people respond with their questions directed at us and to you, our visitors – take your time, please.

Art museum of the
Archdiocese of Cologne