Candidature for a Retrospective
- Artist: Martin Kippenberger
- Date: 1993
- Medium: Lithograph on paper
- Dimensions: image: 698 x 498 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Candidature for a Retrospective” by Martin Kippenberger. Created in 1993 as a lithograph on paper, it was one of two posters Kippenberger designed to promote the exhibition of the same name at the Centre Pompidou in Paris that summer. The piece is a good example of his extensive poster work—he produced 178 throughout his career, usually in standard advertising sizes to announce anything from exhibitions to parties. Kippenberger’s posters are more than marketing; they’re extensions of his playful, critical aesthetic, often combining provocative images with clever references. The 1993 show was deliberately subversive, questioning how artists are valued and how their works are categorized. This poster, with its bold, ironic tone, captures that spirit—humor, social critique, and a clear refusal to be neatly categorized.
See it in person
Candidature for a Retrospective is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
