For the first time, this exhibition provides a deeper insight into the art collection of Ringier, the biggest Swiss publishing house. Even if it would be presumptuous, given its overall size and great range, to speak of a representative overview, the 150-or-so works by about 80 artists, including many serial works, still gives a valid impression of the collection's artistic orientation.

The motto "Blasted Allegories" is borrowed from a work by John Baldessari. It programmatically sums up an artistic interest of our time, but also the exhibition concept itself, which Beatrix Ruf, the curator of the Ringier collection, conceived exclusively for, and in collaboration with, Museum of Art Lucerne. It is not simply a matter of honouring a collection or a collector, but of using a highly focused selection to encourage engagement with contemporary artistic expressive media and, through these, with our information-flooded and image-saturated world.

Jim Shaw: Watercolor, 1989

Wasserfarbe auf Papier / watercolor on paper, 43.2 x 35.6 cm
Sammlung Ringier / Ringier Collection
© Jim Shaw

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In spite of its "explosive" title, the exhibition includes a surprising number works that are "quiet" in tone. The artists represented use all kinds of artistic media, and move between the poles of everyday narrative and the media, revolve around fantasies and fictions, take rules and infractions as their subject-matter. At the same time they are always concerned with the "image" in all its manifestations and its significance for our present-day world.

Curated by Beatrix Ruf, in collaboration with Peter Fischer

With works by: Vito Acconci, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Doug Aitken, Kai Althoff, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Alighiero Boetti, Troy Brauntuch, Angela Bulloch, Valentin Carron, George Condo, Hanne Darboven, Verne Dawson, Jeroen de Rijke/Willem de Rooij, Peter Doig, Trisha Donnelly, Stan Douglas, Nicole Eisenman, Cerith Wyn Evans, Urs Fischer, Peter Fischli/David Weiss, Sylvie Fleury, Lee Friedlander, Isa Genzken, Liam Gillick, Jack Goldstein, Douglas Gordon, Rodney Graham, Andreas Gursky, Wade Guyton, Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley, Toba Khedoori, Karen Kilimnik, Sean Landers, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Sarah Lucas, Allan McCollum, Lucy McKenzie, Jonathan Meese, Mark Morrisroe, Matt Mullican, Cady Noland, Albert Oehlen, Laura Owens, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Phillips, Jack Pierson, Seth Price, Richard Prince, Ugo Rondinone, Eva Rothschild, Thomas Ruff, Ed Ruscha, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jim Shaw, Steven Shearer, Cindy Sherman, Andreas Slominski, Josh Smith, Sturtevant, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemary Trockel, Keith Tyson, Kelley Walker, Rebecca Warren, Lawrence Weiner, Franz West, Christopher Williams, Sue Williams, Christopher Wool

Catalogue: "Blasted Allegories. Works from the Ringier Collection", edited by Beatrix Ruf. Zurich: JRP|Ringier, 2008. Hardcover, 584 pages, c. 400 full page colour ill. German/English, ISBN: 978-3-905829-40-2.

Lee Friedlander: Florida (with sexy eyes), 1963

Silbergelatineabzug /silver gelatine print, 21.4 x 32 cm
Sammlung Ringier / Ringier Collection
© Lee Friedlander

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The Ringier Collection
A collection of internationally important contemporary art has been assembled since 1995 in the publishing house Ringier AG. The constantly growing collection, which reflects all media of contemporary artistic activity, has come to assume an important place in the company's everyday life. Many of the works in the collection may be seen in the company's rooms on an everyday basis and in constantly changing presentations, and works from the collection are also regularly placed on loan for exhibitions all over the world. One central aspect of the presence of contemporary art within the company's daily life is an engagement and debate with artists' methods in production: since 1997 Ringier have worked with selected artists in the preparation of their business reports. The artists are given a completely free hand, both in their methods and in their interpretation of a business report. In this way they create each year a special image of the company, which they present to the public to look at, but also to discuss. Art is, then, has a permanent place in Ringier's company culture.

The constantly growing Ringier Collection now encompasses around 1,800 works. Starting with radical movements of the 1960s, and various formulations that art contributes to the contemporary image in the present-day world, it concentrates on the artistic production of recent and very recent times. The collection includes important groups of works by central representatives of the generation of conceptual artists such as John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Valie Export, Joseph Kosuth, Vito Acconci, Douglas Huebler, Lee Friedländer, Hanne Darboven, Jenny Holzer, Sturtevant and the conceptual photographers Bill Beckley, Marc Adams and Jean Le Gac. Contemporary photography is represented by extensive groups of works by Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Wolfgang Tillmans, Thomas Demand, Rineke Dijkstra, Jitka Hanzlova, Christopher Williams, Philip diCorcia, Jack Pierson, Clegg&Guttman, Mark Morrisroe and many others. A broad spectrum of artistic media is used by Richard Prince, Mike Kelley, Matt Mullican, Alan McCollumn, Stan Douglas, Peter Doig, Douglas Gordon, Rodney Graham, Peter Land, Sean Landers, Liam Gillick, Verne Dawson, Karen Kilimnik, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Doug Aitken, Richard Philips, Jack Pierson, Aleksandra Mir, Jonathan Meese, Kai Althoff and many others who also form part of the collection. With Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Ugo Rondinone, Urs Fischer, Christian Philipp Müller, Jean-Fréderic Schnyder, Valentin Carron and Sylvie Fleury, Swiss art is also prominently. A very young generation of artists such as de Rijke & de Rooij, Wilhelm Sasnal, Keith Tyson, Josh Smith, Trisha Donnelly, Kelley Walker, Wade Guyton, Daria Martin, Lucy McKenzie, Oliver Payne & Nick Relph and Seth Price is constantly extending the collection into the future.