In Fragments of a Crisis, Julian Irlinger examines the relationship between aesthetics and ideology on the basis of work produced by artists in the Weimar Republic. He begins his investigation by looking at Notgeld, the emergency money issued alongside the official currency during the period of German hyperinflation (1918–23). The artwork on the banknotes was designed by artists who have been largely overlooked by art historians. Using scanned details of the notes, Irlinger develops a method of showing his material that emphasises the dialectic of the images. However, his artistic work featured on the Notgeld also focuses attention on the crisis that led to its creation. The theoretical text on Notgeld by Nora M. Alter is also part of the publication. Fragments of a Crisis has been published in conjunction with Julian Irlinger’s exhibition of the same name at the Rudolph Scharpf Gallery at the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, 23 February – 28 April 2019.

Editor:
Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, René Zechlin

Text:
Nora M. Alter, Nora Jaeger, René Zechlin

Book design by Marie Lautsch and Patrick A. Müller.