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The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’ is Martin Kippenberger’s (1953–1997) largest and most complex work.

The artist spent several years preparing, researching and producing it. The installation, set out on a stylised football pitch, is made up of 50 table and chair ensembles.

Alongside classic design icons and found pieces, it also includes furniture especially produced by Kippenberger as well as pieces by numerous befriended artists, including Cosima von Bonin, Tony Oursler, Ulrich Strothjohann, and Jason Rhodes.

This publication examines the work from various perspectives. It is the first time, thanks to extensive research, that the ‘biographies’ of the individual objects and the contexts of their creation and collection have been documented in such a detailed way, offering a new way to approach Martin Kippenberger’s life and oeuvre.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Museum Folkwang, Essen (2021).