America & Trump by Andres Serrano

Forum Groningen marked the American elections battle with an exhibition of American artist Andres Serrano's work, starring the presidential candidate on whom all eyes were focused: Donald Trump. The exhibition America & Trump by Andres Serrano could be seen at the Forum from Saturday 23 March until 5 November 2024.

America & Trump by Andres Serrano
America & Trump by Andres Serrano consists of a unique composition of three works by Serrano, shown together for the first time. Together, these works act as a reflection on U.S. society and on Donald Trump, who after a career as an entrepreneur, real estate magnate and media personality, ascended to America’s highest office and is now attempting to repeat this feat.

His photographic series America (2001-2004)
Andres Serrano spent more than three years creating his America series, a collection of photographic portraits of unknown and well-known Americans from firefighters to drug addicts and Yoko Ono to Donald Trump. Viewed through Serrano’s lens, each represents the face of America in their own way.

The multimedia-installation The Game: All Things Trump (2018-2019) 
The Game: All Things Trump shows the universe Donald Trump has been building up around himself since the 1980s. The installation consists of an impressive collection of over a thousand objects assembled by Serrano through auctions, eBay and by word of mouth. Items include Trump-branded hotel and casino souvenirs, sports memorabilia, signed magazine covers and photographs.

The film Insurrection (2022)
Insurrection is Serrano’s first project using film as a medium. He created it in response to the events of 6 January 2021, when a protest against the November 2020 election results transformed into an attack on the United States Capitol.

Andres Serrano
Andres Serrano (New York, 1950) engages with modern society through photography that is often transgressive. His Piss Christ (1987), an image of a crucifix submerged in urine, fuelled debate on the freedom of artistic expression and public funding of controversial art in America. In the Netherlands, too, Andres Serrano’s exhibition A History of Sex at the Groninger Museum caused quite a stir in 1997. Universal themes such as death, religion, sex and violence feature heavily in Serrano’s work.

Forum Groningen presented this exhibition in collaboration with Andres Serrano, A/POLITICAL (London) www.a-political.org and Collection Lambert (Avignon).

Photos exhibition: Sake Elzinga

With this exhibition, Forum also offered peripheral programming about America and Trump.  On March 23, there was a talk with Serrano at the special film screening of Insurrection. On Sunday, March 24, journalist and presenter Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal talked with the artist about his work and about his exhibition at the Forum.  On June 13, journalist and America correspondent Michiel Vos was over to talk about his new book Vos in the US. In September Forum presented the film series Defying Democracy and on Sept. 30 there was the preview Race to the White House. On November 5 - the day of the election results - we had an evening and night programme during Election Night. 

The exhibition in the media 
Filmkrant, Focus: America & Trump by Andres Serrano - Filmkrant, 20 March ‘24
Noorderland, Trump naar Groningen: nieuwe tentoonstelling over Amerika te zien (noorderland.nl), 22 March '24
Dagblad van het Noorden, 25 jaar na zijn spraakmakende seksfoto's is Andres Serrano terug in Groningen, nu met verontrustende beelden van Donald Trump - Dagblad van het Noorden (dvhn.nl), 23 March '24
OOG TV, Andres Serrano-expositie in Forum over Amerika en Donald Trump - YouTube, 25 March '24
RTV Noord, 27 jaar na de 'plasseksfoto' is Serrano terug in Groningen - RTV Noord, 25 March '24
Kunstkrant, Expositie in Forum Groningen. Amerika en Donald Trump, fotografie Andres Serrano. - Kunstkrant, 27 March '24
Focus, fotomagazine #2 2024, Cover magazine en Expositie America & Trump by Andres Serrano, 30 April '24
De Volkskrant, Volkskrant Magazine, Andres Serrano: ‘Als jij jezelf een kunstenaar wilt noemen, wie ben ik dan om te zeggen dat je dat niet bent?’, 15 June '24
Dagblad van het Noorden, Bezoekers Trump-expositie in Groningen: 'Bang voor waar Amerika naartoe gaat', 15 July '24