Die Kunst des Kitschs

Good or bad—beautiful or ugly—valuable or trash—it’s all in the eye of the beholder. The answer to the question “Is this art or should it be thrown away?” often changes over time. What was considered tasteless yesterday is now a cult classic. These shifts from cheap to expensive often originate in pop culture and work their way up into high culture. In “Die Kunst des Kitschs” we want to shed light on some of these upward trajectories and try to understand how the cringe-worthy moments of the past suddenly came to be taken seriously—and which cringe-worthy moments of today might soon become mainstream.