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Gretchen Bender

GRETCHEN BENDER

Political Entertainment Sprüth Magers 14 November 2025–4 April 2026 Berlin
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Press Release

Shown for the first time since their 1989 debut, Sprüth Magers is pleased to present Gretchen Bender’s series Top Ten Grossing Films of 1988 at the Berlin gallery. The ten sculptures, made of black crumpled heat-set vinyl and backlit by neon, illuminate the titles of 1988’s highest-grossing films, compiled by Bender during her constant scrutinising of the daily Hollywood magazine, Variety. Driven by her desire to never be a step behind the popular culture her art was critiquing, Bender began her research into Variety for industry production notes about upcoming films before they were completed, or often before they even went into production. She discovered that what was portrayed as an ‘entertainment’ industry was quickly revealed to be an industry of corporate and financial politics. The ten titles of this series emerge as the most successful products of those influences, and our passive consumption of them.

Over thirty-five years since its inception, the series continues to resonate as programming and personalities are currently being cut due to political influence over corporate interests.

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Installation Views

Exhibition view: Gretchen Bender, Political Entertainment, Sprüth Magers, Berlin (14 November 2025-4 April 2026). Courtesy Sprüth Magers.
Exhibition view: Gretchen Bender, Political Entertainment, Sprüth Magers, Berlin (14 November 2025-4 April 2026). Courtesy Sprüth Magers.
Exhibition view: Gretchen Bender, Political Entertainment, Sprüth Magers, Berlin (14 November 2025-4 April 2026). Courtesy Sprüth Magers.
About the Artist

Gretchen Bender was an influential figure in late twentieth-century American art and a key observer of the effects of the inundation of mass media on the human experience. The immersive ‘electronic theater’ installations that she produced in New York in the 1980s are groundbreaking mixtures of sculpture, video, sound and performance that subverted the power of corporate imagery on collective consciousness and prefigured the practices of many younger artists in the post-Internet age.

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Also Exhibiting

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Group Exhibition
GROUP EXHIBITION 10 Years LA! Sprüth Magers 15 May–8 August 2026 Los Angeles
About the Gallery

Sprüth Magers has expanded from its roots in Cologne (Germany) to become an international gallery dedicated to exhibiting the very best in groundbreaking modern and contemporary art. With galleries located in Berlin Mitte, London’s Mayfair and the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles–as well as an office in Cologne and an outpost in Hong Kong–Sprüth Magers retains close ties with the studios and communities of the German and American artists who form the core of its roster.

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Address
Oranienburger Straße 18
Berlin
Germany
Opening Hours
Tuesday - Saturday
11am - 6pm
(1)
Berlin Oranienburger Straße 18
Spruth Magers contemporary art gallery in Berlin Germany
Sprüth Magers
Oranienburger Straße 18, Berlin, Germany
+49 302 888 4030
http://www.spruethmagers.com

Opening hours
Tuesday - Saturday
11am - 6pm
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