With the exhibition Ludger Gerdes the Kunstmuseen Krefeld pays tribute to an artist who left a telling mark on the German art scene in the 1980s. From 1981 onward Gerdes (1952-2008) developed a highly complex and wide-ranging body of work which, after some twenty years, is being shown once again in a one-man museum presentation - his first retrospective - and re-examined from the present perspective. With paintings, installations, written pieces and also photographs and interventions in public space, Ludger Gerdes created (thought) models that trigger public dialogues. The accompanying publication gives a representative overview of the artist's output, presents central aspects of his mental edifice and documents and discusses the Ludger Gerdes's oeuvre in all its salient features. The project will be mounted in cooperation with the Kunsthalle zu Kiel and the Archiv für Künstlernachlässe, Pulheim.