On view at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao until November 9, 2025, ‘Another day. Another night’ becomes the occasion to revisit the radical power of Barbara Kruger’s art as a whole.
With ‘Another day. Another night’ at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Barbara Kruger brings together past and present in a show that highlights her ability to question the ways images and words construct reality. Unlike a retrospective, the exhibition emphasizes her ongoing dialogue with contemporary culture: from early photomontages influenced by editorial design to immersive video projections that reflect the saturation of today’s digital feeds. What makes it distinctive is not only the clarity of her language but the way it implicates the viewer, transforming art into an urgent act of communication.
Few works embody this more than ‘Your body is a battleground’ (1989). In this piece, Kruger crystallizes the struggle over women’s rights and representation, showing the body as a site of conflict but also pointing to language itself—inscribed on the body—as a space where power can be resisted and opposed. From there, she expanded her critique with works like ‘I shop therefore I am’ (1987) and ‘You become what you consume’, exposing identity as something defined by capitalism and desire.
Her early piece ‘Your gaze hits the side of my face’ (1981) revealed how power resides in looking, while ‘Your body is a battleground’ (1989) became a feminist emblem. Works like ‘I shop therefore I am’ (1987) and ‘You become what you consume’ expose how identity is defined by capitalism.
Kruger also tears apart beauty myths: ‘You Are Beautiful’ questions cosmetic ideals, ‘Not ugly enough’ and ‘Not stupid enough’ mock impossible standards, while ‘Ruin yourself before they do’ critiques how society idolizes and destroys its icons. Pieces such as ‘Enough’ map the noise of vanity, sex, and money, while ‘You are a prisoner to your ghosts’ and ‘We are not what we seem’ confront memory, fragility, and appearances.
Kruger’s practice has grown into immersive projections and LED installations, yet the urgency remains the same. Works like ‘The future belongs to those who can see it’ insist on clarity and resistance within today’s fragmented media ecosystem.
Whether encountered in a museum or on a city billboard, Kruger’s words cut through noise with an immediacy that feels personal. Her art insists on addressing us directly, implicating us in the very systems of power, desire, and identity she seeks to expose.
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