For some time now our everyday lives have been characterized by tense, unstable situations—both on a global and personal scale. From curfews and violence to the search for our own identity, we are constantly in a process of reorientation. The artists featured in this collection respond to the uncertainty and the instability which we experience on a near-daily basis.   With Tense Conditions, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart establishes a dialogue between works from the private Scharpff-Striebich collection and works from the museum’s own permanent collection. In this retrospective view, works from the 1960s to the present gain a new relevance, making the complexity and contradictory nature of our society abundantly clear. This collection features the work of more than forty artists. In addition to numerous illustrations of their works, the catalog also includes short commentaries by the artists themselves.