If You Need One, You Have to Bring One with You
- Artist: Martin Kippenberger
- Date: 1985
- Medium: Lithograph on paper
- Dimensions: image: 697 x 498 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the If You Need One, You Have to Bring One with You by Martin Kippenberger. Created in 1985 as a lithograph on paper, it belongs to a sprawling archive of 178 posters the German artist produced over his career. The work sits inside the first folio of the T.Ü. series – short for ‘Title Überflussig’, meaning ‘Title Unnecessary’ – which grouped seventeen posters made between 1984 and 1986. Kippenberger’s prints were more than advertising; they were invitations to art shows, parties, and even performances, blurring the line between promotion and art. They carry his trademark wit, social critique and a playful subversion of institutional norms. In a 2006 review, Jutta Koether noted that the posters best encapsulate his range: humour, clever imagery, and a sharp sense of politics. You can see it hanging in the Media Networks room.
See it in person
If You Need One, You Have to Bring One with You is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
