1968: the year in which in Europe and the United States the mass protests against the political and cultural establishment, against the war in Vietnam, against public and private authorities reached their peak. 1968: the year in which in Germany the "extra-parliamentary opposition" failed in its attempt to effect relevant political changes and the state saw its power consolidated.

1965−1975: a period in which the notion of art that informs the post-war period was fundamentally challenged. It was also around 1968 that a phenomenon called “contemporary art” was invented. It was not yet suspected that the revolution could turn out to be conservative.