Berlin 89/09

Art Between Traces of the Past and Utopian Futures

Exhibition: September 18, 2009 –  January 31, 2010
extended until February 15, 2010

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the exhibition “Berlin 89/09 – Art Between Traces of the Past and Utopian Futures” at the Berlinische Galerie carries out an interim investigation of the transformations that were triggered by this historical event in the German capital.
The exhibition includes numerous works by internationally renowned artists who have dealt with these changes – some dramatic, others barely noticeable – in the capital’s architectural and urban structure. Some of the works have never been shown in Berlin before or will be specially created for this exhibition. Others were temporary, site-specific works, or only took place in hidden locations and will be reconstructed for the first time for this exhibition.
When the Berlin Wall was opened, the city became the focus of international attention almost overnight: previously the symbol of two opposing political systems, it was now a barometer for the process of reunification and the test ground for new societal, cultural and architectural ideas. The profound process of change that has occurred in Berlin since then has not only been accompanied by numerous public debates about the construction of the new capital; it has attracted and continues today to attract numerous artists from all over the world, for whom the dramatic changes in Berlin have been the subject of intensive artistic investigations and interventions right from the very beginning. These change processes have inspired concepts and ideas that offer commentaries, alternatives and Utopias.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Ulf Aminde, John M. Armleder, Max Baumann, Stefanie, Bürkle, Sophie Calle, Tacita Dean, Dellbrügge & de Moll, Johanna Domke, Rainer Fetting, Nina Fischer und Maroan el Sani, Doug Hall, Tobias, Hauser, Hans Hemmert, Heike Klussmann, Karsten Konrad, Norbert Kottmann, Susanne Kriemann, Alicja Kwade, David Lamelas, Gerda Leopold, Ute Mahling, Michel Majerus, Arwed Messmer, Olaf Metzel, Anne Misselwitz, Susi Pop, Reynold Reynolds, Fred Rubin, Salomé, Sarah Schönfeld, Frank Thiel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tim Trantenroth, Bernd Trasberger, Vincent Trasov, Lois Weinberger, Michael Wesely

Einzelne Exponate mit freundlicher Unterstützung von:
Fondation Ruth Fabian, Paris
GASAG
Niederländische Botschaft in Berlin
Schweizer Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia
Schering Stiftung, Hauptstadtkulturfonds
Steinweg-Böcker-Baumaschinen GmbH