Exhibition

If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. Art and Internationalism before the Fall of the Berlin Wall

14 Sep 2023 – 14 Jan 2024

Regular hours

Thursday
12:00 – 20:00
Friday
12:00 – 18:00
Saturday
12:00 – 18:00
Sunday
12:00 – 18:00
Tuesday
12:00 – 18:00
Wednesday
12:00 – 18:00

Free admission

Save Event: If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag. Art and Internationalism before the Fall of the Berlin Wall3

I've seen this2

People who have saved this event:

close

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (nbk)

Berlin, Germany

Address

Travel Information

  • U6 Oranienburger Tor
Directions via Google Maps Directions via Citymapper
Event map

The exhibition If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag is a project by Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in cooperation with Galerie im Körnerpark and Akademie der Künste, funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

About

Artists: Bettina von Arnim, Gábor Bódy, KP Brehmer, Marcel Broodthaers, Wojciech Bruszewski, Daniel Buren, Vlassis Caniaris, Rafael Canogar, Dalibor Chatrný, Isaac Chong Wai, Contemporary And (C&), Agnes Denes, Braco Dimitrijević, Piero Dorazio, Martin Engelman, Ieva Epnere, Wojciech Fangor, Safi Faye, Robert Filliou, Kasia Fudakowski, Hanna Frenzel, Gyula Gulyás, K. H. Hödicke, Dorothy Iannone, Joan Jonas, Wolf Kahlen, Allan Kaprow, Edward Kienholz, Milan Knížák, Jan Kotik, Shigeko Kubota, Raimund Kummer, Joan La Barbara, László Lakner, Maria Lassnig, MADEYOULOOK, Clara Maïda, George Moorse, Maina-Miriam Munsky, Ann Noël, Roman Opałka, Eduardo Paolozzi, A. R. Penck, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Karen Power, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rehfeldt, Remo Remotti, George Rickey, Bridget Riley, Alicja Rogalska, Grażyna Roguski, Frederic Rzewski, Sonya Schönberger, Shelly Silver, Charles Simonds, Petr Štembera, Maija Tabaka, Endre Tót, Jiří Valoch, Ben Vautier, Emilio Vedova, Videobase, Wolf Vostell, Lawrence Weiner, Stephen Willats, Emmett Williams, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, Constantin Xenakis, a. o.

Curators: Nóra Lukács, Melanie Roumiguière

Associate curators: Kaspar Aebi, Malte Giesen, Krisztina Hunya, Yolanda Kaddu-Mulindwa, Natalie Keppler, Angela Lammert

 

If the Berlin Wind Blows My Flag delves into the artistic scenes in West Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall, based on the history of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. Launched in 1963, the residency program brought international artists to West Berlin as a signal against the “cultural isolation” of the city. An exhibition in three chapters – at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), daadgalerie, and Galerie im Körnerpark – accompanied by events at Akademie der Künste and other venues examines the role of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in nurturing artistic practices and networks during the Cold War and investigates the program’s cultural and political orientation. The focus is on the activities of the Artists-in-Berlin Program, which was initiated 60 years ago by the U.S. Ford Foundation and subsequently continued by DAAD from 1965 onward, particularly with regard to the political motivations that drove efforts to internationalize the art scene in West Berlin.

 

The exhibition at n.b.k. focuses on key exhibitions and art movements of the 1970s and 1980s in Berlin, presented in dialogue with contemporary artists (Ieva Epnere, Kasia Fudakowski, Isaac Chong Wai). Through an examination of historical projects in public space (such as ADA – Aktionen der Avantgarde, Hotel Room Event, and actions by Daniel Buren, Endre Tót, and Milan Knížák), paintings by proponents of West Berlin Critical Realism (Bettina von Arnim, Maina-Miriam Munsky) and by Maija Tabaka from the former Soviet Union, and the international network connected to Jürgen Schweinebraden’s EP Galerie in East Berlin, the exhibition unravels the interplay of artistic movements within and beyond the borders of the divided city.

 

At daadgalerie, the focus lies on the interrogation of the origins and cultural-political mission that underpinned the Artists-in-Berlin Program during its first decade. Drawing on historical works (a. o. KP Brehmer, Wojciech Fangor, George Rickey, Bridget Riley, and Emilio Vedova) and new pieces that respond to documents and ephemera sourced from the program’s archive [a. o. Contemporary And (C&) and Sonya Schönberger], the exhibition traces artistic networks and renegotiates established institutional narratives.

 

Galerie im Körnerpark hosts the first German solo exhibition by Agnes Denes since 1978. Agnes Denes. Early Work revisits the artist’s concepts and proposals for an Artists-in-Berlin Program grant that never materialized. In addition to a newly created wall piece, early photographs, and drawings from the 1970s and 1980s will be on view, offering a glimpse into the influences that continue to shape Denes’s artistic direction, such as science, ecology, and body politics.

 

Two days of events at Akademie der Künste will be dedicated to the interdisciplinary nature of the Artists-in-Berlin Program and the close collaboration between the two institutions since their founding. One focus is on films and project from the 1970s reflecting on life in West Berlin and its status as a divided city, created by former program fellows (Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Safi Faye, Edward Kienholz). The second focus is on the Studio for Electroacoustic Music at Akademie der Künste, which has its origins in the Labor für Akustisch-Musikalische Grenzprobleme (Laboratory for Problems at the Acoustics/Music Interface) in East Berlin. This will be explored through the work of Frederic Rzewski, an early fellow, and contemporary sound artists (Clara Maïda, Karen Power).

 

Outdoor film screenings in the public space will feature works by Artists-in-Berlin Program fellows and Berlin based artists. At Körnerpark, videos will be shown by contemporary female artists entering into dialogue with the work of Agnes Denes. At Kunstquartier Bethanien in Berlin-Kreuzberg, cinematic approaches to West Berlin as an urban living space will be screened, including works from the audiovisual archive of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

 

Alicja Rogalska, whose artistic practice is characterized by creating collaborative situations, has designed an educational outreach program for this cooperation project. For specific events and dates, please check the websites of the participating venues.


Exhibitions

 

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Chausseestr. 128/129, 10115 Berlin

14.9.2023 – 14.1.2024

 

daadgalerie, Oranienstraße 161, 10969 Berlin

14.9.2023 – 14.1.2024

www.berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de

 

Galerie im Körnerpark, Schierker Str. 8, 12051 Berlin

9.9.2023 – 14.1.2024

www.galerie-im-koernerpark.de


Events

 

Friday, September 8, 2023, 8 pm

Contemporary Artists in Dialogue with Agnes Denes

Screening in public space with works by Ana Alenso, Kasia Fudakowski, Alicja Rogalska

Venue: Körnerpark, Schierker Str. 8, 12051 Berlin

Saturday, September 16, 2023, 5–7 pm

Exit! Exit? Exit

Performance by Isaac Chong Wai with Katherine Leung, Yannis Mitsos, Imola Nagy, Eva Robayo, Nobutala Shomura

Venue: daadgalerie

Saturday, September 16, 2023, 8 pm

Filmic Approaches to West Berlin

Screening in public space with works by Egon Bunne, Clemens Klopfstein, Ken Kobland, Antonio Skármeta

Venue: Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin

Sunday, September 17, 2023, 4 pm

Assuming Asymmetries: THE MISSING HOUSE by Christian Boltanski and Christiane Büchner, Andreas Fischer

Book launch and talk with Joanna Warsza, Sarah Alberti, Erik Sandberg et al.

Venue: Große Hamburger Straße 15/16, 10115 Berlin

Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 7 pm

Berlin Lost. Searching for Traces of a Jewish Berlin

Screening with films by Richard Kostelanetz, Daniel Eisenberg, Su Friedrich

Venue: daadgalerie

Friday–Sunday, October 13–15, 2023

Ferrochrom

Sound installation with audio recordings of the BKP archive by Hanno Leichtmann

Venue: daadgalerie

Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 7 pm

Solitärinnen #1: Ingeborg Bachmann

Reading and talk with Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, Nhã Thuyên et. al.

Venue: daadgalerie

Thursday, October 19, 2023, 7 pm

Lottando la vita – Lavoratori italiani a Berlino (1975, 99 min) by Videobase (Anna Lajolo, Alfredo Leonardi, Guido Lombardi)

Screening

Venue: daadgalerie

Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 7 pm

Soul Sisters. Sisterhoods

Screening with short films by Maria Lassnig and Su Friedrich, with comments by Sylvia Sadzinski

Venue: daadgalerie

Thursday, October 26, 2023, 8 pm

Improbable Bridge between Two Worlds

Concert with works by Frederic Rzewski, Luc Ferrari, Clara Maïda, Karen Power

Venue: Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10

Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 5 pm

Berlin oder ein Traum mit Sahne? Life in West Berlin as a divided city in the 1970s

Screening, discussion and archive presentation of works by Daniel Buren, Marcel Broodthaers, Safi Faye, Edward Kienholz

Venue: Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10

Thursday, November 2, 2023, 7:30 pm

Space and Time

Lecture performance by Lily Scherlis, based on interviews with witnesses of the history of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program

Venue: daadgalerie

Thursday, November 9, 2023, 7 pm

Kristina Talking Pictures (1976, 90 min) by Yvonne Rainer

Screening

Venue: n.b.k.

Thursday, November 16, 2023, 7 pm

Archive Fever – Künstlerisches Arbeiten mit und in Archiven

Conversation about the exhibition interventions of participants in Yvette Mutumba’s seminar at the Institute for Art in Context at Berlin University of the Arts

Venue: daadgalerie

Thursday, November 23, 2023, 7 pm

A Friend’s Bathroom

Performance by Grażyna Roguski

Venue: n.b.k.

Thursday, November 30, 2023, 7 pm

A Second Quarter (1975, 88 min) by Lawrence Weiner

Screening

Venue: n.b.k.

 

Free admission to all events

CuratorsToggle

Nóra Lukács

Melanie Roumiguière

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Joan La Barbara

Maija Tabaka

Alicja Rogalska

Yvonne Rainer

Charles Simonds

Sonya Schönberger

Ann Noël

Maria Lassnig

Milan Knížák

Wolf Kahlen

Braco Dimitrijević

Endre Tót

Agnes Denes

Taking part

Galerie im Körnerpark

Berlin, Germany

Related events

Comments

Have you been to this event? Share your insights and give it a review below.