Erinnerungskultur | Wartist

2 + 2: Phoenix Chemnitz – A Peace Day Exhibition (Chemnitzer Künstlerbund)

On 12 February 2013, the exhibition “2 + 2: Phoenix Chemnitz” will open on the premises of Chemnitzer Künstlerbund (association of Chemnitz’s artists). In this established format, two local and two external artists meet to address a specific subject. This time, the Chemnitz Friedenstag (Chemnitz Peace Day) is this issue: on 5 March 1945, Chemnitz was severly damaged – more than 2,100 people died in this bombing. How can this central event be remembered? What has contemporary art to say on war? Peggy Albrecht (* 1974) and Rose-Marie Güttler (* 1978) are the two local artists in this show, while Jan Bejšovec (* 1975, Konfliktstoff) and Martin Bayer (* 1971, Wartist) from Berlin provide external perspectives. Continue reading

Alois Nebel – Graphic Novel by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromir 99 (AID Berlin + Czech Centre Berlin)

On 12 January 2013, the exhibition “Alois Nebel – Graphic Novel by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromir 99” will open on two parallel locations: Akademie für Illustration und Design Berlin (AID Berlin) and Tschechisches Zentrum Berlin (Czech Centre Berlin). Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromír “Jaromir 99” Švejdík show the origination process of their successful three-volume graphic novel about the life of train director Alois Nebel (2003-2005), that has been made into a film in 2011 by Tomáš Luňák (and was awarded the European Film Award 2012 as best animated feature film. “Alois Nebel” addresses the issue of the forced displacement of Sudeten-Germans from Czechoslovakia after the end of the Second World War.

Jaromir 99 (* 1963) lives in Prague as comic artist, painter and musician. Jaroslav Rudiš (* 1972) works as author, screenwriter and playwright; he writes in Czech and German and lives in the Czech Republic and Germany. Continue reading “Alois Nebel – Graphic Novel by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromir 99 (AID Berlin + Czech Centre Berlin)”

Erik Schiemann: The Day is Coming (Sprechsaal, Berlin)

From 11 January to 10 March, Sprechsaal in Berlin presents photos by Erik Schiemann. The artist, born in 1963, is dedicating himself to the people, the traces and atmospheres in locations such as Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Buchenwald and Belzec. His pictures show former inmates and young people, damaged lives and wounded landscapes. A selection of some 30 pictures from a series of 60 black and white photos will be shown: portraits, thoughts and landscapes from the past seven years, supplemented with parts of Schiemann’s work “c’était son monde” from 1995.

Newzealand: Haka for Fallen Comrades

Not just on the occasion of today’s Volkstrauertag (people’s mourning day in Germany, introduced after the First World War) it is fascinating to look beyond one’s own nose: how are the dead remembered elsewhere? An impressive example is shown in the following film from New Zealand, where soldiers perform a traditional haka.

Continue reading “Newzealand: Haka for Fallen Comrades”

On Borders (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin)

From 9 November until 30 December 2012, Berlin-based Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) presents the photo exhibition “On Borders” as their second cooperation with the photo acency “Ostkreuz”. The agency’s 18 photographer addressed various issues of the exhibition’s subject: borders can be territorial, but they also divide social spheres or can divide inner and outer boundaries. Borders can be visible and invisible, cross-social or individual. Continue reading “On Borders (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin)”

Matthias Ley: Remembering Gwangju (Bürgerforum Wunsiedel)

From 27 October to 2 December 2012, photographer Matthias Ley presents photos from his series “Remembering Gwangju” at Bürgerforum Wunsiedel. Made 2009 to 2010, the work remembers a central event for the development of democracy in South Korea: the revolt in the city of Gwangju against the military dictatorship after the declaration of martial law on 18 May 1980, up to the “Gwangju massacre” on 27 May 1980. While the crushing of the protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 4 June 1989 received worldwide attention, there was hardly any coverage of the Gwangju massacre in Western media.

Holocaust in Comics (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau)

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From 19 April until 30 September 2012, the exhibition “Holocaust im Comic” (Holocaust in Comics) is shown at Evangelische Versöhnungskirche of KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau. Curator Ralf Palandt, himself comic artist and founding member of Gesellschaft für Comicforschung (ComFor) (Association for Comic Studies), published a reader on right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism (“Rechtsextremismus, Rassismus und Antisemitismus in Comics”) in 2011.

“The Prose of Events” Opened at ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, Berlin

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Wartist presents: “Jens Kloppmann – The Prose of Events” at ARD-Hauptstadtstudio

We are pleased to announce another exhibition at ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, Berlin: “Die Prosa der Ereignisse” (The Prose ov Events), to be opened on 7 February 2012. Several cycles and other individual works by Jens Kloppmann will form a cross-section of his work. Both the materials and techniques used are manifold and reach from video installations and retouched photos to plaster casts and fretworks, to name a few. Ulrich Deppendorf, Head of ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, will open the exhibition that is curated by Martin Bayer . This exhibition, too, will be kindly supported by Deutsche Atlantische Gesellschaft e.V. and SONY Deutschland.

Luftkampf, 160x80cm (©2003 Jens Kloppmann)

Wartist presents: “6:57 P.M.” by Jens Kloppmann at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin)

Berlin-based artist Jens Kloppmann will present his impressive video installation “6:57 P.M.” as artistic supporting programme to the international symposium “Memorial Mania – Negotiating Social and Political Strategies of Memory” of the American Academy Berlin at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (9-10 December 2011, see this Wartist article). The conference will address various issues of the culture of remembrance, including the tenth anniversary of the terrorist acts of 9/11, with an emphasis on memorials and both German and American approaches.

6:57 P.M., video stills (©2011 Jens Kloppmann)