Kaliningrad. Notes on the Beginning of the Short 20th Century

“Notes on the Beginning of the Short 20th Century” aims to show the historical traces of the First World War in the present, and reflects on their treatment. What does that time mean, what do those long past events mean to us? What is behind current opinion, and elicits contemporary artistic engagement? How and where is the historical impact tangible in artworks? What are the intentions and the image politics behind different forms of engagement with the past?

The exhibition pursues the extent to which it is possible for contemporary art — between construct, reference and depiction — to expand the cultural memory, to correct or even contribute to finding the historical facts. At the same time, the exponents show altered rather than socially compliant images of history, highlighting differences between national narratives about the war and cultures of commemorating it.

Curated by Frank Eckhardt (GER) and Dr. Andrea Domesle (SUI).

Artists:

Kader Attia (FRA),
Marcin Berdyszak (POL),
Nin Brudermann (AUT/USA),
Martin Chramosta (SUI),
ETAGE (GER, Stefan Bombaci & Daniela Dietmann),
Tatiana Fiodorova (MDA),
Thomas Galler (SUI),
Karen Geyer – Grauton (GER/SUI),
Group San Donato (RUS, Oleg Blyablyas, Alexey Chebykin, Evgeny Umansky),
Ruppe Koselleck (GER),
Olga Alia Krulisova & Jana Morkovska (CZE),
Anton Kuznetsov (RUS),
Jerôme Leuba (SUI),
Małgorzata Łuczyna  & Jacek Złoczowski (POL),
François Martig (BEL),
Mladen Miljanovic (BIH),
Yves Netzhammer (SUI),
Jo Preußler (GER) & Axel Töpfer (GER/SUI),
Joachim Seinfeld (GER),
Deborah Sengl (AUT),
Belle Shafir (ISR/GER),
Yury Vassiliev (RUS),
Martina Wolf (GER).

On photo: Joachim Seinfeld . When Germans are having fun, 2014