About the exhibition
Patronage:
Minister of State Claudia Roth, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Supported by:
The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Curatorial team:
Philipp Bürger, Dr Viktoria Krason, Kathrin Haase (project assistance)
Exhibition design:
Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik, Berlin
While people living in autocracies around the world today have to fight for their basic rights to freedom, the question of how freedom should be lived is hotly debated in democracies. The idea of what freedom is and should be is under particular pressure when acute crises require swift, collective action - for example in the case of climate change, the coronavirus pandemic or military support for Ukraine.
Another experience of the present is that the concept of freedom can be used to advocate completely opposing political goals. For example, the symbols and slogans of historical freedom movements are currently being appropriated by right-wing populist groups, which at the same time are radically opposed to a liberal, pluralistic society.
In view of this increasingly confusing and at the same time explosive socio-political situation, the exhibition examines the historical developments on which the dominant concepts of freedom in Europe are based. Who can refer to them and who do they exclude? Which practices have led to an increase in political freedom in the past? And how can individual freedom be reconciled with social solidarity today?
An important point of reference for the exhibition will be the debates that took place in East Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic during the ‘Wende’ and transformation phase with concepts of freedom from East and West. A closer look back at this particular constellation at the end of the Cold War could also contribute to a better understanding of the freedom debates taking place throughout Europe today. They were not only characterised by great political complexity and intensity, but also formed the hub of an intercontinental transfer of ideas which, due to growing political and economic relations, also included countries of the global South.
In collaboration with institutions from Poland and the Czech Republic, the exhibition aims to create a polyphonic reflection on the genesis, nature and impact of today's concepts of freedom. It aims to promote our understanding of freedom, without which life among free equals cannot be defended.
Cooperation partners:
European Solidarity Centre, Gdansk - Europejskie Centrum Solidarności, Gdańsk
Museum of Contemporary Art, Department of the National Museum, Wrocław - Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej Oddział Muzeum Narodowego we Wrocławiu
National Gallery Prague - Národní Galerie Praha
