Lost in America / Hans Haacke: 20 Years of “DER BEVÖLKERUNG (To the Population)” at the German Bundestag. A Project Documentation / Herta Müller: Die große Melancholie …

Lost in America
September 10, 2020–January 17, 2021
Opening: Wednesday, September 9, 2020, noon–10pm
Artists: Michael Asher, Carver Audain, John Steuart Curry, Sam Durant, Jimmie Durham, Andrea Fraser, Dan Graham, Renée Green, Calla Henkel / Max Pitegoff, Mike Kelley, Caitlin MacBride, Jill Magid, Ken Lum, Adrian Piper, Martha Rosler, Cameron Rowland, Robert Venturi / Denise Scott Brown, Jessica Vaughn, Marisa Williamson
Curator: John Miller

With Lost in America, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) presents a group exhibition of works by American artists from 1938 to the present which sharpens our understanding of the current political situation in the USA. The exhibition revisits American history with investigations of the influences and developments that have shaped the identity of the United States through its specific national and political economy—in particular the institution of slavery and its tragic legacy in terms of culture and everyday life. A central theme is the examination of racism and its role in a neoliberal agenda that significantly influences social discourses and political decisions. Lost in America is concerned with the ideological formation of modes of production and urban planning, architecture, and design, and with the overarching institutionalization of discriminatory dispositives. In doing so, it ultimately highlights the inherent potential of conceptual art practices to expose and critique the structures that underpin society.

Online public program

Thursday, September 17, 2020
Design and Ideology
Conversation between Alexander Alberro, Dan Graham, Caitlin MacBride, Cameron Rowland, moderated by John Miller

Thursday, October 1, 2020
Institution and Subjectivity as Social Constructs
Conversation between Carver Audain, Eric de Bruyn, Coco Fusco, Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff, moderated by John Miller

Friday, October 30, 2020
Falling Apart Together
Online-screening on the occasion of the exhibition with works by Vito Acconci, Robert Ashley, Ardele Lister, Martha Rosler, Corinna Schnitt, Robert Wilson, a. o. from the collection of the n.b.k. Video-Forum

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication in the series “n.b.k. Ausstellungen” published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne, with contributions by Marius Babias, Dan Graham, Arkadij Koscheew, and John Miller.


n.b.k. Showroom
Hans Haacke. 20 Years of “DER BEVÖLKERUNG (To the Population)” at the German Bundestag. A Project Documentation.
September 10, 2020–January 15, 2021
Opening: Wednesday, September 9, 2020, noon–10pm
Curator: Oliver Schwarz

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of DER BEVÖLKERUNG (To the Population), documents, drafts, and archival materials on the genesis and reception of Hans Haacke’s once controversially discussed art project will be displayed at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein‘s Showroom. The artist designed this participatory project in 1998 at the invitation of the German Bundestag for the northern atrium of the Reichstag building. After a fierce debate in the Bundestag, his proposal was accepted by a narrow majority in a roll-call vote; the work was inaugurated on September 12, 2000. Haacke drew inspiration for his work from Bertolt Brecht’s essay “Five Difficulties in Writing the Truth” (1934). His dedication DER BEVÖLKERUNG (To the Population) is a direct reference to the inscription “DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE” (To the German People), which was mounted on the gable of the west portal of the Reichstag building in 1916. Using the same typeface as that on the west portal, the dedication DER BEVÖLKERUNG has beamed towards the sky in neon letters from the bottom of a wooden trough for the last 20 years. Upon the artist’s invitation, more than 400 members of the Bundestag have each scattered a hundredweight of earth from their respective constituencies around the dedication in the trough. A wild, untamed biotope has sprung from the seeds already present in the soil.

Poster and banner campaign in the public space
On the occasion of Berlin Art Week 2020, n.b.k. is initiating the presentation of Hans Haacke’s work, Wir (alle) sind das Volk (We (all) are the people), 2003/2017. The work will be displayed on the facades of select partner institutions in Berlin. Originally designed for a public ideas competition in Leipzig, Haacke’s work takes up the slogan of East German demonstrators from 1989 in order to emphasize solidarity among all people, including migrants and refugees. Exhibition venues: Akademie der Künste at Pariser Platz, Gropius Bau, KINDL – Center for Contemporary Art, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Volksbühne Berlin, and other partner institutions.

Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication published in cooperation with the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, conceived by Oliver Schwarz and Ursula Ströbele (Study Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich). With texts by Marius Babias, Renate Blank, Hans Haacke, Andreas Kaernbach, Rita Süssmuth, a. o.

n.b.k. Facade
Herta Müller. Die große Melancholie …
September 10, 2020–August 31, 2021
Opening: Wednesday, September 9, 2020, noon–10pm
Curator: Ernest Wichner

Every year, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein invites artists to realize special projects on the front of the n.b.k. building on Chausseestrasse, thus intervening in the urban space. In 2020 Herta Müller, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, is presenting a new collage on the n.b.k. facade. Since 1989, in addition to her literary works, Müller has created artistic visual texts, for which she cuts out and mounts words and small visual elements from various print materials, such as newspapers, illustrated magazines, and brochures. The resulting collages have been collected in five publications to date.