And Berlin Will Always Need You

From March 22 to June 16, 2019, the Gropius Bau shows an exhibition with Berlin-based artists which explores the concept of crafts and handmade processes, taking its history as a former museum for decorative arts and educational institution as a starting point.  Presenting an evocative series of existing and newly commissioned works, And Berlin Will Always Need You. Art, Craft and Concept Made in Berlin examines central aspects of artistic creation such as interpretation, authorship, labour, sovereignty and power structures.

The exhibition—whose title references a vocal line by Dorothy Iannone—combines abstract textile works, sculptures, video works and installations. Multiple aspects come into focus when looking at the selection of works exhibited, ranging from the ornamental and decorative, which is reminiscent of visual motifs found in Eastern religions and Byzantine mosaics, to the history of design in Modernism and the 20th century, involving craftsmanship from Berlin to South America. These diverse entanglements and juxtapositions put forward a series of complex narratives, which inform not only our but indeed also the artists’ engagement and associations with everyday and cultural objects.

With works by: Nevin Aladağ, Leonor Antunes, Julieta Aranda, Alice Creischer, Andreas Siekmann and the Brukman workers, Mariechen Danz, Haris Epaminonda, Theo Eshetu, Olaf Holzapfel, Dorothy Iannone, Antje Majewski and Olivier Guesselé-Garai, Willem de Rooij, Katarina Šević, Chiharu Shiota, Simon Wachsmuth, Haegue Yang

Curated by Natasha Ginwala and Julienne Lorz. Concept by Stephanie Rosenthal.

A public programme accompanies And Berlin Will Always Need You at the Gropius Bau:

Curatorial Tour
With curator Julienne Lorz
Wednesday, March 27, 5pm

Gropius Bau Academy
Lecture by Chiharu Shiota
For school groups from 7th grade onwards
Wednesday, April 11, 10:30am

Clay. Glyphs. Imprints. Bodies.
Workshop with Mariechen Danz
For children age 6 to 12
Saturday, May 4, 12pm

Claims and Gains: The Translocation of Objects
Conversation with Felicity Bodenstein, Theo Eshetu, Antje Majewski, Margareta von Oswald and George Shire
Thursday, May 16, 7pm

Curatorial Tour
With curator Natasha Ginwala
Thursday, May 23, 5pm

Interweavings and Materialities
Conversation with Alice Creischer, Andreas Siekmann, Olaf Holzapfel, Rike Frank, Natasha Ginwala and Willem de Rooij
Wednesday, May 29, 7pm

For further information and events of the public programme please visit our website: www.gropiusbau.de
Press contact: Annie-Claire Geisinger, presse [​at​] gropiusbau.de

Gropius Bau is part of Berliner Festspiele.
The Berliner Festspiele are funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. 
The exhibition is made possible by Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin.