Gropius Bau

Exhibition programme 2020
February 7, 2020–January 17, 2021

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“The 2020 exhibition programme continues to explore themes of global and historic urgency: land, the Anthropocene, boundaries, global resources, trauma and their relation to the body.

These ideas are rooted in the location and history of the Gropius Bau itself: it stands at the heart of a continent now riven by migratory flows, next to the remains of the Berlin Wall and opposite the former Gestapo headquarters. The building’s renovations after war also foreground the concepts of repair and care, which are integrated via works from Otobong Nkanga, Zheng Bo and Lee Mingwei, among others.

The idea of ‘Walking in the artist’s mind’ remains an important source of inspiration and reflection, and a link with the building’s arts and crafts background: the In House: Artist in Residence programme resumes with Zheng Bo’s research in Berlin.

Our project of bringing solo exhibitions of internationally renowned female artists to Berlin continues with Yayoi Kusama’s first large scale retrospective in Germany.” 
–Stephanie Rosenthal (Director, Gropius Bau)

Akinbode Akinbiyi: Six Songs, Swirling Gracefully in the Taut Air, February 7 to May 17, 2020
The photography exhibition brings together works from various long-term series composed by Berlin-based Nigerian photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi. As a chronicler of the lived rhythms and social textures of spaces, Akinbiyi has captured intimate scenes and communal life in cities such as Lagos, Berlin, Johannesburg, Bamako and Chicago.

Curated by Natasha Ginwala (Associate Curator)

Lee Mingwei: March 27 to June 7, 2020
Lee Mingwei’s artistic practice is primarily concerned with rituals of giving and receiving. In 2020, the Gropius Bau presents a solo exhibition by the artist, showing his installations and performances from the last thirty years and exploring art’s potential to be a transformative gift.

Curated by Stephanie Rosenthal with Clare Molloy (Assistant Curator)

The Cool and the Cold: Painting from the USA and USSR 1960–1990, April 25 to September 6, 2020
In the year marking the 30th anniversary of German reunification, the Gropius Bau hosts a group exhibition uniting paintings created during the Cold War in both centres of global political power. It puts into relation works by Andy Warhol, Il’ja Kabakov, Erik Bulatov, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler and Ivan Čujkov featured in the Ludwig Collection.

Curated by Benjamin Dodenhoff and Brigitte Franzen
Organised in cooperation with the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation

Otobong Nkanga: April 30 to August 2, 2020
Otobong Nkanga’s interest lies in the complex relationship between humans and land. In her works, she explores this relationship within the tension between exploitative extraction processes and structures of care and repair. Following her one-year stay as Artist in Residence at the Gropius Bau, the solo exhibition offers insights into central issues of her work.

(Subject to the jury decisions of potential funders)
Curated by Stephanie Rosenthal with Clara Meister (Associate Curator)

Yayoi Kusama: September 4, 2020 to January 17, 2021
Yayoi Kusama is one of Japan’s most important contemporary artists. In autumn 2020, the Gropius Bau devotes the first comprehensive retrospective in Germany to Kusama’s work, offering an overview of every creative period from the last seventy years and featuring current paintings as well as a new Infinity Mirrored Room and installation by the artist.

The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Yilmaz Dziewior (Director, Museum Ludwig) and Beatrix Ruf (Guest Curator, Fondation Beyeler) in close collaboration with the artist. It will be on view at the Museum Ludwig and Fondation Beyeler in 2021.

Thea Djordjadze: September 10 to December 13, 2020
Thea Djordjadze’s artistic practice can be understood as a process of continually reusing, reconfiguring and rearranging objects. The Gropius Bau presents existing and newly created works by the Berlin-based artist, whose sculptures and interventions engage in a dialogue with the historic building. The exhibition marks the beginning of a series of artistic presentations dealing with the history of archaeological exhibitions at the Gropius Bau.

Curated by Julienne Lorz (Chief Curator, Gropius Bau)

Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, October 16, 2020 to January 10, 2021
A comprehensive group exhibition at the Gropius Bau titled Masculinities: Liberation through Photography explores the ways in which masculinity is experienced, performed and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day. At a time when ideas around masculinity are undergoing a global crisis, works by international artists such as Laurie Anderson, Richard Avedon, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Peter Hujar  and Catherine Opie offer a panorama of filmic and photographic explorations of masculinity.

Curated by Alona Pardo (Curator, Barbican Art Gallery)
Organised by Barbican Centre, London

In House: Artist in Residence 2020 – Zheng Bo
As part of the In House: Artist in Residence programme initiated by Stephanie Rosenthal in 2018, artist and theorist Zheng Bo will succeed Wu Tsang and Otobong Nkanga in occupying a studio at the Gropius Bau for one year.