Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories
November 28, 2021–July 3, 2022
Invalidenstrasse 50/51
10557 Berlin
Germany
Hours: Tuesday–Friday 10am–6pm,
Thursday 10am–8pm,
Saturday–Sunday 11am–6pm
A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie—Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in dialogue with the collections of Galeri Nasional Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia), MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (Chiang Mai, Thailand), and Singapore Art Museum (Singapore), funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and initiated and funded by the Goethe-Institut.
Nation, Narration, Narcosis: Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories at Hamburger Bahnhof is dedicated to the relationship between art and political protests, historical trauma, and societal narratives from the 19th century to now. The works on display explore the effects of nation-building, colonialism or climate change on societies, their narratives, as well as the ecology of our planet. Departing from Joseph Beuys’s concept of the social sculpture—a community of free individuals—the exhibition confronts the notion of nation contained in the name “Nationalgalerie” with alternative concepts of connectivity, solidarity, and individuality.
Works by more than 50 artists are on display, including Agan Harahap, Albert Samreth, Amanda Heng, Ampannee Satoh, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Arahmaiani, Bruce Nauman, Bussaraporn Thongchai, Charles Lim, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Dolorosa Sinaga, Germaine Krull, Gregor Schneider, Gülsün Karamustafa, Hannah Höch, Ho Tzu Nyen, Holly Zausner, Jeroen de Rijke/Willem de Rooij, Joseph Beuys, Käthe Kollwitz, Kawita Vatanajyankur, Klaus Staeck, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Marcel Odenbach, Marina Abramović, Mary Wigman, Melati Suryodarmo, Ming Wong, Natalia LL, Natasha Tontey, Noa Eshkol, Orawan Arunrak, Öyvind Fahlström, Raoul Dufy, Ray Langenbach, Rudolf Jordan, Semsar Siahaan, Shane Bunnag/Pichet Klunchun, Soydivision, Stephanie Comilang, Sung Tieu, The Forest Curriculum, Tina Haim-Wentscher, Tita Salina, un.thai.tled, Valie Export, Vandy Rattana, Via Lewandowsky. An ongoing international collaborative project, the exhibition brings together for the first time artworks from the collections of the National Gallery of Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum and the Nationalgalerie—Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Nation, Narration, Narcosis: Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories presents alternatives and variations of communities that extend beyond the concept of “nation.”
How can we live together in a community of different communities and their manifold narrations? Can absolutist gestures be avoided? How can polyphony and also disagreement be respected?
The exhibition title cites the letter “N” of the time-based media artwork CDOSEA (The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia) by Ho Tzu Nyen. Ho Tzu Nyen suggests diverse narratives, instead of simplistic descriptions, that speculatively combine fact with fiction and change over time. This can be seen as exemplary for the rest of the world, where the idea of a singular, particularly national identity is becoming less and less tenable – the idea of forced identity and its narrative that goes hand in hand with brutal wars and the oppression of the Other. In its place emerge narratives that unfold a diversity that has always been there and is there, but which is restricted, suppressed, because of simplistic dominant narratives.
The exhibition also follows these principles: instead of one simplistic, linear narrative, it opens up the space for the different narratives and perspectives of communities suggested in the works. These narratives revolve around social critique, political protest, historical trauma, values, norms and sanctions in communities, and not only ecologically but also socially conceived climate and environment.
The works invite visitors to “make kin,” to immerse themselves in alternative narratives and communities or to wake up from other, heterogeneous narratives and discover something new. The exhibition opens up spaces for thinking, where one narrative is not replaced by another, but where empty spaces are deliberately left to make room for one's own thinking.
Curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers.
With Grace Samboh, Gridthiya Gaweewong und and June Yap
Assistant Curator: Charlotte Knaup
Goethe-Institut Fellow: Rosalia Namsai Engchuan
Further exhibitions at Hamburger Bahnhof—Museum für Gegenwart—Berlin
Church for Sale: Works from the Haubrok Collection and the Nationalgalerie Collection
November 28, 2021–September 18, 2022
Under Construction: New Acquisitions for the Nationalgalerie Collection
June 2, 2022–January 15, 2023
Balance
June 10–October 09, 2022
12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
June 11–September 18, 2022
