Every spring, the German countryside blossoms in bright yellow. Rapeseed, for many the epitome of German monoculture, is not really a monoculture at all. A closer look reveals what it is: a colorful and rich expression of life spreading across the fields!
Racism and xenophobia have played far too big a role in German society. Issue No. 31 of Arts of the Working Class, therefore, takes up Claire Fontaine’s inspiration for Adriano Pedrosa’s Venice Biennale: Foreigners Everywhere - Fremde Überall. What does it mean to be a foreigner in Germany? What experiences of connectedness stand in contrast to this sense of otherness? What possibilities are there to keep memories of these experiences alive?
Migrants deal with these questions in profound and multifaceted ways. Their artistic works and their voices are brought together in this issue.
This time, our focus is on experiences of being foreign and connected, specifically during the GDR era. The GDR was not provincial and self-centered; international relations, such as with the Soviet Union and other so-called “brother countries” (Bruderländer) spanned the globe.
This is reflected in the current programs of several museums engaging with different aspects of the globally-intertwined GDR.
These include the projects of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, including Revolutionary Romances at the Albertinum; the Transcultural Academy at the Japanisches Palais; the REINVENTINGprocess at the GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig; the exhibition VEB Museum at the Deutsches Hygiene Museum Dresden; Re:connect. Kunst und Kampf im Bruderland at the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig; and Echos der Bruderländer at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.
This issue was produced in cooperation with the Department of Education, Outreach, and Society of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture as part of the project “Museen als aktive Orte der Demokratie” (“Museums as Active Sites of Democracy”).
With contributions by Abed Abdi, Georges Adeagbo, ALPAS, Stefanie Bach, Tuan Mami and Eva Bentcheva, Kevin Breß, Hung The Cao, Cycles of Care, Hoa Phuong Thi Cap and Irma Castillo, Reb Chris, Pham Minh Duc, The Center for Plausible Economies, Mona Ragy Enayat, Women in Exile, Foreign Legion + students FHNW, Christine Fischer, Vũ Vân Phạm and Mia Gara, Amelie Jakubek, Abolitionist Jelly, Hussein Hasham Jinah, Sowmya Maheswaran, Thi Nga Nguyen, Hazar Oghan, Peggy Piesche, Gertraude Pohl, Matthias Rietschel, Kerstin Schankweiler, Cornelia Schleime, Shibboleth, Athletic Sonnenberg, Samirah Kenawi and Eric Otieno Sumba, Gedenkinitiative Phan Văn Toàn, Jose Toirac, Sithara Weeratunga, Sabine Wohlfarth, Huda Zikry, Rico Zyrrano.
Events
Launch in Dresden: May 8, 4–6pm, As part of the exhibition “Revolutionary Romances? Global Art Histories in the GDR”
Lichthof des Albertinum, Albertinum, Tzschirnerpl. 2, D-01067 Dresden
Launch in Düsseldorf: June 2, 3–6pm, As part of the Photo+ festival in Düsseldorf
Mataré-Haus, Dückersstr. 10 D-40667 Meerbusch
Launch in Basel: June 10–16, At Liste Art Fair Basel
Messe Basel, Halle 1.1 Maulbeerstrasse / Ecke Riehenring 113 4058 Basel
About
A multi-lingual street journal on poverty and wealth, art and society: Arts of the Working Class is published every two months and contains contributions by artists and thinkers from different fields and in different languages. Its terms are based upon the working class, meaning everyone, and it reports everything that belongs to everyone. Everyone who sells this street journal earns money directly. Vendors keep 100% of the sales. Every artist whose work is advertised, designs with us its substance. AWC is published by Paul Sochacki and María Inés Plaza Lazo for the streets of the world.
Founders/Publishers: Verantwortlicher i.S.d . 18 Abs. 2 MStV, María Inés Plaza Lazo, Pauł Sochacki / Managing/Artistic Director: Amelie Jakubek / Editor-in-Chief: Dalia Maini / Konzept/Concept: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD), Christine Gerbich und Tanja Schomaker, Advisor of the SKD: Doreen Mende / Artistic Associate Editor: Lizza May David / Editorial Assistance: Noa Jaari / Online Editor: Elisa Fuenzalida / Artistic Project Development: Theresa Zwerschke / Administrative Assistance: Selma Louise Christoph / Distribution Assistance: Miguel Angel Espinoza / Proofreading: William Kherbek, Anne Waak, Noa Jaari / Graphic Design: Manuel Bürger / Online Design: Giorgia Belotti.
Circle of support—volunteers: Hassoumi Moctar Agali, Amina Zerourou, Lisa Smirnova, Ruslana Shabelnyk, Nina Abba, Hannah Lu Verse, anna zrenner, Sophie Franziska Schultz, Kira Schmitz, Nadine Bajek, Cora Pagano, Yasemin Şenkal, Lukas Grube, Duarte Eduardo, Felix Dengg, James Rhys Edwards, Louisa Maria Stank, Sophie Hartleib, Teresa Mayr, Leo Baumg.rtner, Katharina Thurow
Arts of the Working Class can now be read digitally, too. Please find our vendors in Berlin who carry a STREAD badge and you will be able to scan a code to digitally buy a copy and additionally the STREAD issue of each month.
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