With the official reopening date for the Wende Museum set for May 1, 2021, the insightful exhibitions currently on display are available both online and in person, by appointment.
The arc of the exhibit Transformations: Living Room -> Flea Market -> Museum -> Art is a journey from everyday use to status as an artifact. The setting of ‘living room’ showing the placement of items as humble as dishes and furniture begins the movement through time and space. A flea market/trunk sale centers the narrative, showing what were once cherished home goods being displayed from card tables and car trunks to whoever might want to make use of them. The elevation to museum pieces includes some video installations as commentary, and a newly crafted framework bringing the objects up tot he status of artifacts.
See Thy Neighbor offers a duo of photographers showing two different views of East Germany, spaced only a few years apart. Joined by subject and separated by perspective, Thomas Hoepker and Harald Schmitt photograph grocery stores and military parades with a keen and insightful focus. Both employees of Stern magazine, they had very different experiences with the GDR. The first was Thomas Hoepker, who covered East Germany from 1975 to 1976. He was less than happy with East Berlin, and when Stern’s management offered him a chance to move to New York, he gladly accepted. His successor, Harald Schmitt, started at Stern in 1977. Unlike Hoepker, Schmitt enjoyed life in East Germany, stayed for more than six years, and married an East German conservator. Seeing their works displayed next to each other opens up another dimension beyond simple comparison.
To see the exhibits online, got WendeMuseum.org
To book a reservation to see the exhibits in person, go to [email protected].
And save the date for May Day; the world will be transforming again, and soon.
Judith Martin-Straw
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