November 9, 2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. To mark the occasion, from November 7th, 2024 to March 2nd, 2025 the Stiftung KUNSTFORUM der Berliner Volksbank gGmbH and the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, the cultural foundation of Berliner Sparkasse, are joining forces to explore the topic of the division of Berlin and the view of the Wall from East and West in art. The exhibition Die Mauer: vorher, nachher, Ost und West (The Wall: before, after, East and West) examines artistic positions from the second half of the 1980s to the early 1990s, focussing on the period of upheaval around 1989/90. How did artists from East and West Germany depict and process the Wall in their works? What presence and significance does it have in the artworks of the time?
The exhibition Globale Räume für radikale Solidarität (Global Spaces for Radical Solidarity), which runs from August 8 to October 2, 2024 at the Münzenberg Forum Berlin at Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, draws attention to Willi Münzenberg’s (1889 – 1940) work. He is a key figure for understanding the signatures of the 20th century and for the impulses, debates, overcoming and challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. His role in the establishment and work of the largest proletarian solidarity organization of the 20th century, Internationale Arbeiterhilfe (IAH) (International Workers’ Aid), is particularly significant. In addition, his relevance to the fight against war, nationalism, fascism and the break with Stalinism, as well as its reverberations into the 21st century, is undisputed. Willi Münzenberg advocates the self-empowerment of people through enlightenment, education and organization in global spaces in order to achieve social justice and democratization.
The work “Bildnis Willi Münzenberg (zu Peter Weiss: Die Ästhetik des Widerstands)“ from 1987 by Hubertus Giebe from the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank will be shown in the exhibition.