Art exhibition: Henrike Naumann – Innere Sicherheit. Eine Intervention

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz). The Art Council of the German Bundestag has invited the artist Henrike Naumann to create an exhibition at the Wall Memorial in the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Building inspired by the Basic Law in its first version from 1949 – not only that of the Federal Republic, but also that of the German Democratic Republic – the former East Germany, which adopted a constitution at almost the same time.

Background

Henrike Naumann has placed two works in relation to each other along the former hinterland wall. The furniture installation “Das Reich” (2017) focuses on the Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens') Movement and its refusal to recognize the unification treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany because – as the Basic Law stipulated in 1949 – no peace treaty had been concluded. In the world view of the Reichsbürger the German Reich therefore continues to exist. Envisioning themselves as an “indigenous people” in an occupied country they are preparing for a Day X, when the German Reich will rise again after a victorious battle. In the multimedia installation “Day X” (2019), the temporal references between 1989 and a future in which there was a political upheaval on Alexanderplatz become blurred. Was socialism defeated or was a new state established with a far-right revolution?

Naumann's works on the Unification Treaty and the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 in tandem with the ideology of the Reich and utopias of a far-right system overthrow, are condensed in the divided space into a challenging discussion demonstrating their disturbing urgency.

The exhibition can be visited from 13 June to 29 September. Opening hours: Tuesdays to Sundays 11 am to 5 pm, Thursdays until 8 pm, admission free.

Berlin Wall Memorial at the German Bundestag

More information on art in the Bundestag: www.kunst-im-bundestag.de (German only)