From 26 January through 26 March 2026 Joseph Beuys. Works from the Nationalgalerie Collection will remain closed due to installation work for the exhibition Shilpa Gupta in the Kleihueshalle.
During this symposium, contemporary witnesses of the 1990s and cultural actors who are active today will come together to share their experiences and engage in a mediated exchange about continuities and ruptures. Commemorating the 35th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall, it will reflect on how the post 1989/1990 transformations were experienced both individually and collectively.
What was lost? Where was the integration of two systems productive? What influence do the persisting economic structures have? Is there an East German art scene today? And if so, what characterizes it? How is the institutional art scene in the East organized? And how visible are curators and artists with an Eastern biography in institutions? Departing from these questions, the symposium at Hamburger Bahnhof, whose building was located directly next to the Berlin Wall during the division of Germany, aims to create networks and formulate concrete wishes and ideas for the future.
The symposium is public and can be attended for free without registration. The event will be held in German; simultaneous translation into English will be provided on site.
The symposium was conceived by Till Fellrath, co-director Hamburger Bahnhof, Gabriele Knapstein, deputy director Hamburger Bahnhof, and Sven Beckstette, curator Hamburger Bahnhof, with the freelance art historian and journalist Sarah Alberti.
A symposium with the support of Carsten Schneider, Minister of State for East Germany and Equivalent Living Conditions in co-operation with the ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungenin co-operation with the ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal State and The Federal Agency for Civic Education
