Hamburger Bahnhof shows Andrea Pichl’s Palimpsest Installation at the Federal Ministry of Finance

05.09.2024
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart

Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart shows Andrea Pichls installation Palimpsest as a permanent loan at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. The new, site-specific installation is being presented to public for the first time on Open Monument Day (7–8 September) and during Berlin Art Week 2024 (11–15 September).

Andrea Pichl’s (b. 1964) art derives from everyday forms and standardised architectural elements. In collaboration with Hamburger Bahnhof, the Federal Ministry of Finance has made its premises available for Andrea Pichl’s artistic examination of the history of the building, a structure mirroring ruptures in Germany’s past. Pichl’s site-specific installation Palimpsest (2024) focuses on the building complex, which was constructed as the Reich Ministry of Aviation in 1935. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was founded in 1949 in a ceremony at the building, which as the “House of Ministries” served as the GDR seat of power. The structure is also associated with the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall. From 1991 to 1994 it served as the headquarters of the Treuhandanstalt state holding company; today it houses the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The installation is curated by Sven Beckstette, research associate at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.

Public Events and Booked Guided Tours

The installation is located at the Federal Ministry of Finance – Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (Wilhelmstraße 97, 10117 Berlin) and is only accessible as part of public events and booked guided tours with prior registration. The site is open for viewing for the first time on Open Monument Day (7–8 September) and then during Berlin Art Week from 11–13 September at 11:30 am, 3 pm and 5 pm. On Sunday, 8 September, at 3:30 pm, and Wednesday, 11 September, at 3 pm, there will be a conversation with Andrea Pichl and Sven Beckstette (in German) on site at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Registration for a guided tour is required via the website bundesfinanzministerium.de or by e-mail to veranstaltungen[at]bmf.bund.de.

Admission is free.

Entry is permitted 30 minutes in advance; please allow time to pass through the security gate.

The project is being held to mark the 75th anniversary of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

November 2024 at Hamburger Bahnhof: Symposium and Exhibition Marking the 35 Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

From 8 November 2024 to 4 May, Hamburger Bahnhof will host Andrea Pichl’s solo exhibition Values of Economy, which deals with the economic transfer between West and East Germany and the transformation occurring after 1989. The symposium “Der Westen musste nicht im Osten ankommen!” (The West Did Not Have to Arrive in the East!), which takes place on Friday and Saturday, 8 and 9 November 2024, at Hamburger Bahnhof to mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, focuses on the transformation of the art world in the aftermath of 1989/1990.