nGbK-Lectures 2025
Location(s):
nGbK, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11/13, 10178 Berlin
Stadtwerkstatt, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11, 10178 Berlin
Participants
Jochen Becker, Klaus Fischer, Julia Grosse, Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz, Ingrid Wagner, Mirjam Zadoff
Members initiative
The format “nGbK lectures” was initiated in 2016. In panels and discussions the nGbK will intervene in the public debate, formulate statements, offer solidarity or voice outrage. At irregular intervals, members of the nGbK organise evening events dedicated to cultural-political issues.
nGbK Lecture: Global Memory in the 21st Century. Talk with Mirjam Zadoff and Julia Grosse
Tue, 7.1.25, 7.00 pm
Mirjam Zadoff has been director of the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism since 2018; her book Gewalt und Gedächtnis. Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert (Violence and Remembrance. Global Memory in the 21st Century) was published in October 2023, the volume Trotzdem sprechen (Speaking Nonetheless), which she co-edited with Lena Gorelik and Miryam Schellbach, in April 2024. The latter brings together authors who, despite the divisions and upheavals in the cultural scenes in the wake of October 7 and the subsequent war, continue to work and exchange ideas.
Together with art historian and curator Julia Grosse, the aim of this conversation is to think things through together – and to do so on the basis of a concrete examination of the role of the arts, particularly public art. What can be gleaned from examples such as the current discussion on the Bismarck monument in Hamburg? What possibilities lie in endeavors such as the collective digital project „We Are Here“, initiated by Talya Feldman and dedicated to those affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic attacks and racially motivated police violence? What happens when different lines of memory converge or come into tension?
The discussion will be held in German with English translation.
Mirjam Zadoff is director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. Previously she was professor of history and held the Alvin H. Rosenfeld Chair in Jewish Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She was visiting professor at the universities of Zurich, Berkeley, Berlin and Augsburg, among other places. She is currently teaching at LMU Munich and TUM Munich.
Julia Grosse is an art historian and co-founder of Contemporary And (C&). She teaches at the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts, and is a strategic and conceptual advisor at Gropius Bau in Berlin.
nGbK Lecture: Verbund – A conversation about common perspectives for art associations
Fri, 14.2.25, 7.00 pm
With Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz (Kunsthaus/Robotron-Kantine Dresden) & Klaus Fischer (Kunstverein Freunde Aktueller Kunst)
Moderation: Ingrid Wagner (Chair nGbK) & Jochen Becker (station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf)
In conversation with representatives of two prominent institutions – the Kunsthaus in Dresden and the Kunstverein Freunde Aktueller Kunst e.V. in Zwickau – we want to talk about experiences of how art and culture can continue after the elections in Saxony, but also in the everyday life of art institutions. With Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz and Klaus Fischer, we will discuss how to deal with populist parties and show ways to show solidarity with East German art associations. Are our experiences as nGbK comparable?
Kunsthaus Dresden has been part of the museums of the city of Dresden as a municipal institution since 1991 and, with the planned Robotron Kantine, a house for international contemporary art. With changing exhibitions and accompanying events, it provides insights into current art events around the world. We would like to discuss the perspective within the Dresden art landscape, but also the experiences that have been made with politics and the public in the art city of Dresden. We have been in close contact with Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz since the founding of the station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf.
Klaus Fischer is the founder and director of Freunde Aktueller Kunst, an art association founded in Zwickau in 1998. It is now one of the largest cultural associations in eastern Germany. Unlike in Dresden, the association is supported by donations and in part by grants from the state and federal government for its program work. In the city and the political environment, the association does not have an easy time of it due to its sometimes critical program. Klaus Fischer can report on the history of the Freunde Aktueller Kunst and the reactions that the association has to deal with.
We would like to share our perspectives with both institutions: What is the role of art in current society between cuts in federal and state funding and rising populism? How could the foundations of a common, stable structure be created? Ideally, such network systems can provide means of production, help build solidarity and make us smarter overall.