“Hidden Histories – New Identies – European Art 20 years after the Iron Curtain” explores the development of identity and political convictions in those countries, which have been laying on both sides of the Iron Curtain until 20 years back. With artistic means the topics of democracy and social living together in the New Europe of 27 shall be analyzed. On the former inner-German boarder and crossing the boarderlines of Austria and Slovakia, Greek and Bulgaria exhibitions projects are going to take place. Visual artists from Germany, Bulgaria and Greek will trace the classical ideas of democracy, discuss their different approaches, measure their dimensions and reflect about the future. The artistic cooperation will be supported by three conferences, at which artistic developments before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the tradition of design and resistance as well the the present situation of the artists with its challenges will be discussed.
Dancing to Connect 2009 – Hundert SchülerInnen aus Berlin und Brandenburg entwickelten in einwöchigen Workshops, die von ProfitänzerInnen der New Yorker Tanzensembles "Battery Dance Company" und "Drastic Action" angeleitet wurden, eigene Choreographien zum Thema Mauerfall. 14- bis 20-jährig waren sie 1989 noch gar nicht geboren, die DDR kennen sie lediglich aus Erzählungen. > mehr
Through one week of intensive workshops, one hundred students from different schools in Berlin and Brandenburg worked collectively under the careful guidance of the teaching artists of the New Yorkean "Battery Dance Company" and "Drastic Action" towards the creation of their own choreography considering the Fall of the Wall. The 14-20 year old students were not even born in 1989, they know the GDR only from stories. > more
Exhibition in Plovdiv becomes a real political issue – The exhibition "Atlantis. Hidden Histories - New Identities. Twenty years after the Iron Curtain" in Plovdiv caused a stir and became a real political issue. The Mayor of Plovdiv declared one of the exhibitory artists, David Černy, as persona non grata and banned him from the town. more»
The Bulgarian artist Luchezar Boyadjiev, born in Sofia in 1957, is a visual analyst of social change who lays bare social and cultural processes. He explores the notion of urban visuality in the era of globalization. Though in fact some analysts claim that a process of deglobalization has actually started in recent months, the urban interface of cities all over the world displays similar features of how global processes in economy and ways of life are being configured for local consumption – visual and otherwise. Based on some of Boyadjiev´s works from the last 3-5 years, such as “Billboard Heaven” (2006-2009), “Don’t mess with my Tutu!” (2008-2009), “Double Take(s) – interfacing cities” (2006-2009), and “At night all squares are Red: Moscow – a brave new world”, (2007) among others, the presentation makes a notional case for the visual melt-down of borders on the level of urban environments.
