The art offices as architects of cultural reconstruction after 1945
To mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation from National Socialism and the end of the Second World War, the Kommunale Galerie Berlin is organising the exhibition Building Dreams with Rubble, which takes visitors on a tour of Berlin in the post-war years.
Image gallery
Juro Kubicek, o.T., 1946, Mischtechnik
In three sections, it tells of the devastation of the war, the role of the art and culture offices in the creation of a new art landscape and the reconstruction and re-founding of the Academy of Fine Arts.
The exhibition raises questions about how the art world dealt with the past after the Second World War: What kind of representation can do justice to what has just been experienced and in whose ruins one still perseveres? Does an abstract work contain the entire spectrum of human perception and experience or is it a vehicle for escaping into a non-representational world? In a reality that has surpassed everything imaginable with raw cruelty, the imagination seems exhausted and defeated.
So can only an approximation to reality be an appropriate artistic expression?
Works by Gerda Rotermund, Werner Heldt, Emil Stumpp, Paul Dierkes, Jeane Flieser, Ursula Hanke-Förster, Alexander Camaro, Mac Zimmermann, Heinz Trökes and Juro Kubicek, among others, depict the atmosphere in a society that has created something new out of destruction. The sheer will to survive is accompanied early on by a strong desire for music, theatre and art, allowing people to create vibrant places of culture immediately after the war. Driven by visions of a better future, however, this process was not Witthöft conflict, as it was always permeated by the question of identity in view of the dark past.
The exhibition is part of the city-wide theme week 80 Years of the End of the War - Liberation of Europe from National Socialism, initiated and funded by the state of Berlin and realised by Kulturprojekte Berlin with numerous partners. It is curated by Elke von der Lieth and Viviane Linke.
- Opening on Friday, 4 April 2025, 6 pm
- Exhibition from 5 April to 1 June 2025
- Location: Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Hohenzollerndamm 176, 10713 Berlin
- Opening hours: Tue to Fri 10 am - 5 pm, Wed 10 am - 7 pm, Sat and Sun 11 am - 5 pm Admission free
Greeting
Heike Schmitt-Schmelz | District Councillor
Norbert Wiesneth | Kommunale Galerie Berlin
Introduction
Viviane Linek | researcher Kommunale Galerie Berlin
Supporting programme
Wednesday, 7 May 2025 | 6 pm
Lecture on art in the four-sector city 1945-1951 by Dr Eckhart Gillen
Saturday, 10 May 2025 | 1 pm
Guided tour with curator Viviane Linek.
#80JahreKriegsende
