The MdbK is showing a three-part exhibition on the history of immigration in the GDR and its consequences. The first part presents works by artists from the so-called socialist brother countries. Due to the international cultural diplomacy of the time, many of them were able to study at art colleges in Leipzig, Dresden, East Berlin or Halle. Others fled their country of origin and found refuge in the GDR. This part of the exhibition is intended to broaden the spectrum of Leipzig art, to set new impulses with regard to a transnational history of art and culture and to constructively open up the research perspective on art from East Germany. A total of 80 paintings, works on paper and video works by César Olhagaray (*1951, Santiago de Chile, Chile), Getachew Yossef Hagoss (*1957, Dessie, Ethiopia), Michael Touma (*1956, Haifa, Israel) will be shown, Mona Ragy Enayat (*1964, Cairo, Egypt), Rimer Cardillo (*1944, Montevideo, Uruguay), Solomon Wija (*1958, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), Teresa Casanueva (*1963, Havana, Cuba) and Semir Alschausky (*1962, Leipzig, Germany).
The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to the promotion of young artists. The MdbK gives young BIPoC artists with a biographical connection to the GDR the opportunity to present their work in a group exhibition. Philipp Farra (*1991, Schönebeck (Elbe), Germany), Minh Duc Pham (*1991, Bad Schlema, Germany), Alina Simmelbauer (*1981, Sömmerda, Germany), Sarnt Utamachote (*1992, Thailand) and Phuong Phan (*1988, Hanoi, Vietnam) deal in their works with their own family biography and the topic of migration, among other things.
The taboo racism in the GDR and the living conditions of contract workers, foreign students and their descendants are addressed in the last section of the exhibition. One focus is on photographs by the Leipzig photographer Mahmoud Dabdoub (*1958, Baalbeck, Lebanon). Furthermore, the archive section brings together current (post-)migrant voices from Leipzig, who focus on their perspectives on life in the GDR and growing up as BIPoC in the Saxon province.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive programme of events. A catalogue will be published by Hirmer Verlag.
The exhibition is supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation (360 degrees programme), the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation and the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship.
Opening: 17.05.2023, 6 pm
