Gallery Talk: Ulrich Wüst’s House Book and East German Memory Culture

This event does not require registration; see further details below.

Always deeply involved with place and memory, the East German–born photographer Ulrich Wüst has found meaning in the contested history and topography of eastern Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. With German unification, urban and social change and the memory culture of the former German Democratic Republic became the primary rationale for his work, and his focus shifted from Berlin to the villages and rural landscapes northeast of the city, his home now for half the year. His deep reading of the German landscape reveals traces of the past and their coexisting histories, analogous to the way an archaeologist sees layers of history in ordinary placess.

This talk is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation (September 13, 2024–January 5, 2025).

Led by:
Gary Van Zante, Curator, MIT Museum

Please check in with museum staff at the Visitor Services desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the talk. Talks are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.

The Harvard Art Museums offer free admission every day, Tuesday through Sunday. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation is made possible by the Daimler Curatorship of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Fund, the Carola B. Terwilliger Bequest, German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Care of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Collection Endowment. Additional support was provided by the Goethe-Institut Boston and the Dedalus Foundation. Related programming is supported by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund and the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.