Complexities of Contemporary German Identity Explored in Harvard Art Museums’ Fall 2024 Exhibition
This fall, the Harvard Art Museums present an unprecedented look at German art since 1980. Featuring artists from different generations and diverse backgrounds, the exhibition Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation complicates notions of German identity, especially the idea of ethnic and cultural homogeneity in a country that is second only to the United States as a destination for immigrants from around the world. The exhibition is on view September 13, 2024–January 5, 2025, in the Special Exhibitions Gallery and adjacent University Research Gallery on Level 3 of the Harvard Art Museums.
The accompanying print catalogue, the first of its kind published in English, includes essays by interdisciplinary scholars who address questions of nation and belonging in contemporary German art and society. A broad range of public programs—including an in-person opening celebration featuring Berlin-based artist Henrike Naumann on Thursday, September 12, at 6pm; plus gallery talks, tours, a film program, and events in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Boston—will run throughout the duration of the exhibition.
Made in Germany? offers a range of reflections on German national identity, which has largely been shaped by labor migration following World War II, the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, and the influx of refugees to the country since 2015. As the pointedly interrogative title suggests, the exhibition asks, rather than offers ready answers to, the question of who or what represents Germany today. Race, migration, labor, history, and memory are at the forefront of this inquiry into German identity. The works on view often focus attention not solely on racial, ethnic, or religious diversity, but on marginalized groups at the very edges of German society: the aging, the economically disadvantaged, and the unhoused.
Made in Germany? contributes to wide-ranging debates on diversity, nationalism, and social change in the face of migration and globalization; it frames discussions on racial violence, right-wing populism, and ethnically defined national identity—issues that are resonating not only in Germany but also in the United States today.
The artists featured in the exhibition span several generations, and their works—often made and remade over an extended period—address German history and identity through film, video, photography, painting, printmaking, drawing, collage, and installation. Women, East Germans, long-term residents, recent citizens, and individuals with a “migration background” are represented among the 23 artists in the exhibition: Nevin Aladağ, Sibylle Bergemann, Cana Bilir-Meier, Marc Brandenburg, Kota Ezawa, Isa Genzken, Hans Haacke, Candida Höfer, Yngve Holen, Henrike Naumann, Pınar Öğrenci, Hans-Christian Schink, Cornelia Schleime, Ngozi Schommers, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Katharina Sieverding, Hito Steyerl, Gabriele Stötzer, Sung Tieu, Rosemarie Trockel, Corinne Wasmuht, Ulrich Wüst, and Želimir Žilnik.
Made in Germany? is curated by Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Peter Murphy, Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum (2022–25), with Bridget Hinz, Senior Curatorial Assistant for Special Exhibitions and Publications, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums.
Supplemented by key loans, the exhibition showcases recent acquisitions made by the Busch-Reisinger Museum, one of the Harvard Art Museums’ three constituent museums. The Busch-Reisinger Museum is uniquely positioned as the only museum in North America devoted to the art of German-speaking Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.
“This exhibition represents the latest in the Busch-Reisinger Museum’s ongoing commitment to the study and promotion of German art while also reflecting on the concerns of our time,” said Roth. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to the concurrent reckoning with racial and social justice in the United States, I initiated a series of conversations with artists and scholars about issues of art and identity on Instagram. The dialogues there helped refine the thinking behind the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue.”
The range of conversations with artists, scholars, curators, and writers exploring narratives around nation, race, gender, and identity in German art can be found on the Busch-Reisinger’s Instagram (@Busch_Hall) as well as in a special Made in Germany? playlist on YouTube, which is in development.
“It’s exciting to see the Busch-Reisinger collection continue to grow in diverse and unexpected ways,” said Murphy. “The works we have recently acquired are not only pertinent to the questions of the exhibition, they also indicate the trajectory of the museum and its investment in new artists, new media, and new ideas.”
Highlights on display across five gallery spaces include Hito Steyerl’s 1998 film Die leere Mitte (The Empty Centre), about the various borders that have existed in Berlin’s city center since the 18th century; Katharina Sieverding’s monumental pigment-on-metal print Deutschland wird deutscher XLI/92 (Germany Becomes More German XLI/92) from 1992, an icon of contemporary German art; Ulrich Wüst’s hand-crafted leporello (accordion book) Hausbuch (House Book) (1989–2010), a visual inventory comprising 172 photographs of objects the artist found in East German homes over the course of 20 years after unification; Sung Tieu’s “deconstructed readymade” installation Untitled (2021); three photographs from Nevin Aladağ’s ongoing portrait series Best Friends, which the artist began in 2012; and Corinne Wasmuht’s large-scale 2009 painting 50 U Heinrich-Heine-Str., of a bustling city thoroughfare based on the artist’s own photographs as well as imagery culled from the Internet. A major loan is East German-born Henrike Naumann’s Ostalgie (2019), a room-sized installation addressing the immediate post-Wall period in Germany’s “new” federal states.
Hans Haacke’s poster artwork Wir (alle) sind das Volk (We [all] are the people) (2003/24), which he designed to repeat the title phrase in a total of 12 languages, is available for free in the exhibition galleries. Haacke encourages replication and dissemination of this poster as a call to embrace cultural and ethnic diversity, and visitors are encouraged to further spread the message by displaying it in their schools, workplaces, homes, and neighborhoods.
Two recently acquired sculptures, displayed elsewhere in the museums, are also part of the exhibition: Ngozi Schommers’s Commuters (2022), a work composed of two rolled-up sleeping bags illuminated by a portable light, alluding to the housing and refugee crises in Europe (located in the stairwell on the Lower Level); and Yngve Holen’s aluminum Butterfly (2016), which is made from the same material as Frankfurt Airport’s high-security fences and thus juxtaposes concepts commonly associated with the insect—freedom, metamorphosis, and natural beauty—with the control and restriction of movement (located in the stairwell on Level 5).
Additionally, a special Made in Germany? playlist featuring music from the 1980s to today is available on Spotify, extending the experience of the exhibition.
Publication
The print catalogue accompanying the exhibition, also titled Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation, includes contributions from curators, historians, sociologists, and writers who examine the circumstances that have shaped notions of identity in modern-day Germany as well as the diverse artists who are challenging ideas of what it means to be “German.” Edited by Lynette Roth, with contributions by Natalie Bell, Sara Blaylock, Peter Chametzky, Rita Chin, Amy A. DaPonte, Burcu Dogramaci, Alison Frank Johnson, Candice M. Hamelin, Kevin Hanschke, Lauren Hanson, Natasha A. Kelly, Lisa Lee, Peter Murphy, Lynette Roth, Kyle Stephan, Gary Van Zante, and Katharina Warda. Published by the Harvard Art Museums and distributed by Yale University Press. Also available in the museum shop. Paperback, $45.
Public Programming
A range of public programs held throughout the run of the exhibition will explore the artists, works, and themes on display. The events listed below are held in-person at the Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (except for noted off-site programs). Admission is free; the majority of the programs listed below are also free (except where noted). For updates, full details, and to register, please click the links below or see our calendar: harvardartmuseums.org/calendar. Questions? Call 617-495-9400.
Opening Celebration — Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation, featuring artist Henrike Naumann
Thursday, September 12, 6–7:30pm
Following an introduction by exhibition curator Lynette Roth, Berlin-based artist Henrike Naumann will present a lecture-performance. Free admission, but seating is limited and registration is required. The Made in Germany? exhibition galleries will be open after the discussion. The lecture will be recorded and made available for online viewing; check the link above after the event for the link to view.
Film Program — Made in Germany?
Join us throughout October for a film program curated by Peter Murphy that explores issues and themes raised in the exhibition. Topics include the lives of activists, the experiences of migrant laborers in East and West Germany, and Black German identity after World War II. Free admission, but seating is limited and registration is required.
Saturday, October 5, 2–4pm (Activist Legacies)
Films: Semra Ertan (Cana Bilir-Meier, 2013, 7 min., English subtitles), Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story (Maria Binder, 1997, 28 min., English subtitles, original language title: May Ayim: Hoffnung im Herz), and November (Hito Steyerl, 2004, 25 min., English subtitles)
Saturday, October 12, 2–4pm (Archives of Migration)
Films: Brotherland Has Burned Down (Angelika Nguyen, 1991, 28 min., English subtitles, original language title: Bruderland ist angebrannt), and Good Luck in Germany (Pınar Öğrenci, 2024, 44 min., English subtitles, original language title: Glück Auf in Deutschland)
Angelika Nguyen will be present in-person for questions and answers after the screenings.
Sunday, October 20, 1–3pm (Intergenerational Identities)
Films: KNITTING (Magda Korsinsky, 2020, 62 min., English subtitles, original language title: STRICKEN), and 6 Freidberg-Chicago (James Gregory Atkinson, 2021, 6 min.)
Busch-Reisinger Museum Lecture — Artist Talk: Hito Steyerl
Tuesday, October 29, 6–7:30pm
Lecture by German artist Hito Steyerl, who has three films in the exhibition Made in Germany?. Free admission, but seating is limited and registration is required.
Exhibition Tours — Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation
Saturday, September 21, 1pm
Saturday, September 28, 11am
Friday, October 4, 1pm
Thursday, October 24, 12pm
Tuesday, November 12, 2pm
Saturday, November 23, 1pm
Saturday, December 14, 11am
Saturday, January 4, 2025, 1pm
In-depth, hour-long explorations of the exhibition Made in Germany?, led by a member of the curatorial team. Free admission. Talks are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Gallery Talks — Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation
Wednesday, September 25, 4pm (Gary Van Zante on Ulrich Wüst)
Tuesday, October 8, 12:30pm (John A. Tyson on Hans Haacke)
Wednesday, October 16, 12:30pm (Tatiana Cole & Nicole Ledoux, Conserving the Intangible)
Saturday, November 2, 1pm (Peter Murphy on Gundula Schulze Eldowy)
Thursday, November 7, 12:30pm (Natalie Bell on Sung Tieu)
Wednesday, November 20, 12:30pm (Althea Ruoppo on Rosemarie Trockel)
Wednesday, December 4, 12:30pm (Lynette Roth on Katharina Sieverding)
Wednesday, December 11, 12:30pm (Tatiana Cole & Nicole Ledoux, Conserving the Intangible)
Tuesday, December 17, 1pm (Peter Murphy on Nevin Aladağ)
Thematic 30-minute talks about artists and artworks in the exhibition Made in Germany?, led by various scholars. Free admission. Talks are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Harvard Art Museums at Night
Thursday, September 26, 5–9pm
Thursday, October 31, 5–9pm
Thursday, December 5, 5–9pm
Evenings of art, fun, food, and more. Dates noted above will feature short Spotlight Tours of Made in Germany? by the curators. The September date will also include a Materials Lab art-making activity, talks by artists Ngozi Schommers and Marc Brandenburg, and a giveaway of special temporary tattoos by Brandenburg. Free admission. Advance registration is encouraged, but walk-in visitors are welcome.
Materials Lab Workshop
Saturday, November 9, 1–4pm
Learn how to craft your own leporello (accordion book) inspired by Ulrich Wüst’s Hausbuch (House Book) (1989–2010), on display in the exhibition Made in Germany?. $15 workshop fee. Registration is required and space is limited.
Virtual Film Series — CLAIMING SPACES: Art Interventions in East Germany
Friday, November 15–Sunday, November 24
This virtual film series offers insight into an art world that existed parallel to official East German art of the late 1970s and 1980s. Through novel and experimental means, the 22 films in this program provide important political and cultural context for the periods before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Presented by the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Harvard Art Museums. Free. View the list of films and stream for free at this link: umass.edu/defa/film-series/39715
Additional off-site programs organized by the Goethe-Institut Boston include a Book Talk with German author and journalist Fatma Aydemir and translator Jon Cho-Polizzi to discuss Aydemir’s new novel Djinns, held on Saturday, October 26, 3:30–4:30pm, at the Goethe-Institut Boston (free admission, part of the Boston Book Festival 2024); a screening of the film Elbow and panel discussion with director Aslı Özarslan and novelist Fatma Aydemir, held on Sunday, October 27, 11am–1pm, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (admission $7, reserve tickets at this link); as well as a panel discussion (details on this program to be published in the coming days). For any questions, please contact karin.oehlenschlaeger@goethe.de at the Goethe-Institut Boston.
Credits
The exhibition is made possible by the Daimler Curatorship of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Fund, the Carola B. Terwilliger Bequest, the 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.
WBUR is the media partner for Harvard Art Museums at Night. These events, as well as the Made in Germany? opening celebration, are part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).
About the Harvard Art Museums
The Harvard Art Museums house one of the largest and most renowned art collections in the United States, comprising three museums (the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler Museums) and three research centers (the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, the Harvard Art Museums Archives, and the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis). The Fogg Museum includes western art from the Middle Ages to the present; the Busch-Reisinger Museum, unique among North American museums, is dedicated to the study of all modes and periods of art from central and northern Europe, with an emphasis on German-speaking countries; and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum is focused on art from Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Together, the collections include over 255,000 objects in all media. The Harvard Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. Integral to Harvard University and the wider community, the museums and research centers serve as resources for students, scholars, and the public. For more than a century they have been the nation’s premier training ground for museum professionals and are renowned for their seminal role in developing the discipline of art history in the United States. The Harvard Art Museums have a rich tradition of considering the history of objects as an integral part of the teaching and study of art history, focusing on conservation and preservation concerns as well as technical studies. harvardartmuseums.org
The Harvard Art Museums receive support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Hours and Admission
Open Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is free to all visitors. For further information about visiting, including general policies, see harvardartmuseums.org/visit.
For more information, please contact
Jennifer Aubin
Assistant Director of Media Relations
Harvard Art Museums
617-496-5331
jennifer_aubin@harvard.edu