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Gallery Talk: Katharina Sieverding’s Deutschland wird deutscher XLI/92

Black and white image of a face surrounded by knives, with overlaying white text.
Katharina Sieverding, Deutschland wird deutscher XLI/92, 1992. Pigment transfer on metal in a steel frame. Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of the German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum in honor of Markus Michalke, 2024.1. © Katharina Sieverding.

Gallery Talk

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

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

In 1992, Katharina Sieverding designed this monumental print for exhibition in public space. The work combines a phrase taken from a newspaper article, “Deutschland wird Deutscher” (Germany becomes more German), and an image of the artist’s face surrounded by knives. It immediately became the subject of heated debate because of its artistic interrogation of anti-immigrant violence and the rise of extreme nationalism after the Berlin Wall fell. Now an icon of German art, the work is as relevant today as it was more than 30 years ago.

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

Led by:
Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art

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.

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