Jubiläumsfest “Wir werden 50” Jubilee Celebration

Jubilee Celebration

Program:

From 16:00
Coffee, Cake, Wishes, Books
Welcome to an eventful afternoon with a musical intro by Été Large, a twelve-member ensemble presenting contemporary music; the »Illumat«, a miraculous machine that turns your wishes for the nGbK into small, fine drawings; and a trip down Memory Lane, browsing fifty years of nGbK publications. All children are welcome too. There is candyfloss, ice cream, tattoos, and chalk. The various stations – for guests of all ages – are an invitation to mix and mingle, share news and views, and join in the fun.

From Agit-prop to Censorship
Publishing was a vital component of the nGbK programme from the very start. Many of the exhibition catalogues, material compilations, readers, textbooks and other formats were cooperative productions and, since 1987, mostly also published by the nGbK itself. On show at the jubilee celebration are reproductions and slide projections of media from the treasure trove, including long since out-of-print titles.
With: Ieva Astahovska (EN), Claudia Hummel, Sandy Kaltenborn, Frieder Schnock, Renata Stih

17:30
»On the socio-critical power of art and the role of aesthetics«
Talk (DE)
With: Dr. Klaus Lederer, Çağla Ilk, Sven Lütticken und Alice Creischer/Andreas Siekmann
Chaired by: Dr. Sabeth Buchmann
The founders of the nGbK were convinced that art could change a capitalist society. Art, so they imagined, would enlighten as well as help identify or invent ways of thinking and acting apt to subvert bourgeois society. Whether art has actually intervened in the course of history is difficult to judge. But today, as in the 1970s, it brings to light the invisible structures of things and can foster multiple perspectives and self-assured political participation. The talk will revolve around the question of how a consciously critical artistic-aesthetic practice might help us grasp the complexity of the present and propose an alternative form of social relations, in contrast to those prevailing still under capitalist conditions.

Sabeth Buchmann has been Professor of the History of Modern and Post-Modern Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 2004. She is a long-time member of the nGbK and was a chair of the art association in 2014/15.

Alice Creischer/ Andreas Siekmann – The two artists are renowned on the international art scene for their joint projects focusing on economic criticism and public and postcolonial space. They also work together as curators and as co-authors of art criticism and art theory.

Çağla Ilk has been chair of the art association since 2013. She works at the interface of art, urbanism and architecture. Since 2012 she is curator for interdisciplinary art exhibition »Berliner Herbstsalon« in the Berlin Maxim Gorki Theater.

Klaus Lederer has been Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe in Berlin since 2016.

Sven Lütticken teaches art history at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and theory at the Dutch Art Institute. He deals with the relationship between culture and aesthetics.

Afterwards
Concert by Été Large
Été Large is a twelve-member ensemble around the saxophonist and composer Luise Volkmann. The ensemble unites musicians from Europe and the USA, who experiment with contemporary music, drawing on influences from jazz and minimalism, classical music and punk. The music plays with the dialogue between two singers and mingles imagination and personal experience.

With: Vincent Bababoutilabo, Johannes Bigge, Robinson Khoury, Athina Kontou, Gabriel Lemaire, Casey Moir, Laurin Oppermann, Timothée Quost, Otis Sandsjö, Max Santner, Luise Volkmann, Liron Yariv

19:30
»Arbeitsgruppe Kunst. 50 years of ›new society‹«
Opening of the exhibition

From 21:00
Music by André Schöne
André Schöne is an eclecticism-loving musician, DJ and producer. He also is a member of the nGbK exhibition team.