Calendar

Participating artists:
James Gregory Atkinson, Ahu Dural, Nilbar Güreş, Emily Hass, Magda Korsinsky, Sajan Mani, Beatrice Moumdjian, Farila Neshat, Karoline Schneider und Irina Unruh

Venue:
MdbK - Museum der bildenden Künste
Katharinenstraße 10
04109 Leipzig
mdbk.de

The thematic exhibition Family Matters explores family memories in the migration society and their links to socio-political and historical issues that manifest themselves both locally and globally. It brings together ten contemporary (post-)migrant positions that take personal family stories as the starting point for their artworks. All ten are united by the approach of casting a spotlight on personal archives and thus formulating questions about the past for the future.

The works on display address individual and collective experiences ranging from colonial exploitation and political upheaval to questions of migration and assimilation policies. Stories of resilience and strategies of taking up space become visible. For example, Sajan Mani (*1981 Kannur/India) places his family, who lived from rubber tapping, and the Dalit community at the centre of his artistic exploration. By using natural rubber, he sheds light on extractive colonialism and creates a counter-narrative to the colonial gaze to which his ancestors were exposed. Beatrice Moumdjian (*1986 Sofia, Bulgaria), on the other hand, takes up events of the 20th century in Europe, including the Armenian Genocide, socialist totalitarianism in Bulgaria and the GDR, migration and the fall of communism, which she narrates using details from family photos in her family album.

The artists' polyphonic and open narrative and the accompanying participatory educational programme aim to encourage the audience to view history in multiple dimensions and to relate to it. The accompanying programme includes artist tours of the exhibition, commented screenings, podiums and performances that take a closer look at the political background of the works.

Family Matters is the programme conclusion of MdbK [in transit] as part of the 360° Fund for Cultures of the New Urban Society of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and is supported by: German Federal Cultural Foundation 360°; Erlebnis Kunst Foundation, Cultural Department for Russian-Germans at the Museum of Russian-German Cultural History; Foundation for the Sorbian People.