Ausstellungseröffnung: Yael Bartana. Utopia Now!

In the organizer's words:

8 pm: Talk by Janneke de Vries and Yael Bartana at Hans Otte. House of Sound

About the person

Yael Bartana (*1970 in Israel, lives in Amsterdam and Berlin) is considered one of the most important international film artists of her generation. Her films, photographs, objects, neon works and performances link past and present in order to develop a speculative future. The artist describes her working method as "pre-enactment" - not as a re-enactment of the past, but as an anticipation of the future based on the past. What if? Bartana: "Pre-enactment mixes fact and fiction. It is a thought experiment that questions the historical narrative, creating an alternative present and counterfactual stories."

Since the early 2000s, Yael Bartana has been exploring themes such as national identity and religious tradition, collective trauma and longing for redemption, patriarchal power structures and promises of salvation. Ultimately, her work is always about the question of how we can and want to live together meaningfully in the future in the face of the burden of a common past that has shaped us differently.

About the exhibition: Utopia Now!

The selection of works in Utopia Now! at the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art includes film installations, photographs and neon works from the last ten years as well as the world premiere of Bartana's latest film - with a special focus on facts of German history and the present. However, the artist is not interested in dealing with or even resolving German guilt. Rather, in Utopia Now! too, a look into the past forms the starting point for developing visions for a possible future from the circumstances of the present - visions that transcend national borders.

Further information on the exhibition: https://weserburg.de/ausstellung/yael-bartana-utopia-now/