How do artists confront major political shifts? The end of the 1980s witnessed a series of civic uprisings worldwide. Central and Eastern Europe experienced revolutionary changes—from the dismantling of the Berlin Wall to the breakup of Yugoslavia. The political transformations following the end of the Cold War and its imposed East-West dichotomies incited many artists to publicly reassess their countries’ entangled histories in relation to new democracies, transnational networks, and personal identity—sometimes with a sense of new possibility and sometimes with retrospective insight. They experimented with performance, montage, and fragmented narratives, underscoring art’s potential to imagine histories alternate to official interpretations. “Everything we do has a political charge and the division between politics and aesthetics is entirely erroneous,” the artist Sanja Iveković once pointedly noted.
Collection 1970s–Present
208
After the Wall
208
After the Wall
New on view
Ongoing
MoMA
- MoMA, Floor 2, 208 The David Geffen Wing
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Pawel Althamer Skin 1997 -
Sibylle Bergemann Gummlin, Usedom, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Spring 1976 -
Sibylle Bergemann Gummlin, Usedom, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany July 1977 -
Sibylle Bergemann Gummlin, Usedom, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany December 1980 -
Sibylle Bergemann Gummlin, Usedom, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany May 1984 -
Sibylle Bergemann The Lustgarten, Berlin Cathedral, Berlin, Germany February 1986 -
Sibylle Bergemann Berlin, Germany February 1986 -
Günther Förg Untitled 1987 -
Isa Genzken Painting 1989 -
Sanja Iveković Personal Cuts 1982 -
Martin Kippenberger Martin, Into the Corner, You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself 1992 -
New on view Boris Mikhailov Untitled, from the series Case History 1997-98 -
Sigmar Polke Watchtower 1984 -
New on view Mladen Stilinović Exploitation of the Dead 1984-90 -
Rosemarie Trockel Untitled 1987
Artists
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Pawel Althamer
Polish, born 19672 exhibitions, 3 works online -
Sibylle Bergemann
German, 1941–20102 exhibitions, 12 works online -
Geta Brătescu
Romanian, 1926–20185 exhibitions, 10 works online -
Günther Förg
German, 1952–20139 exhibitions, 61 works online -
Isa Genzken
German, born 19489 exhibitions, 16 works online - There are 18 artists in this collection gallery online.
Installation images
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