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Vlassis Caniaris, “Arrivederci - Willkommen”, 1976. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Irene Panagopoulos Collection. Courtesy of Kalfayan Galleries.

There Is No There There

GERMANYSEE/SAW

In the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, numerous artists from abroad were working in both the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. Within the framework of grants and bilateral cultural agreements, and alongside migrant workers, exiles, refugees, and ‘foreign workers,’ they came to a divided Germany during the Cold War to continue working on their art and to collaborate and exchange with other artists. Some were themselves migrant workers who only later became artists. 

Memories of people and landscapes, colors, forms, and visual traditions found their way into their works. Fleeing their native countries and living in exile in their new homeland, political conditions as well as daily work and life became their new pictorial themes. 

Eulàlia Grau, “El régim capitalista crea ceda dia situacions com aquesta en la classe obrera”, 1976. Photo: Axel Schneider. Courtesy the artist and MMK Frankfurt.
Vlassis Caniaris, “Sliced Cucumber”, 1974. Photo: Axel Schneider. © Vlassis Caniaris Estate & Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zürich/Paris.
Núria Quevedo, “30 Jahre Exil”, 1971. Photo: Axel Schneider. © Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany.
MARWAN, “Untitled”, 1970. Photo: Axel Schneider. © Estate MARWAN / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024.
Jannis Psychopedis, “Migrants”, 1978. Photo: Axel Schneider. © Private collection, Greece.
Serpil Yeter, “Es ist 9 Uhr!” (“It’s 9 o’clock!”), 1981. Photo: Axel Schneider. Courtesy the artist and MMK Frankfurt.
Hanefi Yeter, “Analphabeten in zwei Sprachen”, 1978 (Illiterates in Two Languages), Photo: Axel Schneider. Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien (DE)
Drago Trumbetaš, “Tonček na poslu” (“Tontschek at Work”), 1975. Photo: Axel Schneider. © Private collection of the Trumbetaš family.

Marginalized within the institutionalized art world due to structural exclusions, the artists nevertheless decisively expanded the discourses on art in both post-National Socialist Germanys. In doing so, they opened up the possibility of seeing different things and, hence, seeing differently. 

The exhibition “There is no there there” testifies to the richness of their artistic work and the transformative power that works of art can unleash. While what they left behind inevitably changes, the artists directly change the present.

Dito Tembe, “Frau an die vorderste Front” (“Woman on the Front Line”), 1986/2024. Photo: Frank Sperling. Courtesy of the artist.
César Olhagaray, Getachew Yossef Hagoss, installation view, “There is no there there”, MUSEUM MMK, Frankfurt am Main. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Private Collection, Dresden; Collection Getachew Yossef Hagoss, Addis Abeba.
Riza Topal, installation view, “There is no there there”, MUSEUM MMK, Frankfurt am Main. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Riza Topal, Berlin.
Teresa Casanueva, installation view, “There is no there there”, MUSEUM MMK, Frankfurt am Main. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Teresa Casanueva Berlin, Germany.
Teresa Casanueva, “Lianen”, 1991. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Teresa Casanueva Berlin, Germany.
Hamid Zénati, installation view, “There is no there there”, MUSEUM MMK, Frankfurt am Main. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Hamid Zénati Estate, Germany.
Rimer Cardillo, “Un Gran Pajara con Alas”, (“A Giant Bird with Wings”), 1973; “El Elejido”  (“The Chosen One”), 1973;  “El Escarmiento” (“The Punishment”), 1973. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Rimer Cardillo, New York.
Azade Köker, “Weiblicher Torso mit Ohrringen”, 1987. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Berlinische Galerie – Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Fotografie und Architektur; “Akkordarbeiterin”, 1987. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Azade Köker, Berlin.
Chetna Vora, “OYOYO”, 1980, Photo: Frank Sperling.  © Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen der DDR, „Konrad Wolf“, Potsdam-Babelsberg, with the support of Förderprogramm Filmerbe, BKM, Länder and FFA (DE)
Želimir Žilnik, “Hausordnung”, 1975, film still. Courtesy of MUSEUM MMK Frankfurt am Main.
Želimir Žilnik, “Hausordnung”, 1975, film still. Courtesy of MUSEUM MMK Frankfurt am Main.
Vlassis Caniaris, “Hopscotch”, 1974. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (EMΣT).
Manuela Sambo, installation view, “There is no there there”, MUSEUM MMK, Frankfurt am Main. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Manuela Sambo, Berlin.
Eulalia Grau, “… Inventemos también nosotros…”, (“… Let us Also Invent Ourselves…”), 1976. Photo: Frank Sperling. © Collection Eulàlia Grau, Barcelona.

Artist(s): Abed Abdi, Alexis Akrithakis, Gülden Artun, Akbar Behkalam, Cecilia Boisier, Vlassis Caniaris, Rimer Cardillo, Teresa Casanueva, Ali Rıza Ceylan, Santos Chávez, Guillermo Deisler, Grazia Eminente, Eulàlia Grau, Getachew Yossef Hagoss, Azade Köker, MARWAN, César Olhagaray, Jannis Psychopedis, Núria Quevedo, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Manuela Sambo, Navina Sundaram, Dito Tembe, Rıza Topal, Drago Trumbetaš, Chetna Vora, Hanefi Yeter, Serpil Yeter, Hamid Zénati, Želimir Žilnik
Exhibition Title: There is no there there
Link: https://www.mmk.art/
Venue: Museum für Moderne Kunst
Place (Country/Location): Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Dates: 13.04 – 29.09.2024
Curated by: Gürsoy Doğtaş, Susanne Pfeffer
Photos by: All images courtesy of MMK, Frankfurt am Main