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Weekend Tips: What to Do This Weekend in Berlin
August 21 to 23, 2026: Events, festivals, exhibitions and more things to do for your perfect weekend in Berlin. more
Vietnam. Art. GDR. Reclaiming Solidarity
The exhibition Vietnam. Art. GDR. Reclaiming Solidarity explores the connections between Vietnam and the GDR from an artistic perspective.
It features works by artists from the GDR that address the Vietnam War in particular, under the theme of international solidarity. The posters, prints, and paintings come from sources including the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank. Caught between artistic autonomy, anti-imperialist propaganda, and cultural attributions, these works challenge us to critically examine these ambivalences. What impact did these images have at the time, and how do we interpret them today?
At the same time, the exhibition offers an opportunity to discover Vietnamese artists who studied in the GDR and draws attention to the Vietnamese “contract workers.” These workers arrived in the GDR in the 1980s and, contrary to the official rhetoric of solidarity, often lived under conditions marked by exclusion, legal restrictions, and external control. Nevertheless, they created spaces where exchange and individual strategies of self-assertion were possible beyond political dictates.
Contemporary artists such as Nguyễn Phương Thanh, Fungi, Minh Duc Pham, and Tra My Nguyen explore these (post)migrant experiences through multimedia works, installations, and photographs. They expand the historical discourse to include themes such as memory, family, and identity.
In this way, the exhibition brings together art from the GDR, German-Vietnamese history, and current issues facing our global society. How is solidarity defined, experienced, and continually renegotiated?
Vietnam. Art. GDR. Reclaiming Solidarity opens on September 9, 2026, as part of Berlin Art Week, and runs through December 6, 2026.
Artists:
Theo Balden, Annemirl Bauer, Gerhard Bondzin, Claudia Borchers, Manfred Böttcher, Manfred Butzmann, Fritz Cremer, Fritz Duda, Fritz Eisel, Wolfgang Frankenstein, Wieland Förster, Fungi, Dieter Goltzsche, Lea Grundig, Rolf Händler, Sabine Herrmann, Uta Hünniger, Doris Kahane, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Harald Metzkes, Tra My Nguyen, Nguyễn Phương Thanh, Minh Duc Pham, Veronika Radulovic, Robert Rehfeldt, Willi Sitte, Wolfgang Speer, Trần Việt Sơn, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Max Uhlig, Hans Vent, Trịnh Kim Vinh, Heidi Vogel, Peter Westphal
It features works by artists from the GDR that address the Vietnam War in particular, under the theme of international solidarity. The posters, prints, and paintings come from sources including the Kunstsammlung der Berliner Volksbank. Caught between artistic autonomy, anti-imperialist propaganda, and cultural attributions, these works challenge us to critically examine these ambivalences. What impact did these images have at the time, and how do we interpret them today?
At the same time, the exhibition offers an opportunity to discover Vietnamese artists who studied in the GDR and draws attention to the Vietnamese “contract workers.” These workers arrived in the GDR in the 1980s and, contrary to the official rhetoric of solidarity, often lived under conditions marked by exclusion, legal restrictions, and external control. Nevertheless, they created spaces where exchange and individual strategies of self-assertion were possible beyond political dictates.
Contemporary artists such as Nguyễn Phương Thanh, Fungi, Minh Duc Pham, and Tra My Nguyen explore these (post)migrant experiences through multimedia works, installations, and photographs. They expand the historical discourse to include themes such as memory, family, and identity.
In this way, the exhibition brings together art from the GDR, German-Vietnamese history, and current issues facing our global society. How is solidarity defined, experienced, and continually renegotiated?
Vietnam. Art. GDR. Reclaiming Solidarity opens on September 9, 2026, as part of Berlin Art Week, and runs through December 6, 2026.
Artists:
Theo Balden, Annemirl Bauer, Gerhard Bondzin, Claudia Borchers, Manfred Böttcher, Manfred Butzmann, Fritz Cremer, Fritz Duda, Fritz Eisel, Wolfgang Frankenstein, Wieland Förster, Fungi, Dieter Goltzsche, Lea Grundig, Rolf Händler, Sabine Herrmann, Uta Hünniger, Doris Kahane, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Harald Metzkes, Tra My Nguyen, Nguyễn Phương Thanh, Minh Duc Pham, Veronika Radulovic, Robert Rehfeldt, Willi Sitte, Wolfgang Speer, Trần Việt Sơn, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Max Uhlig, Hans Vent, Trịnh Kim Vinh, Heidi Vogel, Peter Westphal
Runtime: Wed, 09/09/2026 to Sun, 06/12/2026
Price: €5.00
Reduced price: €3.00
Reduced price info: Trainees, students, pensioners, welfare recipients, severely disabled persons with official ID, owners of ArtCard and Ehrenamtskarte.
Free admission for children and young people up to 18 years, school classes incl. teachers, representatives of the press, recipients of Bürgergeld, required accompanying person of severely disabled, artists and lenders of the exhibition, members of the following associations: International Council of Museums, International Association of Art, Berufsverband Bildender Künstler*innen Berlin e.V., Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler
Reduced price: €3.00
Reduced price info: Trainees, students, pensioners, welfare recipients, severely disabled persons with official ID, owners of ArtCard and Ehrenamtskarte.
Free admission for children and young people up to 18 years, school classes incl. teachers, representatives of the press, recipients of Bürgergeld, required accompanying person of severely disabled, artists and lenders of the exhibition, members of the following associations: International Council of Museums, International Association of Art, Berufsverband Bildender Künstler*innen Berlin e.V., Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler
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