With its first ever public exhibition, entitled Fragile Sense of Hope, Deutsche Telekom proudly presents works from its newly founded collection, Art Collection Telekom, as it takes up residency at me Collectors Room in Berlin. The exhibition reveals the storytelling power of the diverse art scenes of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. With its incipient collecting activities, Deutsche Telekom aims both to follow the exciting artistic developments as they continue to unfold in the countries of Eastern Europe and to shed light on the social and political changes that have occurred since the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

The Art Collection Telekom was founded in 2010 and has continually expanded ever since. It spans all media to include drawing, painting, photography, and video/film. Since collecting activities began, specific topics and narrative threads have evolved, which now come to the fore in Fragile Sense of Hope and the 70 works by 25 artists it contains.

The exhibition’s enigmatic title Fragile Sense of Hope is a borrowing from a work by Šejla Kamerić and it gives voice to the underlying tone of an entire region. The collapse of the Iron Curtain 25 years ago brought dramatic changes to the everyday lives of citizens in Eastern Europe and these upheavals were accompanied by a fragile sense of hope for a better future. Ideological value systems, previously dictated by government, dissolved into thin air. Preconceived ideas about careers and the individual’s passage through life became obsolete, almost overnight. It is difficult for the affected societies to decide what is worth preserving in memory and what needs to be rewritten. Artists are sensitive to the repression of memories from an epoch that lasted several generations. They question the construction of history and repeatedly address the themes of forgetting and remembrance in their works. These are, as a result, the central themes of the exhibition.

Curated by Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher in collaboration with me Collectors Room/Olbricht Foundation.

Courtesy Art Collection Telekom
Foto Credits: Bernd Borchardt

http://www.me-berlin.com/ausstellungen