Participating Artists:

Isolde Loock, Patrizia Bach, Irmgard Dahms, Veronika Dobers, Monika B. Beyer, Barbara Rosengarth, Michael Wendt, Mechtild Böger, Anne Schlöpke, Marikke Heinz-Hoek, Sirma Kekeç, Kornelia Hoffmann, Herwig Gillerke, Gertrud Schleising, Doris Weinberger, Edith Pundt, Ele Hermel, Claudia Christoffel

The publication is based on the F105 collection from the TOMIKO Archive by Patrizia Bach: an art project in the form of a photographic archive. Starting with the question of how archives can be sustainably opened up and revitalized through artistic work, Patrizia Bach and Isolde Loock invited artists to select any number of photos from the collection and respond to them.

Since 2020, Patrizia Bach has been in close contact with Bettina Brach, a curator at Weserburg, who unexpectedly passed away on July 30, 2023. Many artists experienced Bettina Brach as the heart and soul of the Weserburg Center for Artists’ Publications: through her intelligence and openness, as well as her talent for discreetly making connections, she became a friend to many artists and also brought Isolde Loock and Patrizia Bach together.

The publication F105 is dedicated to Bettina Brach and will be launched with contributions from artists close to her.

Making Connections – An Archive Project in Memory of Bettina Brach was initiated and curated by Patrizia Bach and Isolde Loock.

About Patrizia Bach’s TOMIKO Archive: The TOMIKO Archive is an art project in the form of a photographic archive and includes approximately 500,000 family/amateur photographs of unknown origin from Germany, Italy, and Turkey. The artist began the collection around 2001 and started integrating it into an archive around 2006. To date, around 15,000 photographs have been inventoried, and the associated digital publication by Patrizia Bach can be viewed at tomikoarchiv.de.

Fig.: TOMIKO Archive

As part of International Museum Day, visitors have free admission to the Weserburg all day. At 11 a.m., there will also be a free guided tour in German with Karin Puck through the exhibition The Way We Are with the title Mann mit Löffel, Frau mit Flöte. Körperbilder in der Weserburg (Man with Spoon, Woman with Flute: Body Images in the Weserburg).

Fig.: International Museum Day

8 p.m.: Conversation between Janneke de Vries and Yael Bartana at Hans Otte. Klanghaus

Yael Bartana (*1970 in Israel, lives in Amsterdam and Berlin) is considered one of the most important international filmmakers of her generation. Her films, photographs, objects, neon works, and performances connect the past and present to develop a speculative future. The artist describes her working method as “pre-enactment” – not a reenactment of the past, but rather a foreshadowing of the future based on the past. What if? Bartana: “Pre-enactment mixes facts and fiction. It is a thought experiment that challenges the historical narrative, creating an alternative present and counterfactual stories.”

Since the early 2000s, Yael Bartana has explored themes such as national identity and religious tradition, collective traumas and the longing for redemption, patriarchal power structures, and promises of salvation. Ultimately, her work always revolves around the question of how we can and want to live meaningfully together in the future in light of the weight of a shared past that affects us in different ways.

The selection of works from Utopia Now! at the Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst 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 particular focus on the facts of German history and contemporary reality. However, the artist does not aim to address or resolve German guilt. Instead, in Utopia Now!, the view into the past serves as a starting point for developing visions for a possible future based on the present situation—visions that transcend national borders.

Fig.: Yael Bartana, Brasil, 2024 (Filmstill)

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

The Lange Nacht der Bremer Museen (Long Night of Bremer Museums) offers an exciting and varied program for young and old in and around the museum.

Weserburg Program

• 6:00 pm–10:00 pm (hourly):
  Short guided tours through the current exhibitions with art mediators and curators.
• 6:00 pm–10:00 pm:
  Hands-on Stations: Painting as if Printed
  With artist Sirma Kekeç. The printing block serves as both a painting board and canvas. Combine solid colors and linear drawings: rolled, painted, dabbed, with brushes, sponges, fingers, palm, or other tools. Monotype offers many possibilities and unleashes creativity. Give it a try!
• 6:45 pm, 7:45 pm, 8:45 pm (each for 20 minutes):
  Piano Recital at the Hans Otte. Klanghaus
  Pianist Alexandra Wenger rehearses on Mondays and Tuesdays with children and young people who have fled from Ukraine on the grand piano in the Hans Otte Klanghaus. As part of the Lange Nacht der Bremer Museen, the young pianists invite you to a brief recital.

Die Sparkasse Bremen AG provides the grand piano. The Ahten Stiftung and the Bremer Bündnis für die Ukraine take care of the teaching costs in 2024.

• 7:30 pm
  BIKE IT! Stage Lange Nacht Tour: Nakamarra on the Bike Stage
  Bremen’s Velostage rolls through the Lange Nacht der Bremer Museen and the Oldenburg band Nakamarra performs on it! The bike stage unfolds in front of the Weserburg, the Städtische Galerie, and the Kunsthalle, bringing the fusion of jazz and hip-hop of the trio, which has been active since summer 2021, to the forecourts of the exhibition venues. The three musicians on keys, bass, and drums share a passion for UK jazz and interpret pieces by currently pioneering artists such as Yussef Dayes, Alfa Mist, Oli Howe, and Robert Glasper.

Fig: The Weserburg at Night (Photo: Christian Wasenmüller)

Of Stones that Do Not Forget, and People Who Do Not Remember

What is it like to grow up as the son of a father persecuted by the Nazis among the grandchildren of perpetrators? In Spur und Abweg Tallert confronts the history of persecution in his family. What sets his fate and his perspective on German history apart: Kurt Tallert is now 37 years old, yet his father was persecuted by the Nazis as a half-Jew when he was still a young man. Harry Tallert is 58 years old when his son is born. And he passes away twelve years later. Even as a student, Kurt Tallert must come to terms with the fact that what is mere textbook history for much of his generation is alive and tangible for him—the story of his father. A father who, after liberation, remains in Germany, becomes a journalist, and a member of the Bundestag. Yet, he spends his entire life searching for his place. In Spur und Abweg past meets present, tradition meets repression, experience meets memory. Kurt Tallert tells the story of his father—and his own—in a distinctive voice. An unforgettable debut and a piece of contemporary literature in which the fragments of a life are pieced together to reflect society.

Kurt Tallert was born in 1987 in Bad Honnef and studied German studies and Hispanic studies. Under the stage name Retrogott he has been shaping the German hip-hop scene as a rapper, DJ, and producer for over twenty years, releasing numerous albums. Spur und Abweg marks his debut as a writer.

The reading takes place as part of the accompanying program for the exhibition Yael Bartana. Utopia Now!

Fig.: Portrait of Kurt Tallert (Photo: Constantin Arei)