Chemnitz exhibition shows German and Ukrainian art

The new exhibition project "What we are made of" by Chemnitzer Spinnerei e.V. aims to trace common identities between East Germans and Ukrainians. According to the initiators, the show aims to create spaces for resonance and encounters.

For example, with the work "Flower Bed": Only a few stalks sprout in the round bed, but in the coming weeks the work by Ukrainian artist Dasha Chechushkova is set to transform into a flower bed. Framed by 15 small concrete slabs, it is reminiscent of graves. The starting point was the death of one of her artist colleagues in the Russian war of aggression on her country, explains curator Alona Karavai. "But it is dedicated to all those who have lost something."

The association has been organizing symposia and art exhibitions for several years. They also focus on how the socialist past as part of the former Eastern Bloc continues to have an impact today.

Further presentations in Lviv and Wroclaw

There is a large inflated star by the artist Minh Duc Pham, born in 1991. It too will change over the course of the exhibition, gradually collapsing in on itself. The artist Nikita Kadan, who lives in Kiev, has mounted a prosthetic leg on a crane for his work. Due to war injuries, there are more and more people with prostheses on the streets of Ukraine, explains curator Karavai. The work is set in motion at certain intervals to symbolically kick the spectators.

The show is the starting point for further presentations in Lviv, Ivano-Frankisvsk in Ukraine, Wroclaw in Poland and Dresden. The exhibition in Chemnitz will open on May 22 and can be seen until June 8 in the Wirkbau, a former factory building. Admission is free.