You couldn’t have chosen a better time for Sung Tieu’s new exhibition at KW. With “1992, 2025“, she reflects on the history of Vietnamese contract workers who moved to the former GDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the realities they faced in its aftermath. Tieu, who herself arrived in Germany from Vietnam in 1992, consistently explores the experiences of this community in her research-based works. While her previous work examined their living and working conditions in the GDR, her new exhibition shifts focus to the period following reunification. She addresses issues of discrimination, police violence, and the broader global transformations that extended beyond Germany. Tieu’s exhibition remains highly relevant today: as Germany marks the 35th anniversary of reunification, right-wing ideologies are gaining traction. The artist reminds us that racism and extremism have long existed in Germany, exposing systemic structures that continue to uphold inequality and exclusion. Kristin Wenzel and Helena Doppelbauer also engage with German-German history, revisiting a significant project of the GDR: the SEZ, a sports and recreation center in Friedrichshain. When it opened in 1981, it was considered the world’s largest multifunctional hall, featuring a swimming pool, ice rink, ballet studios, and a variety of other sports facilities. Now, the center faces the threat of demolition.
For many East Berliners, the SEZ’s swimming area—designed with playfully shaped pools—represented a space of escapism. Here, in the heart of a divided Germany, people could dream of faraway destinations. With their “Swim” exhibition at Galerie im Turm, Wenzel and Doppelbauer reflect on this vision of paradise—one that gradually faded after reunification and the eventual closure of the SEZ. The paintings of Korean artist Yoo Jung Ellie Choi, on view at Peres Projects, also evoke blurred memories. In her first solo exhibition in Berlin, “Behind You, I Exist“, we follow figures wandering through elegant, expansive apartments like sleepwalkers — seemingly searching for an exit. The deep blue evening sky feels close enough to reach, yet Choi’s protagonists remain confined within interior spaces. Avant-garde filmmaker James Benning, who is featured at this year’s Berlinale, also explores themes of observation and longing for the outside world. His video works dwell on single scenes for extended moments — a landscape, a building, or, in one of his most recent pieces, a meadow of flowers. “Poppy Fields near Gorman” is now on public display for the first time at Neugerriemschneider Gallery. The exhibition highlights the creative dialogue between Benning and fellow artist Danh Võ, whose work frequently engages with themes of nature, memory, and ecology. On his farm north of Berlin, Võ has been documenting plant life in collaboration with his father, a trained calligrapher. Benning’s and Võ’s works interact like an unfolding conversation — sometimes seamlessly connected, sometimes pausing in quiet contemplation. Not every thought requires an immediate response, but the two artists align on fundamental questions about time, nature, and human experience.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Nick Ash, Heera Choi, Dani Hasrouni, Eric Tschernow, Frank Sperling / Credit: Sung Tieu – 1992, 2025 in den KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2025; James Benning, Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Danh Vo. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Yoo Jung Ellie Choi, Peres Projects
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststr.69, 10117 Berlin-Mitte; map
Preis für künstlerische Forschung der Schering Stiftung 2024: Sung Tieu – 1992, 2025 until 04.05.2025
Galerie im Turm, Frankfurter Tor 1, 10243-Friedrichshain; map
Swim, Kristin Wenzel, Helena Doppelbauer until 27.04.2025
Peres Projects, Karl-Marx-Allee 82, 10243 Berlin–Friedrichshain; map
Yoo Jung Ellie Choi – Behind You, I Exist until 12.04.2025
Neugerriemschneider (Neugerriemschneider), Linienstr.155, 10115 Berlin–Mitte; map
James Benning & Danh Vo – jb & dv until 15.03.2025
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