The Stories We Tell Ourselves

The two-year event and discussion programme “The Stories We Tell Ourselves”, organised by the Kunstverein München, critically examines the art association’s history and proposes ideas on how to change and modernise the institution. In close cooperation with local and international artists, researchers and organisations, the Kunstverein aims to reconstruct its history based on thematic focuses and shed light on missed and future opportunities. Its new archive, completed in 2020, will be a fitting venue for the exhibition. Amidst the extensive collection of materials, the exhibition will review the 200-year history of the institution and search for gaps. New perspectives will be presented by linking the archived material with contemporary art exhibitions.

In collaboration with the Central Institute of Art History and the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, the programme will address rarely discussed topics such as the role of women at the institution, the development of the class concept, and the association’s actions during the Nazi years. The exhibition will be supplemented by a series of other projects, such as a summer school, the publication projects “Footnotes” and “Edit-a-Thon”, and an international film production. Each will investigate specific chapters of the association’s history and endeavour to fill in missing pieces of knowledge.
 

Artistic director: Maurin Dietrich
Artists: Tony Cokes, Europa Frohwein, Lena von Geyso, Sofia Lemos, Kirsten Loyd, Doreen Mende, Bea Schlingelhoff, Eva Wilson & Adam Gibbons, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah and others

Discussion series, Kunstverein München, Munich: 1 Jul. 2021– 30 Jun. 2023