Communism Never Happened at Berlin’s Feinkost by Alicia Reuter

“Communism Never Happened” currently running at Berlin’s Feinkost gallery, couldn’t take place at a more poignant time.  With Berlin and international eyes alike turned to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, a feeling of regeneration and rejuvenation has filled the city, and considering the staggering development and extreme tolerance of modern day Berlin, it almost is as though communism never happened.

It is this idea of change, re-enactment and memory that is core to the motif of the exhibition.  Aaron Moulton, director of Feinkost says, “The basic premise is looking at notions of cultural Alzheimer’s, the nostalgic impulse and the manneristic tendencies or impossibilities involved in remembering. In this respect it is more about the “Never Happened” than Communism. I am not trying to communicate anything about communism so directly as I am interested in how we all have our own references for this material that we bring to our understanding of the subject and the exhibition is trying to address more the human condition, the projection of that information and the way that every time you remember something you actually promote the forgetting of that memory.”

The group show takes its name from a work by Ciprian Muresan.  Muresan has cut out the words ‘communism never happened’ from old propaganda records, removing any possibility of hearing proof of the doctrines they once espoused. Also represented are works by David Levine, who recently had a well-received solo exhibition at Feinkost, Anetta Mona Chişa & Lucia Tkáčová, Ciprian Mureşan, Julian Bismuth, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Lucia Nimkova, Patrick Tuttofuoco, REP Group, Sean Snyder and Yang Zhenzhong.

Perhaps it was Lucia Nimkova’s 5-minute Exercise video that attracted the most attention.  A small crowd gathered, dangerously close to Patrick Tuttofuoco precariously balanced Neueröffnung.  The video captures seniors going through daily exercise routines, all the while playfully jostling and posturing for the camera. Watching the reenacted routines disarms the memory that those on camera were very likely once forced to do the drills as part of a regimes philosophy about sport and fitness.

Seeing Julian Bismuth’s Über Wahrheit und Luge in Aussermoralische Sinn on the exhibition guide prompted the hunt for these small works.  Finally they were spotted, blending almost perfectly into the terrazzo flooring.  20 or so coins polished beyond the point of recognition and denying their worth as a commodity; only their distinctive shapes and metals giving them away

The city of Berlin decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall by inviting freedom rocker Jon Bon Jovi to play a free concert at the Brandenburg Gate.  Somehow, the quiet denial through documentation of “Communism Never Happened” seems much more appropriate.

“Communism Never Happened”

Tags:
Aaron Moulton, Alicia Reuter, Art, Berlin, Ciprian Mureşan, Communism, Feinkost, Julian Bismuth, Lucia Nimkova, Patrick Tuttofuoco

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