Hito Steyerl: Normalität

In the organizer's words:

"Normality" focuses on earlier works by Hito Steyerl. In these, the artist examines the different social dynamics and tensions that emerged in the wake of German reunification in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Steyerl's video essays and documentaries explore the political interaction of new nationalism and neoliberalism at a time when West German managers were gutting East Germany like a bankrupt company, Berlin's new center became a capital and investment project based on wage dumping, and politicians from the bourgeois camp reignited the Leitkultur debate.

The exhibition examines the political developments of the time as one of the breeding grounds for the rise of right-wing movements and the increase in right-wing extremist violence to this day. In doing so, it becomes particularly clear that anti-Semitism and racism in Germany have complex historical relationships with each other and interact time and again.

"Normality" is deliberately shown in the last quarter of the 2024 election year. The AfD has made considerable gains in democratic elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. In this context, the exhibition confronts the rise of right-wing parties and populists, which has become the norm, with Steyerl's artistic-filmic analysis of the social background and the prehistory of their success - an event that must now be regarded as part of social normality not only in Germany, but worldwide.

Normality is understood by most people as a positive category. The usual course of events should be maintained at (almost) any cost. On the other hand, the exhibition raises the question of what it means when what some people perceive as "normal" poses a threat to others. What if everyday dealings with xenophobia and racism must be seen as passive or active acceptance of these phenomena? What if the AfD wins with the slogan "Germany. But normal." wins?

Isn't it then time to question the concept of normality itself?

Three public events in the SWR KULTUR GESPRÄCH series with author and presenter Dietrich Brants will take place as part of the exhibition's supporting program. Brants, known among other things for the podcast "Die Lücke von Hanau", will welcome Hito Steyerl as a guest in the first program on Sunday, October 27 at 11 am.

Hito Steyerl (*1966 in Munich) is an internationally renowned artist, filmmaker and author. In her installative environments, essayistic documentary films and texts, she deals with media power relations and feminist critique of representation. Her works operate at the interface of film and visual art as well as theory and practice. She is currently focusing on the effects of artificial intelligence.