Adaptation or resistance: these were the two poles between which many artists in the Soviet Union moved. The exhibition "Kunst - Mensch - System" ("Art - man - system") uses the example of the sculptor Jakob Wedel to show the influence the totalitarian regime had on an artist's work and everyday life.
The construction of a new society and the transformation of every individual was the declared goal of the Soviet Union. All social actors were called upon to participate in the creation of a "new man". As a result, hardly any aspect of daily life escaped state pressure and surveillance. This also applied to art.
Based on the biography and works of Jakob Wedel (1931-2014), the exhibition "Kunst - Mensch - System" ("Art - man - system") deals with the tension between adaptation and resistance in the Soviet system, and looks at its violence, but also its promises. This daily confrontation had a lasting impact on the mentality and culture of remembrance of the Russian Germans who immigrated to the Federal Republic. In view of the approximately 2.4 million immigrants with a Russian-German migration background, these experiences of Soviet life thus represent a considerable part of "German memory" as a whole.
Art - man - system. Museum für russlanddeutsche Kulturgeschichte / Museum für russlanddeutsche Kulturgeschichte, CC BY-SA 4.0
Art - man - system. Museum für russlanddeutsche Kulturgeschichte / Museum für russlanddeutsche Kulturgeschichte, CC BY-SA 4.0
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