Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I hope this newsletter finds you as well as one can be during these challenging times. I am still digesting the U.S. election results and the break-up of the coalition in Germany. Hopefully, we will find a way to get through this together.
In the meantime, I keep myself occupied with exhibitions and book preparations. Join me for the opening reception of my solo show, The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall, at Deutsches Haus this Thursday, November 14, from 6-8 pm.
Moreover, I am continuing to work on my book and can now announce that it will be published in a German and English edition by DISTANZ (Berlin) in Spring 2025, which I am very excited about. In December, I will launch a fundraising campaign.
I wish you all the best. Stay strong!
Warmest wishes, Gesche
Solo Show at Deutsches Haus NYU
The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at Deutsches Haus NYU from November 14, 2024, through February 7, 2025.
Please join me for the opening reception this Thursday, November 14, from 6-8 pm. You may RSVP here. Address: Deutsches Haus NYU, 42 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10003.
Neue Landschaft 2 / New Landscape 2 (2024)
Collaged archival pigment prints, acid-free tape, bookbinding glue
7.67 x 10.43 inches
Quelle/Source: BArch MfS+HA_I+-Fo+349+Bild_0063+mast (and 0097, 0058, 0064, 0083, 0035)
You may wonder about what’s happening in this image. The Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS) (“Stasi”) documented the Wall and Death Strip in great detail since its inception in 1961. I received copies of 160 panorama images from the Bundesarchiv and cut out the Wall and the Death Strip. I then collaged the remains of the images to envision 23 new landscapes without the Berlin Wall.
NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship – Book
DISTANZ will publish The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall in German and English editions in the spring of 2025. In December 2024, I will run a fundraising campaign where you can pre-order a copy of the book
If you are already interested in supporting the relatively expensive book production, you may make a fully tax-deductible donation (this only applies to U.S. taxpayers) through my NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship page. Thank you in advance if you decide to do so. I genuinely appreciate your help.
Deans’ Faculty Research Grant
I am grateful that I was awarded an NYU Tisch Dean’s Faculty Research Grant for my upcoming book, “The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall,” which will be published by DISTANZ in Spring 2025.
Neue Landschaft 8 / New Landscape 8 (2024)
Collaged archival pigment prints, acid-free tape, bookbinding glue
3.7 x 10.5 inches
Quelle/Source: BArch MfS+HA_I+Fo+1+Bild_0043+mast, MfS+HA_I+Fo+349+Bild_0023+mast (and 0065, 0073, 0090, 0092)
Oppressive Architecture (ICE Detention Centers)
I started thinking about this project during the 45th U.S. presidency, and with the current migrant crisis and deportation plans of the incoming administration, the topic is even more relevant. With support from the NYU Undergraduate Research Assistants Program, Vallery Orr and I used Google Street View to document the hundreds of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facilities across the U.S. According to the Border Report, roughly 40,000 migrants are currently held in ICE detention centers. Screenshots from each facility will be compiled into a photographic installation to show the vastness of the inhumane system of housing thousands of migrants. This project is a work in progress.