Gallery Talk: Ulrich Wüst’s House Book and East German Memory Culture

Always deeply involved with place and memory, the East German–born photographer Ulrich Wüst has found meaning in the contested history and topography of eastern Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. With German unification, urban and social change, and the memory culture of the former German Democratic Republic became the primary rationale for his work, and his focus shifted from Berlin to the villages and rural landscapes northeast of the city, his home now for half the year. His deep reading of the German landscape reveals traces of the past and their coexisting histories, analogous to the way an archaeologist sees layers of history in ordinary places.

This talk on Wednesday, Sept. 25 is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition "Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation," on view through January 5, 2025. Please check in with museum staff at the Visitor Services desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the talk. Talks are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration is not required.