Deutsches Historisches Museum - Verf�hrung Freiheit. Kunst in Europa seit 1945 - Blog

“The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945“ is the 30th Council of Europe art exhibition. The Council has 47 member states and wants to achieve “a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress.” (Article 1, Statute of the Council of Europe). How does the Council want to achieve that? What else does it do? And what were the stories behind the other 29 Council of Europe art exhibitions? This is what we are going to look at in this category. And not to forget the European Commission which finances the exhibition.

(Who prefers reading Wikipedia or directly about the art exhibitions on the CoE site, please click here, here and here.)

Every exhibition begins with an idea. The idea of The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945 was to examine European values on the basis of the idea of the Enlightenment. What actually binds Europe together, when socialism and democracy irreconcilably confronted each other for so long? And how can values and ideas be presented beyond geographical and political boundaries?

The curators of the exhibition set out on a journey to research these questions. They travelled for two years across all of Europe. During their journey, they not only involuntarily spent a night at the Serbo-Croatian border, but also successfully acquired over 200 loan agreements. And the journey continues: Milan, Tallinn, and Krakow are the next destinations for The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945.

We therefore want to try our hand at travel blogging (and tips are always welcome), recounting the travels taken through Europe by our curators, artworks, and exhibition.

Before we begin listing everyone involved with the exhibition, we want to assure you that it is a lot of people. Most of their activities remain unseen by the exhibition visitor. These ‘invisible’ staff members get the chance here to explain what they do, who they are, and what they think about The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945. The ‘visible’, too, by the way.

If we don’t ask a certain question of particular interest to you, please write us and we will look into it.

That’s what it’s all about: the art works, the artists, the different rooms of the exhibition – art is what brought us together here, art is the filter through which we look at the big topics: human rights and their violations, democracy, freedom, and equality in Europe since 1945. Art comes first in the exhibition and on this blog. We show you the works and we tell the story behind them and their makers.

At the same time you will get a glimpse of the twelve rooms in “The desire for freedom. Art in Europe since 1945”, which not only each have a topic of their own but can also not be separated from the works shown inside them. That’s what the concept says (and we will also tell you about that). And how much exactly is an art transport from Paris?