“The Russians are Coming, are You Coming Too?”
The exhibition has been hosted by the Neue Kunstinitiative MaHe (NKI) in the Projektraum Galerie M
July 09th, 2019The exhibition is an outlet for artists born in the former USSR and who are now residing in Germany currently to expose their art, exhibiting the concept of settling in a new, foreign country.
Former Soviet citizens have historically settled, since the 1970s, when moving to Berlin, in the Marzahn- Hellersdof district, and hence a tight Russian community has formed in Berlin throughout the recent decades. The Russian exhibition in Berlin has been a clear example of cultural diplomacy in Berlin, as it is aimed at showing visitors the feelings of former Soviet citizens now residing in Berlin how it feels to leave one’s country behind and adapting to a new environment, while at the same time offering an outlet for such individuals to express their feelings.
The artists showcasing their work asked themselves, while producing their pieces, questions such as: “Do you feel comfortable in your new home or you could never let the old home go? What is home? Can different cultures coexist, or have the differences never been really big? Is it better for an artist to be a foreigner or a local?”. Such questions show clearly the struggle of first generation migrants to a new country, where they have to adapt while attempting to keep their own cultural traditions alive.