©KRISTINA STRAUSS
Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday.
Today’s show: “Homosexuality_ies” is on view at the Deutsches Historisches Museum and Schwules Museum (stylized as Schwules Museum*) in Berlin until Tuesday, December 1. This multi-venue exhibition traces the history of homosexual and queer identity over the past 150 years. The section at the Deutsches Historisches Museum focuses on watershed moments in gay liberation within the German state, specifically focusing on section 175 of the German penal code, which was in effect from 1872 to 1994 and made “homosexual acts” between men punishable by law. The law was enforced in different ways by various governments in 20th-century Germany. The second section, on view at the Schwules Museum, the city’s gay museum, focuses on the recent and ongoing struggles of LGBTQ people and includes works by many contemporary artists whose works address gender and sexual politics. Among the artists with work on view are Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Heather Cassils, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, and Nicole Eisenman. A catalogue, available in German with an English-translation insert available, accompanies the exhibition.
01
Kristina Strauss, Chicks in Motion - Christopher Street Day, Berlin, 1998, photograph.
©KRISTINA STRAUSS
Louise Bourgeois, Hanging Janus, 1968, bronze, dark and polished patina, and hanging piece.
CHRISTOPHER BURKE/©THE EASTON FOUNDATION, LICENSED BY VG BILD-KUNST/THE EASTON FOUNDATION COLLECTION
Heather Cassils and Robin Black, Homage to Benglis, part of the larger body of work 'CUTS: A Traditional Sculpture,' 2011, six-month durational performance.
©2011 HEATHER CASSILS AND ROBIN BLACK/COURTESY HEATHER CASSILS AND RONALD FELMAN FINE ARTS
Goodyn Green, from the 'Women' series, 2011–12, C-print.
©GOODYN GREEN
Signage for 'Schutzhäftlinge' ('protective custody') in concentration camps, facsimile of original panel.
©ITS BAD AROLSEN
Stefan Thiel, Fred + Christian + ant chair, 2012, cut paper.
LUKAS HEIBGES/©2012 STEFAN THIEL/COURTESY SEMJON CONTEMPORARY, BERLIN
Door with 'Glory Hole' from a Berlin Klappe (a public toilet or other meeting place for gay men to have anonymous sex).
©SCHWULES MUSEUM*, BERLIN
Tanja Ostojić and Marina Gržinić, Politics of Queer Curatorial Positions: After Rosa von Praunheim, Fassbinder and Bridge Markland, 2003, color photograph.
JANE ŠTRAVS/©TANJA OSTOJIĆ AND VG BILD-KUNST, BONN
Lotte Laserstein, Self-portrait with Cat, 1923, painting.
LEICESTER ARTS & MUSEUMS - BRIDGEMAN IMAGES/©VG BILD-KUNST, BONN/NEW WALK MUSEUM & ART GALLERY, LEICESTER
Konvulsator III, 1951, an electroshock aversion therapy apparatus by Firma Siemens.
MARCO SEDELMAYER/©WÜRTTEMBERGISCHES PSYCHIATRIEMUSEUM ZWIEFALTEN
Soldatenfreundschaft ("Soldiers Friendship"), ca. 1913, unknown photographer, sepia photograph.
©SCHWULES MUSEUM*, BERLIN
Frauenzentrum Berlin (Women's Center Berlin), Disarmed rapist, 1974, poster.
©1974 ARCHIV FFBIZ, BERLIN
Petra Gall, Walpurgis in Berlin, 1983, photograph.
©SCHWULES MUSEUM*, BERLIN/SAMMLUNG PETRA GALL
Henrik Olesen, Bär / Tiger, 2014, collage auf MDF, C-print, acrylic, dispersion.
COURTESY THE ARTIST
Ins A Kromminga, Phallometer, 2002, mixed media installation.
©INS A KROMMINGA