FLAG INSTALLATION FOR ECHOS DER BRUDERLÄNDER, HKW - BERLIN

ECHOES OF THE BROTHER COUNTRY

HKW

March 3 – May 20, 2024

Berlin, Germany

To look at Germany’s historical and contemporary global relations only through the prism of the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany), i.e. the West, is to navigate a discourse with one eye shut, inevitably leading to an exclusionary and one-sided history.

An all too often ignored part of post-war and post-unification Germany, or what has been critically reframed as ‘Beitritt der DDR zur BRD’ (Accession of the GDR to the FRG), is the history and legacy of migration and transnational political, economic, educational, and artistic links and exchanges that were facilitated by the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) alliances and agreements with other socialist and socialist-friendly nations deemed their so-called Bruderländer (‘brother countries’).

The upcoming exhibition on the GDR and its politics of development made possible by the recruitment of labour force from different countries including Ghana. 

The project elaborates on the ways in which the Bruderländer history and the amnesia surrounding it continue to shape Germany and its brother countries’ demography, culture, economy, and politics and, more particularly, the lives of those who migrated under the conditions of the Eastern alliances.

Zohra Opoku’s profound connection to the history of the Bruderländer, stemming from her upbringing in East Germany (former GDR), is beautifully manifested through eight (8) poignant self-portraits she contributed for a flag formation outside the HKW.