The retrospective at the Neue Nationalgalerie is the first complete exhibition of Nan Goldin’s work from 1980 to the present day. Her individual series of works will be presented from 23 November 2024 in the form of slide shows and films in pavilions designed by Hala Wardé in the upper hall of the Neue Nationalgalerie – each of these ‘buildings’ is conceived in relation to the respective series of works, together they form a kind of village. After opening in Stockholm and Amsterdam, the exhibition will now be shown in Berlin before travelling to Milan and Paris.
Image above: Nan Goldin, Christmas at The Other Side, Boston (Weihnachten auf Der anderen Seite, Boston), 1972, Photographie, aus der Serie “The Other Side” © Nan Goldin. Courtesy the artist
The exhibition includes the following works: Goldin’s magnum opus, ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ (1981-2022); ‘The Other Side’ (1992-2021), a historical portrait paying homage to the artist’s trans friends whom she photographed from 1972 to 2010; ‘Sisters, Saints and Sibyls’ (2004-2022), a testimony to the trauma of families and suicide; “Fire Leap” (2010-2022), a foray into the world of children; “Memory Lost” (2019-2021), a claustrophobic journey through drug withdrawal; and “Sirens” (2019-2020), a trip into drug ecstasy.
Nan Goldin (born 1953 in Washington D.C.) is one of the most recognised artists of our time and was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize in 2022, the Golden Lion at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in the same year for her documentary ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’’ and the Hasselblad Award, Gothenburg, Sweden in 2007. The examination of the human experience characterises her work and has profoundly influenced subsequent generations. Her first work, ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’, documents life in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the Lower East Side, New York City, Berlin and London from the 1970s and 80s to the present day. Goldin photographed the world of her closest circle of friends. Her photographs are snapshots of intimacy and partnership, of everyday life and wild parties, of the struggle between autonomy and dependence.
Der Kern Goldins künstlerischer Praxis
Goldins Werk ist auch ein Zeitdokument. Sie ist Teil einer Generation, deren Erfahrungen von der AIDS-Krise und einer Welt außerhalb der normativen Gesellschaft geprägt ist. Um 1980 begann Goldin, ihre Diashows in Clubs und an öffentlichen Orten in New York sowie in Underground-Kinos und auf Filmfestivals in Europa zu präsentieren. Sie aktualisierte und bearbeitete ihre Diashows jedes Mal neu und setzte mehrere Projektoren ein, die sie mit einem eklektischen Soundtrack unterlegte. Goldins Fähigkeit, diese Diashows immer wieder neu zu betrachten, bildet seitdem den Kern ihrer künstlerischen Praxis. In den letzten 40 Jahren hat Goldin ein Dutzend verschiedener Diashows produziert – von Porträts ihrer Freund*innen bis hin zu Berichten über traumatische Familienereignisse. Seitdem hat sie Elemente wie bewegte Bilder, Stimmen und Archiv-material in ihre Arbeiten aufgenommen.
P.A.I.N. and groundbreaking paradigms of visual expression
Nan Goldin has always dealt with social issues such as gender, mental health and AIDS, albeit with different approaches. ‘Memory Lost’, which is also part of the current exhibition, is an evocation of the darkest side of drug addiction. In 2017, Goldin founded P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an action group specifically targeting the billionaire Sackler family. The group blames Sackler for triggering the epidemic opioid overdose crisis. The Sacklers are major donors to some well-known international museums. However, many of these institutions have responded to pressure from P.A.I.N. by removing any trace of the Sackler name from their premises.
Humour and warmth
The title of the exhibition ‘This Will Not End Well’ seems dark and foreboding, but it is also full of ironic humour and warmth. The title is a confirmation of what Fredrik Liew, curator of the retrospective from the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, describes as Goldin’s ‘characteristically unshakeable joie de vivre’.
Nan Goldin and Berlin
Nan Goldin has a very special relationship with Berlin: the Arsenal cinema showed her ‘Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ (1985) back in 1986. In 1991, she received a DAAD scholarship, moved to the city and has been returning ever since: ‘The best years of my life were here in Berlin,’ said Goldin in 2010. ‘I don’t say that lightly. I’ve been looking for a home all my life. The only place where I feel like myself and comfortable and feel real love for my friends is Berlin.’
The international tour
‘This Will Not End Well’ began as an international exhibition tour at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (29 October 2022 – 26 February 2023), travelled to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (31 August 2023 – 28 January 2024) and is now opening at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (23 November 2024 – 6 April 2024). November 2024 – 6 April 2025); it will then continue to the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan (9 October 2025 – 15 February 2026) and Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais, Paris (March – September 2026).
Exhibition catalogue and book
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue published by Steidl Verlag: English language, 216 pages, 140 of which are illustrated, with texts by Vince Aletti, Thomas Beard, Guido Costa, Marvin Heiferman, Roni Horn, Patrick Radden Keefe, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Fredrik Liew, Andrea Lissoni, Gabor Maté, Cookie Mueller, Eileen Myles, Alfred Pacquement, Darryl Pinckney, Rene Ricard, Lucy Sante, Sarah Schulman, Anne Swärd, Hala Wardé and David Wojnarowicz, ISBN 978-3-96999-058-2, 48 €.
A limited edition book will be published during the exhibition: a nine-volume series reproducing all of Goldin’s slideshows and multimedia projects, including text works with contributions from various authors who present their views on the artist’s extensive oeuvre. Both the catalogue and the book are published by Moderna Museet in collaboration with Steidl Verlag.
Curatorial team
The overall project is curated by Fredrik Liew, Chief Curator, Moderna Museet. The presentation at Neue Nationalgalerie is curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Director Neue Nationalgalerie and Lisa Botti, Curator Neue Nationalgalerie.
Education and mediation
The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive education and outreach programme with guided tours, workshops and programmes for families, schoolchildren and adults. This is supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and organised by Julia Freiboth and Felicitas Fritsche-Reyrink.
WHEN?
Vernissage: Friday, 22 November 2024, 7 pm
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 23 November 2024 – Sunday, 06 April 2025
WHERE?
Neue Nationalgalerie, Kulturforum
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin
