Freedom An Unfinished Story

20. Jun 2025 - 31. May 2026

About the Exhibition

FREEDOM IN TODAY’S WORLD – AN EMBATTLED IDEA

While people in authoritarian states are fighting for basic freedoms, democracies are debating what freedom even means: was it justified to restrict individual freedoms during the pandemic? Can climate policies dictate which heating systems or cars a person uses? Is a free society compatible with closed borders? Does self-interest take precedence over the common good – or is it the other way around?

In these debates, the term “freedom” is often invoked for opposing agendas. Even the seemingly unambiguous demands made by historical freedom movements, as well as the symbols they used, are now being appropriated by right-wing populist groups radically opposed to a free, liberal society.

To gain a better understanding of this convoluted conflict, the exhibition first looks to the past. Beginning with the quest for liberation in the major revolutions since the 18th century, the exhibition tells freedom’s unfinished story. Central to this narrative are the dissident movements in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany before and after 1989. How were they similar? How did they differ? And how do their ideals of freedom continue to resonate with us today?

 

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in cooperation with the European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk, the National Gallery Prague and the National Museum, Wroclaw

 

Patronage

The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media 

 

Funded by

The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media 

Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation

 

Curatorial Team

Dr Viktoria Krason, Philipp Bürger, Kathrin Haase, Laura Schmidt, Bettina Beer


Exhibition Design

Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik, Berlin

Distaff Studio, Berlin

Gallery

Photos: Isabel Noack

Symbols of Freedom

Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty in New York, is probably one of the most famous symbols of freedom – but it is by no means the only one! Art history is full of motifs where freedom conquers tyranny or brings hope. The exhibition uses these images, which are still so influential today, to show how artists have given shape to the ideals of freedom.

La liberté raisonnée (Freedom brought to reason), Excerpt
Cristina Lucas (*1973), 2009, Video Installation, © Cristina Lucas  

Crafting a Liberation

What strategies and activities did the freedom movements in Poland, the Czech Republic and the GDR use to pursue their goal of overcoming the socialist systems of rule? The focus here is on civil rights activists and intellectuals such as Václav Havel in the former ČSSR, the Polish trade union Solidarność with its leader Lech Wałęsa, and the opposition and dissident scene in the GDR. The exhibition traces the key stages of their long journey to freedom: from international agreements on freedom of expression, to social and artistic protests, to round table negotiations, and finally the first free elections.

The journalist Petr Uhl, the civil rights activist Anna Šabatová and the future President of the ČSSR Václav Havel 
Bohdan Holomíček (* 1943), 1984, Photography, © Bohdan Holomíček

FREEDOM UND SOLIDARITY

No freedom without solidarity – what remains of this rallying cry of the Eastern and Central European liberation movements? Even today, there are ongoing debates on how to balance the right to self-fulfilment, respect for the freedom of others and the goals of society as a whole. Can looking back at the years before and after 1989 be a source of inspiration for a more cohesive society, both today and in the future? Video interviews from the three countries, together with contemporary artworks and media installations, offer the audience the opportunity to engage intensively with these questions.zusetzen.

In the Name of God
Slavs and Tatars, 2013, Linen
cotton wool, acrylic paint
Courtesy the Artists;
Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler

Artists

"The Neighbour Who Wants to Fly" Wolfgang Mattheuer (1927–2004) 1984 Oil on canvas Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest

The exhibition presents works by PAWEL ALTHAMER, FRÉDÉRIC A. BARTHOLDI, JOSEF ČAPEK, GRUPA LUXUS, JOHN HEARTFIELD, SVEN JOHNE, KRIŠTOF KINTERA, CRISTINA LUCAS, WOLFGANG MATTHEUER, KAREL MILER, EWA PARTUM, TOMASZ SARNECKI, ANTON SHEBETKO, IGOR SIMIĆ, SLAVS AND TATARS, GABRIELE STÖTZER, TRACEY SNELLING, ARTUR ŻMIJEWSKI and others.

INTERACTIVE STATIONS

At several places in the exhibition, visitors are invited to actively let their thoughts run free. This can be taken literally, for example, at the “marble run”, where your ideas about freedom can roll in a ball and be inspired by the thoughts of other visitors. A “freedom barometer” allows you to measure how free you feel – also in comparison to others. And if you’re feeling brave and have some acting talent, you can recite historical speeches yourself in a “freedom karaoke”.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk, the National Gallery in Prague and the National Museum in Wroclaw. We would like to thank all our co-operation partners for their extraordinary commitment and expertise. The exhibition would not have been possible without the generous loan of numerous outstanding works of art from the collections of the National Museum in Wroclaw and the National Gallery in Prague as well as numerous historical artefacts from the ECS.

Funded by

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