nEUROPA – Photographic perspectives of change

“nEUROPA” (i.e. newEUROPE) – the former socialist countries in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, as well as the states that emerged from the former Soviet Union, form the geographical focus of the Galerie nEUROPA in Dresden. In terms of content, the themes range from dealing with the legacy of socialism, coming to terms with history, the new challenges posed by the transformation of societies, the visual arts, music and theatre to observations of everyday life and very personal photographic works.

At the beginning of 2020, Elena Pagel, Matthias Schumann, Simon Wolf and Jan Oelker took over the nEUROPA gallery as a newly constituted gallery team. Since then, a total of 15 exhibitions have been shown. Under the title “nEUROPA – Photographic Perspectives of Change”, the gallery team takes stock of the work of the last four years in 15 posters.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a photo magazine under the same title. It will be presented to the public as part of the vernissage. Over one hundred pages, the magazine sheds light on the last four years of the gallery’s eleven-year history. In the first part of the magazine, photographer and Eastern Europe expert Jan Oelker outlines the aims of the gallery. After a photo essay, author and Belarus expert Ingo Petz points out in his guest article the need to keep an eye on conflicts that are not currently in the public eye. In the first text of the exhibition section, Jan Oelker takes an in-depth look at a phenomenon of the last 100 years: the reception of Lenin over the course of time, which has strongly characterised our image of the East and which is still very controversial in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. This is followed by the exhibitions of the last four years – each with the exhibition poster, an introductory text and selected photographs. Information on the photographers, the gallery team and a comprehensive exhibition catalogue conclude the publication.

Das Projekt wird gefördert durch das Staatsministerium für Soziales und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt. Diese Maßnahme wird mitfinanziert mit Steuermitteln auf Grundlage des vom Sächsischen Landtag beschlossenen Haushaltes im Rahmen des Förderprogramms »Wir für Sachsen«.