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The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Women born in East Germany have lived between two worlds. That's why we're shaking up art and politics
In February 1990, the German news magazine Der Spiegel ran the headline 'Why are they still coming?', adding: 'In West Germany, hatred for immigrants from the GDR could soon reach boiling point.' That year, resentment towards so-called newcomers from the east erupted without restraint. East Germans were insulted in the streets, shelters were attacked and children from the former GDR were bullied at school. There was a widespread fear that the weekly influx of thousands of people would overwhelm the welfare system and crash the housing and job markets. The public consensus? It needed to stop. That same year, Kathleen Reinhardt and her parents moved from Thuringia in the former GDR to Bavaria. She was in primary school, and her new classmates greeted her with lines such as: 'You people come here and take our jobs. You don't even know how to work properly.' It was a formative shock. Reinhardt, who was recently appointed curator of the German pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, has an eye for imbalance, for what is missing, for who is not being considered. That she will represent Germany at one of the art world's most prestigious exhibitions is – against this backdrop – not just remarkable, it's historic. Thirty-five years after reunification, a different kind of German story is being heard. At a time of polarisation, when supposedly stable institutions and even the global order itself are faltering, figures such as Reinhardt – someone who understands 'otherness' and has lived between two worlds – are exactly what is needed. In her career, Reinhardt is known for going where things are uncomfortable, for entering terrain that is politically fraught or typically avoided by curators. She thrives in the difficult – and confronts it. Perhaps this is because she was born in a small GDR town in the early 1980s and was raised under socialism, but then grew up in Bavaria – the very embodiment of West German order. Reinhardt studied American literature (with a focus on Black writing), art history and international management in Bayreuth, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. She speaks four languages and holds a PhD on the American conceptual artist Theaster Gates. She has managed the studios of the South African artist Candice Breitz and the Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj, and has curated high-profile exhibitions at the Dresden state art collections. In 2022, she became director of the Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin. Located on a quiet, tree-lined street in what still smells like old West Berlin, the museum was once sleepy and conformist. But it now attracts curators, artists and critics with its radical reprogramming. Reinhardt's exhibitions there aim to reveal ambivalences, focusing on fracture rather than polish. But it's not just her CV that points to something worth noting about millennial Germans shaped by the GDR. I interviewed Reinhardt a few weeks ago, and I came away realising that women like her play in a league of their own. She wants to understand how it all connects – who we are today and the past we emerge from – while keeping a healthy scepticism towards grand narratives. That in itself feels almost avant garde in a time when stories from then and now are being instrumentalised, appropriated, bent or simply glossed over. On one of her first walks through the museum's garden, Reinhardt encountered The Dancer's Fountain by Georg Kolbe – a 1922 commission from the Jewish art collector Heinrich Stahl, who was later deported to Theresienstadt and murdered. The fountain had vanished during the Nazi era, resurfaced in the 1970s and was reinstalled with no explanation. At the top: a graceful, dancing female figure. At the base: stylised Black male bodies supporting the basin. Reinhardt's reaction? She started to dig. Working with art historians and provenance researchers, she traced the fountain's journey, uncovered records and identified a likely model whom Kolbe had used. She brought to light the complex and violent histories of the 20th century inherent in this object, becoming the first director in the museum's 75-year history to refuse to look away. Earlier this summer, she invited Lynn Rother to the museum to take part in a panel discussion on provenance research, its current status and future potential. Like Reinhardt, Rother has an East German background. Born in 1981 in Annaberg-Buchholz, she now lives between Berlin, Lüneburg and New York. She is the Lichtenberg-professor of provenance studies at Leuphana University and the founding director of its Provenance Lab. Last year, the Museum of Modern Art in New York created a new position just for her: its first curator for provenance. Rother's work is also about the stories behind objects. Who owned them? Who lost them – and why? Her research lays bare the darker infrastructures behind museum collections: looting, coercion, legal grey zones. She exposed the largest art deal of the Nazi era and now leads two major digital research projects backed by €1.8m in funding, exploring how machine-readable data can help trace – and eventually close – gaps in provenance. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Art, as Rother told me, has always been a mobile asset in times of war and crisis. Museums and the art market have benefited, directly and indirectly, from the tragedies of the 20th century. Some works in today's collections were acquired through murky channels in moments of extreme horror. The great challenge of Rother's work is to recognise and document those entanglements. You could say it's a dirty job. Provenance researchers are seen as troublemakers. Their work sometimes leads to restitution, and with it, uncomfortable questions about national narratives and institutional pride. Rother's team recently ran a computational analysis of provenance records and found a striking pattern: married women were systematically erased. Even when a work had belonged to a woman, her husband was listed as the owner. 'That's not a clerical error,' she said. It shows that structural discrimination and patriarchal mechanisms are just as present in the art market as anywhere else. Like Reinhardt, Rother has spent years inside global institutions. I haven't shared their stories just to chart the rise of two exceptional women, but because it's been a hard-fought road since German reunification in 1990. We, the women from the East, have come a long way. For years, we were ridiculed, overlooked and reduced to stereotypes. Even Angela Merkel was first seen as a quiet little girl, then branded a Mutti, a motherly figure, a term simultaneously condescending and comforting and used to downplay her authority. But we're no longer a punchline. Today, women from the East – not just in politics and culture, but now also in the global art world – hold some of the most influential positions. To me, the stories of Reinhardt and Rother show how exclusion and institutional rigidity can – slowly, painfully – become insight. How memory, for those shaped by the GDR, is rarely linear. And how power, when approached from the margins, can be exercised more critically, and with greater care. In Bavaria, Reinhardt often felt she wasn't in – but not completely out either. 'What I had was school. Education. That was my little step up.' Her parents, a factory worker and a utility clerk, provided support but no privilege. It was similar for Rother, who was driven from early on. After studying art history, business and law, she earned a traineeship at Berlin's state museums in 2008. There, she came to see that it wasn't only about hard work – her origins suddenly mattered. She was constantly asked: 'Are you from East or West?' The hierarchy was obvious. Westerners ran the institutions. Eastern directors were deputies – at best. Even the art mirrored this: East German works were written off as second-rate. Both women have long rejected the patronising West German gaze. The 'east', Reinhardt argues, is not a special case, but a prism – a way to look at broader geopolitical lines and ask bigger questions about how we approach history and transformations in societies. Or in Rother's words: 'With artworks, labels matter. But we as people shouldn't be bound by them.' What these women offer isn't nostalgia. It's clarity. A resistance to simplification. A belief that history is not a finished room. In Reinhardt's office, there's a poster that reads: 'You don't have to tear down the statues – just the pedestals.' Both of these millennials are doing just that – carefully, insistently, telling it all again. We need more like them. Carolin Würfel is a writer, screenwriter and journalist who lives in Berlin and Istanbul. She is the author of Three Women Dreamed of Socialism
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Club World Cup proves it is imperfect but here to stay
US President Donald Trump looking at the Golden Glove trophy next to Fifa president Gianni Infantino after Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final on July 13. East Rutherford – The first edition of the expanded Club World Cup wraps up this weekend with Fifa president Gianni Infantino already hailing it as a huge success while the world of football faces up to the idea that an imperfect tournament is here to stay. Infantino's flagship competition – initially supposed to be launched in 2021 before the pandemic intervened – was derided by many, especially in Europe, before it kicked off. It was seen as an unnecessary addition to a crowded calendar, while there were also doubts as to whether it would win over the public. Even after it began former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp dismissed the competition as the 'worst idea ever implemented in football'. However, the last month in the United States has shown that such a viewpoint is surely an exaggeration. Fifa has earned criticism for the number of empty seats at many matches, but fans have turned out, with around 2.5 million attending games across the country. South American supporters in particular helped create vibrant and colourful atmospheres, and the average crowd of almost 39,000 before Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the July 13 final was just below that of the English Premier League last season. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore to train more aviation and maritime officials from around the world Singapore Special edition SG60 Nets card now on sale for $10 Singapore 18 years' jail for woman who hacked adoptive father to death after tussle over Sengkang flat Life Pioneer performance artist Amanda Heng to represent Singapore at 2026 Venice Biennale Business Singapore's economy sees surprise expansion in Q2 despite US tariff uncertainty: Advance estimate Singapore Jail for woman who opened bank accounts that received over $640.7m, including scam proceeds Singapore Driver assisting with police probe after e-bike rider injured in hit-and-run in Hougang Sport After Olympic heartbreak, Singaporean swimmer Chantal Liew turns pain into inspiration 'The decisive factor is if the fans like it or not, and the attendances were much higher than expected,' insisted Arsene Wenger, Fifa's Chief of Global Football Development. 'I don't share the opinion of Jurgen Klopp at all because I feel a real Club World Cup is needed and if you ask all the clubs who were here at this competition I am sure all of them would want to do it again.' What they would prefer not to have to deal with again is the kind of temperatures that come with playing during the afternoon in a North American summer. Many matches were impacted by the heat and several faced long delays due to thunderstorm warnings. That looks set to cause major headaches for Fifa at the 2026 World Cup in North America. 'Playing in these temperatures is very dangerous, and obviously for the spectacle... the pace of play is not the same, it slows everything down,' complained Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez. That can be looked at for future tournaments, but it will surely be harder for Fifa to do anything about the dominance of Europe's leading clubs. Europe provided both finalists but did not have things all its own way, with Fluminense of Brazil flying the flag for the rest of the world. They knocked out Inter Milan en route to reaching the semi-finals, while fellow Brazilians Palmeiras got to the last eight along with Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal. The majority of the tournament's huge US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion) prize fund still went to European teams, but the money distributed to competing clubs from around the world could give them a better chance of keeping their best players for longer. Infantino accepts that his tournament would be a greater draw if more of Europe's biggest names were involved but insists it will remain open to clubs from around the globe – even if that means mismatches like Auckland City losing 10-0 to Bayern Munich. 'Auckland represents to some extent 99.9 per cent of all players, who would like to be like them but will never have the chance – there must be a place for everyone,' he said. 'Of course, I would have liked to have Liverpool here, Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona, Tottenham (Hotspur), AC Milan, Napoli... but you have to qualify.' Adding more games – up to seven for the finalists – to an already crowded calendar is problematic. Nevertheless, the determination of PSG to go all the way following their Champions League triumph, or Manchester City's disappointment when they went out, suggests that they were fully invested. 'We are very used to not having holidays unfortunately because the schedule is crazy. But when we are in a competition we take it very seriously and we had a lot of ambition for this Club World Cup,' City's Bernardo Silva said after his team's quarter-final exit. And there will be another Club World Cup, even if Infantino has so far played down suggestions the tournament could be immediately expanded further, and staged more often. 'It will happen every four years, it is planned, and the next edition is in 2029,' said Wenger. AFP
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Straits Times
Seoul's summer too hot to handle, even for mosquitoes
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The mosquito populations may rise in the fall however as temperatures drop. The number of mosquitoes in Seoul has more than halved over the past decade, with experts pointing to extreme heat and a shortened monsoon season as key factors behind the sharp decline in mosquito activity. According to statistics provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, up to 62,351 mosquitoes were collected through monitoring in June. The city government noted that this was a 56 per cent decrease compared to its data from 2015, as the city saw up to 139,928 mosquitoes in the same month. The recent figure is also lower than the mosquito count observed at the same time in 2024, which saw 68,462 mosquitoes. Between June 17 and 19 — when high temperatures hovered near 37 deg C in the capital city — mosquito monitoring devices set up at 55 sites collected 6,233 mosquitoes, roughly averaging 2,000 mosquitoes per day. According to the city government, this is a 20 per cent decrease compared to the same three-day period last year, which saw a daily average of up to 2,590. The decrease in mosquito numbers has been attributed to cutting-edge pest control technology. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore to train more aviation and maritime officials from around the world Singapore Special edition SG60 Nets card now on sale for $10 Singapore Same person, but different S'porean Chinese names? How have such naming practices evolved? Business Singapore's economy sees surprise expansion in Q2 despite US tariff uncertainty: Advance estimate Life Pioneer performance artist Amanda Heng to represent Singapore at 2026 Venice Biennale Singapore Jail for woman who opened bank accounts that received over $640.7m, including scam proceeds Singapore Driver assisting with police probe after e-bike rider injured in hit-and-run accident in Hougang Sport After Olympic heartbreak, Singaporean swimmer Chantal Liew turns pain into inspiration For example, in districts such as Gangnam-gu in southern Seoul and Nowon-gu in northern Seoul, drones have been used to spray insecticide in areas inaccessible to vehicles, such as parks. LED traps that attract insects, mosquito traps, as well as automatic repellent dispensers, have also been installed across Seoul to manage the summer pests. Besides advanced pest control strategies, experts say the biggest factor behind the decline is the sweltering heat. Seoul has consistently reported record-high summer temperatures in recent years, with each year surpassing temperature records set in the previous year. 'With high temperatures during the day hovering close to 37 deg C and tropical nights being consistently observed in Seoul, mosquitoes are finding it difficult to survive,' Professor Park Hyeon-cheol from Pusan National University's Department of Life Science and Environmental Biochemistry told The Korea Herald. 'Mosquitoes are normally active in temperatures ranging between 25 deg C to 28 deg C, and once such temperatures exceed 32 deg C, their survival becomes unlikely.' Prof Park added that fewer mosquitoes may be observed during this summer in particular, as the monsoon season was noted to be particularly 'dry.' The monsoon season has not been officially declared over in Seoul. However, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, on Jeju Island and in the southern parts of the country, it lasted just 15 days and 13 days, respectively. This is less than half the duration recorded a decade ago, when monsoon seasons lasted for 30 days on Jeju Island and 36 days in the south. 'The lack of steady rainfall limits the formation of puddles, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes,' said Prof Park. 'And even when it does rain, Korea also often sees sudden, intense downpours, which wash away mosquito eggs and larvae before they have a chance to hatch and develop.' While the number of mosquitoes may decline during the summer season, higher mosquito numbers could be seen in the fall. 'A decline in mosquito numbers may be observed in the summer due to high temperatures,' Prof Park explained. 'However, as temperatures get relatively cooler, mosquito populations may rise from beginning to mid-September, with some continuing to be active into early winter.' THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Pioneer performance artist Amanda Heng to represent Singapore at 2026 Venice Biennale
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Amanda Heng will be the most senior artist to stage a solo at the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. SINGAPORE – Pioneer performance artist Amanda Heng, 73, is Singapore's pick for the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2026, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) announced in a statement on July 14. She will be the most senior artist to stage a solo at the Singapore Pavilion in Venice, and only the second woman artist to do so, after Shubigi Rao in 2022. Heng will collaborate with curator Selene Yap for her presentation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, which will take place from May 9 to Nov 22. Dr Eugene Tan, co-chair of the commissioning panel and director of SAM, said of the panel's choice of Heng: 'Her sustained and evolving practice offers compelling ways of engaging the world through the body, performance and lived experience. Her work resonates with the urgencies of our time while being grounded in personal truth and poetic clarity.' Singaporean artist Amanda Heng (right) will collaborate with curator Selene Yap for her presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale. PHOTO: SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM Heng left her job as an income tax officer in 1986 to pursue art. She co-founded The Artists Village – Singapore's first art colony, in a converted chicken farm – in 1988 and Singapore's first artist-run women collective Women In The Arts in 1999. She was conferred the Cultural Medallion in 2010. She is best known for her long-running performance works dealing with sociopolitical issues through everyday acts such as walking and conversing. In Walking The Stool (1999), Heng took her studio stool for a walk in public as a way of questioning Singapore's decade-long restrictions on performance art. That same year, she performed Let's Walk, leading participants in walking backwards with a high-heeled shoe in their mouth, as a comment on women's progress in society. Her participatory performance Let's Chat (1996) – presented in malls, markets and museums – offered an intimate space for the public to talk while peeling bean sprouts over tea. Another long-running project, Singirl, invited women to submit images of their bare bottoms as a comment on the demure image of the Singapore Girl. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Singapore to train more aviation and maritime officials from around the world Singapore Special edition SG60 Nets card now on sale for $10 Singapore Same person, but different S'porean Chinese names? How have such naming practices evolved? Business Singapore's economy sees surprise expansion in Q2 despite US tariff uncertainty: Advance estimate Singapore Jail for woman who opened bank accounts that received over $640.7m, including scam proceeds Sport After Olympic heartbreak, Singaporean swimmer Chantal Liew turns pain into inspiration Business From wellness zone to neurodivergent room: How companies are creating inviting, inclusive offices Singapore Swift action needed to stop vaping's slide from health risk to drug epidemic Performance artist Amanda Heng in a video footage capturing her walking backwards, barefoot, with a high-heeled shoe in her mouth. Let's Walk (1999) was a statement on how women are constrained by having to conform to a certain ideal of how they should look. PHOTO: AMANDA HENG This will be the 12th year Singapore is participating at the prestigious event in Venice which showcases contemporary art from all over the world. The Singapore Pavilion has spotlighted artists such as Robert Zhao Renhui (2024) and Charles Lim (2015). It is commissioned by the National Arts Council and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The 2026 theme is In Minor Keys.
Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Kim Soo-ja awarded France's Officier of Arts and Letters for global artistic contributions
Renowned for her "Bottari" works, the Korean artist receives France's second-highest cultural honor Kim Soo-ja, the internationally acclaimed Korean artist often referred to as the 'Bottari artist,' has been awarded the Officier medal of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government in recognition of her contributions to global art and cultural exchange. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday that Kim received the honor during a ceremony held Wednesday at the residence of the French ambassador to Korea in Seoul. The Order of Arts and Letters was established by the French Ministry of Culture in 1957 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the arts and culture in France and around the world. The award has three grades: Commandeur (Commander), Officier (Officer) and Chevalier (Knight). Kim was previously named a Chevalier in 2017 and has now been elevated to the second-highest rank, Officier. Kim is widely known for reinterpreting traditional Korean textiles — such as bojagi (wrapping cloth) and bedding — into contemporary visual language. Although she has received attention in Korea, her work has been especially prominent on the global stage. Her promotion to Officier reflects her ongoing creative work and her role in fostering cross-cultural dialogue between France, Korea, and the broader international art community. Her signature series, "Bottari" — meaning "bundle" in Korean — uses fabric-wrapped objects to explore themes of migration, displacement, mobility and memory. Through this concept, Kim contemplates both Korean identity and universal human conditions, earning her widespread acclaim in the contemporary art world. Born in 1957, Kim studied painting at Hongik University in Seoul and learned lithography at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in France in 1984. She has since represented Korea in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Lyon Biennale, and the Sao Paulo Biennale.
