Christoph Schlingensief. Deutschlandsuche '99

Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50, 10785, Berlin

May 2, 2025 – April 25, 2027

In its presentation of the collection, the Neue Nationalgalerie dedicates its own space to Christoph Schlingensief, with the work *Deutschland versenken* from 1999 as the central point of reference. The work is part of his project *Deutschlandsuche ’99* and becomes a permanent part of the collection thanks to a donation from Aino Laberenz. Schlingensief performed the action in 1999 at New York Harbor in front of the Statue of Liberty. November 9 was deliberately chosen to allude to central historical data of German history. In a ritual performance, he knelt down, threw an urn with symbolic ‘ashes of Germany’ and a suitcase filled with 99 everyday objects into the Hudson River. Shortly before the turn of the millennium, the campaign marked a provocative confrontation with German identity and history. Schlingensief worked across media in film, theatre, opera, television as well as conceptual, installation and performance art. His work combined provocative intensification with political criticism and dealt with topics such as nationalism, exclusion, faith, illness and death.