Current
The exhibition Facing the Wall: Living With the Berlin Wall reflects upon larger issues of the human impact of the Cold War and the activities, behaviors and opinions of those living in those tumultuous times. It traces the personal stories of four individuals: a West Berlin wall painter, Thierry Noir, an East German border guard Peter Bochmann, a day visitor from the West Alwin Nachtweh, and a former East German Stasi officer Hagen Koch. Exploring the complex, interconnected and often contradictory nature of history seen through the lenses of these four individuals living at the Wall, this exhibition recreates the place where the realities of political ideology and personal experience came face to face.
In response to the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall on August 13, the Wende Museum presented “Across the Wall” at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. The exhibition displays high-quality reproductions of sixteen portrait paintings from the former Soviet Union in the museum’s collection.
In collaboration with the Craft and Folk Art Museum, The Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War will present Deconstructing Perestroika, the first major exhibition in the United States of hand-painted Soviet-era political posters that were inspired by a new government policy of transparency in the former Soviet Union. Organized to mark the 20th anniversary of the former super power’s demise in December 1991, this exhibition highlights some of the key political and cultural shifts that defined the era and ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union.