Introduction

"Normality" focuses on earlier works by Hito Steyerl. In these, the artist examines the various social dynamics and tensions that emerged following the German reunification in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Steyerls video essays and documentaries explore the political interplay between new nationalism and neoliberalism during a time when West German managers were gutting East Germany like a bankrupt company, Berlin’s new centre was developed as a capital and investment project based on wage dumping, and conservative politicians reignited the debate over a dominant national culture.

The political developments of that time are presented in the exhibition as one of the breeding grounds for the rise of right-wing movements and the increase in far-right violence to this day. In doing so, it also becomes particularly clear that anti-Semitism and racism in Germany are intertwined within complex historical relationships and repeatedly interact.

“Normality” is deliberately shown in the last quarter of the election year 2024. The far-right extremist AfD has made significant gains in democratic elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. In this context, the exhibition confronts the normalization of the rise of right-wing parties and populists with Steyerl’s artistic and cinematic analysis of the social backgrounds and the history leading to their success – an event that must now be regarded as part of societal normality, not only in Germany but worldwide.

Normality is understood by most people as a positive category. The usual course of events should be maintained at (almost) any cost. In contrast, the exhibition raises the question of what it means when what some perceive as "normal" is a threat to others. What happens when the everyday experience of xenophobia and racism must be viewed as passive or active acceptance of these phenomena? What if the AfD wins with the slogan "Germany. But normal."?

Is it not time, then, to question the very concept of normality?