The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to US photographer Nan Goldin from November 23, 2024 to April 6, 2025. More than four decades of her artistic work will be presented under the title This Will Not End Well. The exhibition, which has now arrived in Berlin after stops in Stockholm and Amsterdam, will subsequently be shown in Milan and Paris. Goldin’s work is considered groundbreaking as it combines the most radical intimacy and societal issues with a blunt directness. Her focus on personal and intimate experiences and marginalized perspectives has made her one of the most influential artists of her generation. […]
The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to US photographer Nan Goldin from November 23, 2024 to April 6, 2025. More than four decades of her artistic work will be presented under the title This Will Not End Well. The exhibition, which has now arrived in Berlin after stops in Stockholm and Amsterdam, will subsequently be shown in Milan and Paris. Goldin’s work is considered groundbreaking as it combines the most radical intimacy and societal issues with a blunt directness. Her focus on personal and intimate experiences and marginalized perspectives has made her one of the most influential artists of her generation.
The exhibition in Berlin was designed by architect Hala Wardé and uses the iconic architecture of the Neue Nationalgalerie in a unique way. Several pavilions erected in the upper hall are dedicated to individual groups of Goldin’s works. Together, they form an “artistic village” that invites viewers to immerse themselves in Goldin’s world. This spatial staging not only creates new contexts for the works, but also encourages a direct view of their content. A particular highlight is one of her first works, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1981-2022). This series of works documents life in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the Lower East Side, New York City, Berlin and London from the 1970s and 80s to the present in an iconic Goldin manner. Intimacy, partnerships, parties and the challenges of love and addiction are shown with sometimes painful honesty. The work reflects not only personal stories, but also the collective experience of a generation marked by the AIDS crisis and social stigmatization.
In addition to The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, the exhibition presents a selection of other important series of works, including The Other Side (1992-2021). This series is a loving tribute to Goldin’s transgender friends, whom she portrayed over the decades. The images not only show the strength and beauty of these people, but also shed light on the challenges they had to overcome in an often hostile society. Also on display is Memory Lost (2019-2021), a work that deals intensively with the dark reality of drug addiction. Through a combination of photographs, sound recordings and archive material, an emotionally stirring narrative is created that inevitably captivates the viewer. In contrast, Fire Leap (2010-2022) offers an insight into the carefree world of children and represents a rare, cheerful contrast in Goldin’s work. One of the most experimental works is Sirens (2019-2020), a visually and acoustically intense work that explores the seductive but dangerous world of addiction. The hypnotic images and soundtrack put the viewer in a trance-like state that vividly conveys the ambivalence of the subject. Slideshows are at the heart of Nan Goldin’s artistic practice. This medium allows the exhibition to combine photographs, music and narratives, creating an intimate, almost autobiographical narrative. Each of her slideshows is continually revised and updated, making her works living documents. After all, Goldin’s work is always a contemporary document.
Nan Goldin is not only known for her art, but also for her social commitment. In 2017, she founded the P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) initiative, which draws attention to the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis. Goldin’s activism has contributed to many museums removing the Sackler name from their spaces. This fight against social injustice is also reflected in her works, which often highlight the perspectives of people who are on the margins of society.
The connection between Nan Goldin and Berlin goes back a long way. As early as 1986, her work The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was shown at the Arsenal cinema, and in 1991 she moved to the city on a DAAD scholarship. In interviews, she repeatedly emphasized how much she felt at home in Berlin: “The best years of my life were here in Berlin,” she said in 2010. This emotional connection makes the Berlin exhibition a special highlight of her retrospective. With its emotional depth, political commitment and unique aesthetic, Nan Goldin’s retrospective at the Neue Nationalgalerie impressively demonstrates why she is one of the most important artists of our time. The exhibition is not only a retrospective of an impressive body of work, but also a wake-up call about how closely art and social reality are linked.
In addition to the exhibition at the Nationalgalerie, a planned symposium is causing controversy. Since October 7, 2023, the Berlin art scene has been characterized by deep tensions, which have been intensified by many heated and emotional discussions. In this cultural climate, the exhibition threatens to trigger further conflicts after the accompanying symposium, characterized by cancellations and cancellations, is unlikely to take place. The implementation of the symposium has been debated for months. The debate shows how political conflicts are increasingly becoming part of the cultural discourse and dividing the art world.
A catalog will be published as part of the exhibition: a limited edition in nine volumes documenting all of Nan Goldin’s slide shows and multimedia projects. This collection is supplemented by texts by various authors who present their perspectives on the artist’s impressive work. Both the exhibition catalog and the book series are produced in cooperation between Moderna Museet and Steidl Verlag.
