GRAND THÉÀTRE DE GÉNÈVE. ANGENIETEN BERKERS LEBENSBORN. KUNSTHAL ROTTERDAM

Le Ballet du GTG présente une nouvelle création

Au Grand Théâtre, le chorégraphe Damien Jalet et l’artiste visuel Kohei Nawa proposent une quête sensuelle et méditative avec Mirage, sur une musique de Thomas Bangalter.

Après VESSEL, Mist et Planet [wanderer], Damien Jalet et Kohei Nawa prolongent leur exploration de la nature et de ses phénomènes inattendus pour dépeindre une humanité en quête de sens. Dans une série de transformations imprédictibles, aux évocations tant mythologiques que scientifiques, les danseuses et danseurs du Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève se transforment, couche après couche, dans une variété infinie d’états physiques et émotionnels. Mirage s’inspire de ces effets d’optiques fascinants et de la fata morgana pour dépeindre la perpétuelle métamorphose du vivant. Dévoilant à la fois les spectres d’une civilisation au bord d’un puits sec et la sensualité des couleurs éclatantes d’une nature tropicale, Mirage se traverse comme un rêve éveillé, fluctuant et mouvant, à l’instar des phénomènes atmosphériques. Présentée en première mondiale, cette nouvelle création sera mise en musique par l'artiste français Thomas Bangalter. 6, 7 et 9 mai 2025 – 20h 11 mai 2025 – 15h Au Grand Théâtre de Genève

NAZI LEBENSBORN KUNSTHAL ROTTERDAM

Documentary photographer Angenieten Berkers (1985, Nijmegen) spent five years researching the Nazi Lebensborn programme, which aimed to increase the number of 'Aryan' descendants. She compiled her findings in the book Lebensborn. Birth Politics of the Third Reich. On the occasion of the commemoration of 80 years of freedom in the Netherlands, Kunsthal Rotterdam will present her work in the exhibition Lebensborn from 28 March.

The exhibition tells the impressive story of this extraordinary history through photography, archive material and interviews, with an emphasis on the most important events and the personal consequences for those involved. Berkers documented the experiences of nine children who are now in their eighties. The Kunsthal is drawing attention to the stories of three of them – Gisela, Michael and Ingrid.

During her research, Berkers found objects and documents that show how nationalist ideas permeated Lebensborn homes in an eerily organized way. The exhibition includes measuring instruments that were used at the time to determine an 'Aryan' ancestry. Berkers also visited former Lebensborn homes and photographed both the buildings and the surrounding landscape. Although these locations now have a different function, they remain silent witnesses of an eventful past.

Lebensborn Program

In 1935, Germany started a program to provide the Third Reich with the new generation of leaders and future elite: Lebensborn (Source of Life). The architect behind this plan, Heinrich Himmler, aimed to improve the 'racial quality' in the new National Socialist empire that was to be built with these children. Due to the sharp decline in the birth rate, abortion and contraception were banned. Families with children received financial incentives. Before leaving for the front, SS officers were urged to father as many children as possible, even outside marriage.

In the Lebensborn homes spread across Europe, married and unmarried women could give birth to their children if they met the requirements of the Aryan race. When it turned out that the program did not yield sufficient results, they proceeded to abduct children with blond hair and blue eyes from Eastern Europe and then 'Germanize' them. After the war, the children from these homes and their families were often stigmatized and sometimes even mistreated or abused. Many grew up with secrets.

Lebensborn. Birth Politics of the Third Reich

Angenieten Berkers bundled her years of research last year in the book Lebensborn. Birth Politics of the Third Reich (40 EUR, 272 pages, EAN 9789083357164). For sale in the Kunsthal shop and webshop.

About Angenieten Berkers

Angenieten Berkers (1985) is a socially engaged photographer based in Rotterdam and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. She worked as a sociotherapist for years and helped veterans and refugees with complex PTSD and young people with acute psychiatric problems, among others. As a photographer, she chooses sensitive subjects that she wants to portray in an honest and nuanced way. With her work, she tries to get a grip on the extremes of contemporary society and challenges the viewer's frame of reference.

https://www.kunsthal.nl/nl/plan-je-bezoek/tentoonstellingen/angeniet-berkers-lebensborn/