installation view of “Remember Lidice Revisited”
Ayşe Erkmen, Sauro Ballardini, Joseph Beuys, Peter Blake, Klaus Peter Brehmer, VALIE EXPORT, Kurt Gebauer, František Foltýn, Mona Hatoum, Sanja Iveković, Alfredo Jaar, Gülsün Karamustafa, Astrid Klein, Kimsooja, Imi Knoebel, Jarosław Kozłowski, Alicja Kwade, Roman Opałka, Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Gerhard Rühm, Cengiz Tekin, Jitka a Květa Válová, Lawrence Wiener, Lambert Maria Wintersberger, Maaria Wirkkala and Olbram Zoubek.
curated by Lubomíra Hédlová (Remember Lidice), Miloslav Vorlíček (Remember Lidice Revisited)
Remember Lidice was inaugurated initially to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Lidice Art Collection. It presents a story of the Lidice Collection—a powerful testament to art's ability to commemorate tragedy and inspire hope. Born in 1967, twenty-five years after the village's WWII destruction, the collection emerged from the "Lidice Shall Live" campaign by British doctor Sir Barnett Stross.
Berlin gallerist René Block played a pivotal role, responding sincerely to Stross's appeal by mobilizing artists like Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, and Wolf Vostell—creators grappling with Germany's war legacy and art's purpose in its aftermath. Their contributions, alongside works from Czechoslovakian artists including Válová sisters, formed a collection that transcended political boundaries. Despite its significance, the collection wandered without a permanent home for decades. Block's renewed commitment in the late 1990s through the "For Lidice" project—featuring a new generation of contemporary artists like Rosemarie Trockel and Thomas Ruff—finally catalyzed change. Only in 2003 did these works find their place in the Lidice Gallery, as part of the Lidice Memorial.
The collection's newest chapter, initiated in 2017 by Block, brings together over forty global artists, including Adel Abidin, Lawrence Weiner, and VALIE EXPORT. Their works acknowledge that while the world remembers Lidice, similar atrocities continue, challenging us to confront both victimhood and perpetration across time and geography. This living collection reminds us how art transforms collective memory into an ongoing dialogue, where intimacy with historical trauma creates a passionate commitment to remembrance.
Remember Lidice Revisited brings this permanent display to an end. It celebrates its achievements, while acknowledging the issues this show brought up.
installation views of “Remember Lidice Revisited”
