In Dialogue - Unlearning Painting
unlearning

Two experts exchange their views on the central themes of Brücke art and connect them to current questions about art, art history and activism. With Ximena Ferrer Pizarro (artist) and Tanja-Bianca Schmidt (art and visual historian and curator)

Ximena Ferrer Pizarro and Tanja-Bianca Schmidt invite you to a discussion about painting - then and now. Themes, motifs and techniques will be examined together and scrutinised from a contemporary perspective that is critical of power. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Brücke artists developed new motifs, perspectives and painting styles that were provocative and innovative at the time but also characterised stereotypical depictions. Together with the audience, the experts discuss: How can we talk about painting today, and what strategies are there to change these canonical narratives?

Ximena Ferrer Pizarro studied painting at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, where she graduated with honours, and at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her works have been exhibited in Germany, Spain and France, including at the KINDL - Centre for Contemporary Art, the Jorge López Galería in Valencia, the Galerie im Tempelhof Museum and most recently at the Kunsthalle Mannheim. In 2021, she received a STIBET scholarship from the DAAD to support her thesis, Telenovelas micropolíticas: The Political Role of Telenovelas in Society. In 2023, she participated in the Goldrausch Künstlerinnen Projekt, a professionalisation programme for female artists. In 2024, she was a scholarship holder of the Elsa Neumann Foundation with her project All the times I wanted to be white. She was also awarded the Rainer Wild Foundation’s art promotion prize. Her works are in collections at two Berlin museums: the Berlinische Galerie and the Stadtmuseum Berlin.

Tanja-Bianca Schmidt studied art history in a global context. Her focus is on power critique, black identity and postcolonial theory. As a political mediator, she advises various museums in Germany on diversification and decolonisation strategies. She regularly organises workshops on discrimination-sensitive approaches in art history. She is currently doing her PhD in the DFG-funded project “Image Protests on Social Media” at the TU Dresden.

Participation in public events is included with museum admission. No advance registration is required.