Prachtstraße, Fanmeile, Preußenschloss

In the recent years Germany has seen yet another revival ofNationalism. Unlike in the Nineties, when Nazi-skins and the Kosovo wardominated the discourses around Nationalism in Germany, thecontemporary "new Nationalism" expresses itself in culture. Building upto the 2006 world cup and the 60year anniversary of the BRD in 2009 anunprecedented amount of nationbranding-campaigns, exhibitions andevents was organized to communicate Germany as a strong, yetself-critical Nation. In the term of the "purified nation" and the"Kulturnation"  and along narratives of a seemingly funny and harmless"party-otism" where "it's only about soccer" new forms of a"culturalized Nationalism" seem to take shape.

Johannes PaulRaether is an artist and author, activist and performer based inBerlin. He will show his new project 'Prachtstrasse', a slide show,which he produced since 2006. The slide-film researches theimage-campaign 'Germany - Land of Ideas', an initiative of the Germangovernment and the Federation of German Industries during the soccerworld championship in 2006. In this framework, six monumentalsculptures were erected in the centre of Berlin - all representing'German' inventions. Johannes Paul Raether will also discuss examplesof intervening into the national consensus in culture by the means ofperformance, actions, happenings and artist organisation, focusing onhow to articulate a fundamental critique of
the nation, as acritical cultural producer, without being embraced by the verycontemporary german nationalist discourse: "the self-critical nation".