Christiane Möbus
Wildwechsel
('Wildlife Crossing')
Throughout her childhood, Christiane Möbus heard countless stories about her family's past life in the region close to the Oder river. They centred on the old brickworks owned by her great-grandmother, the great-uncle who had a goldmine, the grandfather, who had been a teacher in Quappendorf, and many others. For Christiane Möbus, these were stories from an unfamiliar, distant country – the family had to leave the Oder region towards the end of the Second World War, and fled to what is now known as Lower Saxony; the post-war situation made it impossible for them to return home.
Even over seven decades later, Christiane Möbus is haunted by this past. She has found the image of wildlife migration to illustrate this inner connection to a place she does not actually know. A wildlife crossing is a path frequently used by hunting or migrating animals that are following an almost instinctive urge to take a particular route, even though it crosses a dangerous road. In this subconscious need to return to a place you are separated from by an obstacle, Möbus sees parallels to the behaviour of humans, especially when families are forcibly kept away from their home countries by closed borders.
In her installation art sculptures and photographs, Christiane Möbus creates striking images as ciphers for her relationships with her past and her family. The works shown in the exhibition are sometimes poetic, sometimes sober, sometimes melancholic and often very witty. They are also sounding boards for the audience when it comes to their own associations with the topics of origins and family.
The exhibition's curator Simon Häuser will lead a guided tour through the exhibition and talk about the artist, the works shown and Christiane Möbus's artistic approach to her own past.
