Livre - The desire for freedom

One hundred and eighty artworks from thirty-six countries consier the subject of Freedom since 1945. The exhibition focuses, not on the Cold War power blocs' weel-known ideological and political conflicts, but rather on the diversity of responses from artists in the East and West to the idea of Freedom and its implementation. How did the two blocs react to the still valid challenges posed by the Enlightenment relating to the enactment of human and civil rights and its demands, based on Reason, for human progress and perfection? Twelve chapters present artistic encounters with the great conceptual instances of Reason and History and pose basic questions about our social existence : How do individuals desire to live ? And where do they turn for orientation ? What responsability do politics, government, and society bear for securing a humane existence?