Back to Calendar

Gallery Talk: Candida Höfer: Turks in Germany 1979

Installation view of Candida Höfer, Untitled, from the projection Turks in Germany 1979, 1979. Slide projection with 80 color slides, 35 mm. Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund, 2019.126.

Gallery Talk

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

Curator Lynette Roth will discuss Candida Höfer’s photographic series Turks in Germany 1979. Renowned artist Candida Höfer (b. 1944) is best known for her large-format photographs of vacant, sober, and highly detailed interiors. One of her earliest series, however, focused on “guest workers” who joined West Germany’s labor force after World War II. This photographic series, titled Turks in Germany 1979, is featured in our current special exhibition Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art.

Turks in Germany 1979 is a rare artistic reflection on the changing social and cultural landscape at the time of its making; it continues to resonate today in the face of the largest refugee crisis since World War II and ongoing debates—often centered on Germany—about migration, racism, and national identity.

Offered by:
Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum and Head of the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art

Our galleries are full of stories—this series of drop-in talks gives visitors a chance to hear the best ones! The talks highlight new works on view, take a fresh look at old favorites, investigate artists’ materials and techniques, and reveal the latest discoveries by curators, conservators, fellows, visiting artists, technologists, and other contributors.

Free with museums admission. Gallery talks are limited to 15 people and tickets are required. Ten minutes before each talk, tickets will become available at the admissions desk.

Please meet in the Calderwood Courtyard, in front of the digital screens between the shop and the admissions desk. Museums staff will be on hand to collect tickets.