30. ROHKUNSTBAU - Aesthetic Rearmament

2025

ROHKUNSTBAU – for three decades now, this name has stood for international exhibitions of contemporary art in Brandenburg. The 30th ROHKUNSTBAU means that, for the 30th time, top-class artists from numerous countries will engage in dialogue with the historical architecture of a Brandenburg castle through their works, thus opening up new perspectives and views on the present. This year with a new curator: Berlin cultural historian and exhibition organiser Christoph Tannert will flood the rooms of the baroque castle of Altdöbern in the district of Oberspreewald-Lausitz with contemporary art.

The 30th ROHKUNSTBAU is themed ‘Aesthetic Rearmament’. In view of the global (re)nationalisation and (re)ideologisation of cultural policy, which is increasingly encroaching on art and society, a return to the autonomy of art is essential. Can artistic practice be understood as self-defence against the political challenges of the present? In a world of violence, war and terror, is art still the place for critical reflection? And, in view of a rapidly changing technological reality, could it offer moral reassurance?

The exhibition ‘Aesthetic Rearmament’ relies on the intrinsic power of art and its ability to resist media-induced uniformity in viewing habits and behaviour. Through site-specific works, the exhibition seeks alternatives to the loss of experience within a reality dynamised by AI. At the heart of the exhibition are 18 advanced artistic positions that see their social function precisely in insisting on the very essence of art: its autonomy, freedom and creativity.