Are you happy?, by Göran Gnaudschun, opening and book presentation. With Göran Gnaudschun and Emilia Giorgi

The exhibition will be held in and out Leporello space, so to activate a productive dialogue with the neighbourhood and will be open until November 14th. During the inauguration, before sunset, there will be a presentation by Emilia Giorgi and a brief visit to the outdoor exhibition with Göran Gnaudschun.

Göran Gnaudschun is interested in people and the life situations in which they find themselves: whether they concern social flashpoints such as Alexanderplatz in Berlin, everyday life in Hanover, or the no-man’s-land of the former inner-German border.
His work Are You Happy? (2017-2019) is situated in the eastern periphery of Rome. An area where living conditions are rather cramped, residential blocks rise like walls, and abandoned agricultural land appears out of nowhere. Where young, trendy districts bleed into residential areas for white and blue-collar workers and for people whose means of income is anything but clear. And, as one continues eastward, things become increasingly poorer. High-rise complexes, shells of unfinished buildings, problematic districts. The ancient city wall divides the periphery from the postcard city of Rome. In his latest series, Gnaudschun is concerned with the question of being, of living space and lifespans. The concreteness of the portraits and the suggestive atmospheres of the urban spaces negotiate the present of the generally human: “Are you happy?”

Göran Gnaudschun (*1971 in Potsdam), Rome Prize Fellow Villa Massimo 2016/17, studied artistic photography and visual arts under Professor Timm Rautert at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. He lives in Potsdam.

To ensure respect with the anti-covid standards, unfortunately, there will be no buffet but there are many places close the bookstore having to get a drink.

With the support of V Municipio,
and German Academy Rome Villa Massimo