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An Artistic Dialogue on Memory and IdentityPart of the series of international exhibitions SEGRETE – Traces of Memory, Alliance of Artists in Memory of the Shoah -
an itinerant project by Virginia Monteverde
ARTISTS: Maike Freess & Claudia Virginia Vitari
CURATORS: Virginia Monteverde & Luisa Catucci
VERNISSAGE: February 18th, 2025, 6-9pm
DURATION: February 19th – March 8th, 2025
LOCATION: Allerstr 38, 12049 Berlin
To mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Italian curator Virginia Monteverde presents SEGRETE, a series of exhibition and lectures around Europe surrounding the Shoah. She involved Berlin-based gallerist Luisa Catucci to present a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition at LCG_ARTLAB in Berlin. This unique artistic dialogue brings together the works of German artist Maike Freess and Italian artist Claudia-Virginia Vitari, underscoring the transformative power of artistic expression in commemorating history and confronting pressing contemporary societal traumas. The project at LCG_ARTLAB aims to approach SEGRETE’s themes from a broader, innovative lens.
Maike Freess’s work delves deeply into human vulnerability, examining the universal need for protection and security, juxtaposed with the often brutal realities of aggression, fear, violence, and pain. Her practice explores the formations and deformations of the human body, which becomes a site of historical inscriptions, shaped and transformed by personal, social, and political processes. Freess is particularly interested in the psychological inheritances of Nazi Germany, as these historical triggers continue to impact and scar subsequent generations, leaving traces of trauma etched into collective and individual identities.
In dialogue with Freess’s introspection, Claudia-Virginia Vitari’s Interstitial Identities represents the culmination of a decade-long artistic and theoretical investigation into identity and cultural otherness. Her project sheds light on the lived experiences of African refugees and asylum seekers, highlighting narratives of inclusion and exclusion, the concept of “total institutions,” and the disciplining of bodies. Through participatory observation and rigorous ethnographic research, Vitari captures the intersections of humanity and inhumanity, focusing on the marginalization and resilience of displaced individuals in contemporary Europe. While the experiences of these refugees do not mirror completely the Shoah, and while they may not always (but very often) pass through camps resembling historical concentration camps, many endure conditions that are profoundly dehumanizing. These camps may lack the overt horrors of gas chambers, yet they remain harrowing spaces of suffering and despair—modern-day representations of hell on earth. The traumas they inflict, though different in nature, are no less severe, even if they are largely ignored or underestimated by society.
Together, the works of Freess and Vitari create a compelling narrative that bridges historical and contemporary perspectives on memory, trauma, and identity. This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the multifaceted legacies of war, the enduring effects of inherited trauma, and the urgent realities of displacement and marginalisation in today’s world.
The exhibition is a part of LCG_ARTLAB’s commitment to fostering intercultural and intergenerational dialogues through contemporary art.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Luisa Catucci Gallery Artlab, Allerstrasse 38,Berlin, Germany
