After the City/ Nach der Stadt

After the City / Nach der Stadt approaches both rural and urban spaces as sites of longing,projection, and refuge. Bringing together more than 50 works by 18 artists, the exhibition exploreshow identity, power, space, and nature are negotiated when city and countryside are understood notas opposing worlds, but as distinct yet interconnected and permeable living environments. Painting,drawing, sculpture, photography, and video unfold across the grounds of the Gut Kerkow estate, with its manor house, former granary, and newly established garden. Selected Gut Kerkow shops in Berlin serve as satellite extensions, creating an artistic connection between metropolis and province.

The metropolis, with its seemingly limitless possibilities, is often regarded by younger generations as the ultimate destination for self-discovery and self-expression. Within queer lived realities in particular, the moveto the city is frequently understood as an existential act of escape. Bronski Beat’s iconic queer pop anthemSmalltown Boy (1984), for instance, tells the story of a protagonist who leaves the provinces in search of aplace where he can finally be himself. Similarly, the French writer Édouard Louis describes in his autobiographical work how Paris became a space in which he could develop “another self,” detached from his social and provincial background.

While these narratives equate leaving the countryside with a radical biographical rupture, rural regions in Germany have, conversely, regained appeal in recent years, according to the Federal Institute for Population Research. Ideas of tranquility, proximity to nature, affordable housing, and a slower pace of life stand incontrast to the realities of increasingly saturated urban environments. Facilitated by new forms of remote work, migration from cities to rural areas has become particularly noticeable among young families, while urbanization continues to advance through sustained population growth.

Against the backdrop of these dynamics, After the City / Nach der Stadt approaches both rural and urban space as sites of longing, projection, and refuge. Through more than 50 works by 18 artists, the exhibitionexplores how identity, power, space, and nature are continuously renegotiated when city and countryside areunderstood as interconnected and permeable systems. Their close exchange—and at times mutualdependency—is evident in fields such as agriculture and tourism, making Gut Kerkow a particularly fittingvenue for the group exhibition. Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and video unfold across thegrounds of the estate in the Uckermark region. Alongside the manor house, the former granary, and thenewly established garden, selected Gut Kerkow shops in Berlin function as satellite extensions, creating anartistic dialogue between metropolis and province.

In light of growing social polarization, After the City / Nach der Stadt seeks to foreground the connections between rural areas and urban centres. Rather than opposing one another as different worlds, city andcountryside emerge as distinct yet intertwined living environments that should equally belong to an open andinclusive society. The exhibition title points to both temporal and spatial shifts, inviting reflection on the realand imagined movements that unfold between urban fatigue, rural longing, and the enduring allure of city life.