The Khmer Rouge and its Consequences Documentation as Artistic Memory Work Exhibition 25th January until 1st March 2015 Akademie der Künste, Berlin 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge forces seizing power in Cambodia. When Pol Pot’s ultra-communist henchmen took Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city, few realised this would trigger one of the worst human tragedies of the last century. When the country was liberated by Vietnamese troops three years, eight months and twenty days later, the Cambodian genocide is estimated to have cost the lives of 1,700,000 people – approximately 21% of the country’s population at that time. The subsequent civil war lasted until nearly the end of the 1990s and turned this South-East Asian kingdom on the Mekong River into one of the world’s poorest countries. It was not until 2007 that a tribunal, supported by the United Nations, began its work of trying senior Khmer Rouge officials for crimes perpetrated during the Pol Pot years. To exemplify how artists have critically engaged with the process of reappraising Cambodia’s most recent history, this exhibition is showcasing six works, all employing a documentary approach. Crucially, these include three selected positions by Cambodian artists Rithy Panh, Khvay Samnang and Vandy Rattana. With their films, videos and photographic works, all three address and explore the responsibility for coming to terms with a collective catastrophe. As artists, they summon up the traumatic memories passed over in silence in the political and social arenas. Rithy Panh: The Missing Picture, FranceCambodia / 2013, 96 min. © CDP Productions DURATION 25 January – 1 March 2015 PRESS PREVIEW Friday, 23 January, 11 am OPENING Saturday, 24 January, 7 pm Free Entrance CURATORS Nico Mesterharm, Johannes Odenthal, Kerstin Diekmann VENUE Akademie der Künste Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin Tel 030 / 200 57-2000 [email protected], www.adk.de OPENING HOURS Tue – Sun, 11am – 7 pm ADMISSION 5/3€ free admission for visitors under 18 years of age and Tuesdays from 3 – 7 pm Their works are juxtaposed with contributions by German artist Günther Uecker, British-born photographer Tim Page and Singaporean theatre director Ong Keng Sen. PR CONTACT ARTEFAKT Kulturkonzepte Alexander Flöth & Ursula Rüter Marienburger Straße 16 10405 Berlin Fon: 030 / 440 10 688 Fax: 030 / 440 10 684 [email protected] PRESS DOWNLOADS: www.adk.de www.artefakt-berlin.de