Moritz Götze - Götze and Marcks

Under the title “Moritz Götze – Götze and Marcks,” the Galerie Alte Schule Ahrenshoop presents an extraordinary encounter between two influential artistic figures. Conceived in close collaboration with the local Gerhard Marcks Künstlerhaus, the exhibition bridges the gap between classical modernism of the 1920s and contemporary German art. At the heart of the exhibition is renowned Pop Art artist Moritz Götze’s visual engagement with the legacy of sculptor and Bauhaus master Gerhard Marcks.

Ahrenshoop as a Connecting Element

Despite their different historical contexts, both artists share a deep connection to the Baltic Sea coast and the Ahrenshoop artists’ colony. Starting in the late 1920s, Gerhard Marcks (1889–1981) found an essential retreat for his creative work here in nearby Niehagen am Bodden. Moritz Götze, born in 1964 in Halle (Saale), repeatedly engages intensively with German history in his work, and specifically with the “Ahrenshoop myth.”

Tradition Meets the Present

The collaboration with the Gerhard Marcks Künstlerhaus makes it possible to place Götze’s works in a direct contextual relationship to Marcks’s artistic practice in the region. The exhibition explores what remains of the ideas of the early avant-garde and how these are reevaluated, referenced, and further developed by contemporary art. “Götze and Marcks” is not only a tribute to one of the most significant German sculptors of the 20th century, but above all a vivid testament to the fact that the artistic spirit of Ahrenshoop remains an unbroken source of inspiration to this day.