Art and politics One of the great themes of painting revisited by Alice Creischer

The complete title of this work relates it to the picture by Gustave Courbet. The latter created L'Atelier du Peintre (1855) as a "real allegory" of painting. Courbet painted himself as a central figure of the composition in his studio, surrounded by friends such as Baudelaire, and also with some of his enemies. Courbet's canvas reveals the political implications of his position as an artist, the profound connection between the autonomy of the artist and his political commitment. Likewise, 150 years later, Creischer, under the pseudonym of Alice Ohneland (Alicia Without Country), chooses the Courbet work as a historical paradigm of all the debates that emerged in the 1990s about art and politics. The artist portrays groups of people who are representatives of the different facets of German life. Realised on transparent material, leaving some lines unpainted, with the help of a projector the work creates images of light embodying figures.