LIFTVAN TRIEST

From 2 October to 12 November 2025, Trieste Contemporanea hosts the show "Liftvan Triest" by the German artist Heidi Specker. The exhibition, in via del Monte 2/1, pays tribute to the life and work of Aenne Biermann (1898–1933), one of the most important figures in German photography of the 1920s. The result of in-depth artistic and historical research, this show revolves around two symbolic places: Gera, where Biermann lived, and Trieste, chosen as the exhibition venue for its significance. In fact, after the photographer’s death, the Nazis in Trieste confiscated a container holding thousands of Aenne’s negatives, which had been saved by her husband to be shipped to Palestine. The negatives were never recovered—hence the title Liftvan Triest Heidi Specker creates an artistic dialogue on photography itself and material loss. Additional photographs, which expand the scope for this exhibition were taken in Trieste during the winter of 2024 and in the summer of 2025 in Vienna. The exhibition will open on 2 October at 6 pm with an introduction by art historian Claudia Tittel and a conversation with the artist.Liftvan Triest, on display in Trieste, is the second part of an artistic project conceived by Heidi Specker, on the liftvan holding Bierman’s negatives during the Second World War: which never reached its destination. A first exhibition, Amnesia Gera, was held in Gera (Germany) from October 25, 2024, to January 5, 2025, and, following the Trieste exhibition, a third and finishing show will be in Leipzig (Germany).The exhibition in Trieste is realized with the support of the Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo.