Upheavals and constancy. New insights into Dresden art around 1989/90
Zeitzeichen, 1989, Kaltnadel, 49 x 64,5 cm, Kerstin Franke-Gneuss, Foto: Christine Starke
With works by Agathe Böttcher, Kerstin Franke-Gneuß, Hubertus Giebe, Johannes Heisig, Elke Hopfe, Petra Kasten, Friedrich Kracht, Christine Schlegel, Charlotte Sommer-Landgraf, Christoph Wetzel
May 8 to June 28, 2024 / Opening: May 7, 2024, 8 pm
Gallery of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections, TU Dresden
"In GDR art, there was only Socialist Realism; and anyone who didn't paint true to the line was thrown out!" - Really? The exhibition "Upheavals and Consistency. New Insights into Dresden Art around 1989/90" is intended to put this common prejudice to the test. To this end, students of art history at TU Dresden are presenting ten exemplary positions by artists who were born between 1925 and 1959 and who work or have worked in Dresden.
Using works by the artists Agathe Böttcher, Kerstin Franke-Gneuß, Hubertus Giebe, Johannes Heisig, Elke Hopfe, Petra Kasten, Friedrich Kracht, Christine Schlegel, Charlotte Sommer-Landgraf and Christoph Wetzel from the art holdings of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections Dresden (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), the Kunstfonds and the Albertinum, as well as from private collections, we take a look at the effects of reunification in 1989/90 on the work of East German artists in Dresden. The following questions, among others, were in the foreground: To what extent can changes in terms of material, technique, format and content be identified? Only breaks and or constants? What developments, caesuras or constancy can be discovered in the artists' oeuvre?
A project by the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections, TUD Dresden University of Technology, in collaboration with the Department of Art History.
The exhibition and the accompanying program were developed by Lisa-Marie Gutte, Nathaniel Heinicke, Philipp Karmann, Anouk Nolte, Melissa Rothe, Isabell Stickler, Luise Stölzel, Adriaen Wallendorf, students of art history at the Institute of Art and Music at TU Dresden, as part of the Master's seminar "The impact of 1989/1990 on East German artists in Dresden" with Prof.in April Eisman, Fulbright Fellow at the TUD Institute of Art and Music 2023-24 / Associate Professor of Art History, Iowa State University, and Gwendolin Kremer, Curatorial Director of the Gallery of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections, TU Dresden, in the winter semester 2023/24.
Gallery of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections (GÖR)
TU Dresden, Helmholtzstraße 9, 01069 Dresden
Opening hours Mon-Fri 10-18
Admission: free, barrier-free access via the back of the building