Where our strength lies – Fifty women artists from the GDR

About

The artists deal with complex themes in different genres. Some were already active in GDR times. However, the exhibition is not dedicated to a narrative of the GDR or a historicization of art from the GDR, but rather to biographies and the question of how thematic approaches are shaped by them. A few works are represented that were created in the GDR.

The exhibition absolutely assumes that where you come from plays a fundamental role. How biographies develop shapes content and structural approaches. However, neither a categorization nor even a reduction to supposedly recognizable aesthetics or themes is possible. Just as origin from the GDR is of fundamental importance, it is at the same time, although not always evident in the work, also a prerequisite for substance, power and relevance in the contemporary context!

The exhibition also sees itself as an alternative to previous, widely acclaimed exhibitions of recent years devoted to art and artists from the GDR. In these overview exhibitions, for example, female artists were only represented at 14 percent (Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig, 2019) and 19 percent (Gropius Bau, 2016). In the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf 2019/2020 there were at least three of the 13 artists - a quota of 23 percent. The works of women artists from the GDR continue to rarely appear in contemporary exhibitions. However, the problem of inner-German discrimination, which goes hand in hand with West German cultural hegemony, is rarely discussed. Most of the time it is ignored. A comparative look at other German-German structures quickly shows that how exclusions apply to women in cultural and art institutions in particular and what gap there is with regard to the representation of East and West German cultural workers. For example, there are currently only two museums or Foundation directors in Germany who come from the GDR. Angelika Richter, the first female university rector from the GDR, has held this office at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee since June 2021.

Due to obvious grievances, the exhibition What our strength consists in shows fifty female artists from the GDR from three generations who work with different media. The exhibition is accompanied by a supporting program and a collection of texts