A trip to Switzerland as a turning point in Petra Kasten’s work

Petra Kasten (*1955) studied painting and graphic art at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Dresden from 1976 to 1981/82 and has been working as a freelance artist since 1982. Shortly before the end of the GDR, in 1988, she had the opportunity to travel to Switzerland, where her works were shown in an exhibition of young artistic voices from the GDR. Whilst there, she was able to visit museums and collections and came into contact with various artists. Above all, her visit to the studio of the artist Miriam Cahn made a deep impression on Petra Kasten. Through Cahn, she discovered a free and intuitive way of working, which stood in contrast to the academic training she was familiar with. In an interview, Petra Kasten describes her trip to Switzerland as a kind of pivotal moment. From Switzerland, she travelled on without authorisation to Cologne, Paris and West Berlin, where she viewed art and had controversial conversations with artist friends who had emigrated and whom she was able to visit. Back in the GDR, she began painting over all her figurative works – a radical act. The large abstract work "Rennwart" (1988), which she still owns today, exemplifies this turning point in her oeuvre, which has shaped her artistic practice ever since. "Rennwart" symbolised the question of "to leave or to stay", which was preoccupying the artistic community in the GDR at the time.

After the "Wende", she was able to travel to Rome in 1994/95 on a Villa Massimo scholarship. Thanks to her new surroundings, access to specialist literature and the intensive exchange with the other scholarship holders, Petra Kasten took a fresh look at her identity as a painter trained in the GDR. In the video interview, the artist recalls her travels and reflects on these experiences from her current perspective.

This article was produced as part of a seminar at TU Dresden, led by Prof. Kerstin Schankweiler and Laura-Maria Schulze, with the collaboration of Eleni Fischer, Fiona Rösler and Marie Lehmann.