The Grafikwerkstatt Dresden – from 1958 until today

"At that time, the print workshop was not only an opportunity, not otherwise available to artists, to print graphics themselves and receive guidance from experienced colleagues, but it also developed into a place where one learned what was not in the Union Gazette and also not in the newspaper. The distrust of the authorities was quite justified." (Translated by Art in Networks)

(Werner Wittig, quoted after the catalogue "Grafikwerkstatt Dresden. 1958–2008")

Four former students asked themselves what printing possibilities would be available to them after graduation and in 1958, on their own initiative and in cooperation with the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK), they founded a print workshop for free graphics. By now, the Grafikwerkstatt Dresden counts more than three locations in Dresden and more than 600 artists among its history. It moved from Goetheallee via Berliner Straße to its current location in the Technical Collections on Junghansstraße.

Today, the studio has 600 m² of unique printing equipment, with primarily historical printing presses, equipped for contemporary use and supplemented with modern technology. The offer includes intaglio, lithography, letterpress, algraphy and photography. The workshop receives commissions but also sees itself as a place of encounter where artists work together in close exchange. As a municipal studio, the people in charge are also committed to providing low-barrier access for interested users and to promoting artists in the region. The existing graphics collection now comprises over 40,000 prints.

Today's extensive international exchange programs of the studio are based on a predecessor in the times of the GDR. Initiated at that time by the Dresden City Council and organized by the Dresden district organization of the VBK (Association of Visual Artists of the GDR), international guests came to the 'International Graphic Workshop of the GDR' every two years starting in 1977 to benefit from the location's services. The participants came among others from Finland, Denmark, the People's Republic of Poland and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, but also from West-Germany. Within the framework of 2-4 weeks, new graphic works were created under a motto (e.g. 'Dresden – the face of a city', 1979), which were presented in a joint exhibition with artists from Dresden. It is interesting to note the great interest of all participants at the time in looking beyond national borders during studio visits, exhibitions and lectures. Art from the time shows how nevertheless extraordinarily lively international orientation existed – despite closed borders.

On the occasion of the workshop's fiftieth anniversary, the catalogue "Grafikwerkstatt Dresden. 1958-2008" was created, edited by Peter Stephan and Torsten Leupold. Grafikwerkstatt Dresden, 2008.