Junge Künstler der DDR und Kubas

Organized by the Ministries of Culture of both countries and the Zentrum für Kunstausstellungen der DDR (Center for Art Exhibitions of the GDR), the curators Gerhard Haupt and José Veigas put together a group exhibition with ten artists from the GDR and Cuba.

Basis offered the cultural work plan between the GDR and Cuba, which provided for the implementation of exhibitions. Although exhibitions had already taken place for two decades as part of the agreements, they were usually solo exhibitions or so-called overview shows - in this case, the small number of participants was intended to enable everyone to travel. In April and May 1989, the artists Klaus Killisch, Michael Kunert, Neo Rauch and Gerd Sonntag went to Havana as guests; Wolfgang Smy was unable to travel with them. There, they met their Cuban colleagues, with whom they exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba. In August and September of the same year, Ricardo Rodríguez Brey, Tomás Esson, Joel Jover Llenderrosos, Ciro Quintana and Zaida del Río in turn visited East Berlin, where the show was presented at the Neue Berliner Galerie im Alten Museum.

The curator Haupt commented on the selection of exhibitors, which received criticism in both countries, in an article in the magazine Bildende Kunst (Nov. 1989), full article available below, in the links:

"In close cooperation with the Cuban exhibition commissioner, a selection was to be made with a view to special affinities or even reservations in the other country, which would result in an exhibition that would be full of tension and contrasts, but not divided into two parts, and would be able to arouse a broader public interest. The idea that most art lovers in Cuba, who would hardly visit an art exhibition from the GDR because of their prejudices or even ignorance, approach our art with greater willingness when it is shown in connection with well-known artists from their own country, played a role here. Conversely, this should probably work in a similar way for us." (Translated by Art in Networks)

The participating artist Klaus Killisch equally recounts in the video interview how the exchange between the exhibitors changed in a processual manner: Only later, in the context of East Berlin, was the artist Tomás Esson able to locate and understand his works.

The group exhibition comprised approximately 80 works, including graphics, paintings, installations and object art. A bilingual catalog accompanied the exhibition in both countries.

Under the following links the magazine article in Bildende Kunst (Nov. 1989) by curator Gerhard Haupt and views of the exhibition can be viewed:

https://universes.art/de/magazine/articles/2022/junge-kuenstler-ddr-cuba-1989

https://universes.art/de/magazine/articles/2022/junge-kuenstler-ddr-cuba-1989/werke