In the 1980s, the artist Karla Sachse (b. 1950) was part of a worldwide mail art network based in East Berlin. She exchanged photographs and artistically designed cards with artists from other countries by mail. In 1988, some of her photographs were included in the exhibition Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography, curated by John P. Jacobs, at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Exhibition views and catalog information can be seen on the Center's website: https://listart.mit.edu/exhibitions/out-eastern-europe-private-photography
After 1989, Karla Sachse was instrumental in establishing the Kurt Schwitters School in Prenzlauer Berg, which specialized in art education. She continued her project activities in public spaces, which were already extremely diverse in GDR times, and often dealt with the topic of German reunification. In 2019, for example, she organized the project Aufbruch Herbst 89 ("Departure Autumn 89") with residents of former East Berlin districts. The contemporary witnesses talked about their memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent period of upheaval. Their interviews were anchored in the city with Bodenzeichen ("ground signs"): www.aufbruch-herbst89.de.
In addition, Karla Sachse expanded her international artistic collaborations, especially in working together with the Indian artist Varsha Nair. In 2022, Karla Sachse and Varsha Nair were present with the feminist collective WOMANIFESTO as part of the Asia Art Archives' contribution to Documenta 15 in Kassel: http://www.womanifesto.com.
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