Perspectives on a transcultural art history of the GDR: Christian Saehrendt

The freelance art historian and publicist Christian Saehrendt (born 1968) has, among other things, made an important contribution to current research on the subject of international contacts of the GDR with his publication Kunst im Kampf für das "Sozialistische Weltsystem". Foreign Cultural Policy of the GDR in Africa and the Middle East (2017), he made an important contribution to current research on the subject of international contacts of the GDR. The interview took place in June 2022 during the conference Die Globale DDR - eine transkulturelle Kunstgeschichte (1949-1990), hosted by the TU Dresden and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden at the Albertinum. In his conference paper Visual Art as a Ferment for the Socialist World System, Saehrendt referred to the "charisma transfer" in public perception that took place in encounters between young charismatic heads of state, the newly forming states in Africa, Iron and Latin America and the ageing Politburo of the GDR. In the interview, he talks about solidarity as a motive for international art and cultural exchange in the Federal Republic and the GDR, among other things.