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Revolutionary Romances? Global Art Histories in the GDR

Topic: Exhibitions
Periods:
  • 2023 — 2024
Exhibition at the Albertinum in Dresden about the friendly revolutionary relations between the GDR and the countries of the Global South in the arts. 

The exhibition opened in November 2023 at the Albertinum in Dresden (04.11.2023—02.06.2024). It focuses on the diverse cultural relationships between the GDR and countries of the Global South from the 1950s to the 1990s. East German art is here presented as part of a global, transcultural art history.

Exhibition view, „Revolutionary Romances? Globale Kunstgeschichten in der DDR“, Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, © SKD, Photo: Oliver Killig


Solidarity with other "brother states" and „friendship“ between nations were guiding principles of the socialist ideology and important components of East German foreign policy, which also characterised state propaganda and cultural policy. The GDR also cultivated intensive contacts with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the field of fine arts. Based on the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD), the exhibition shows artworks from Cuba, Chile, Vietnam, India, Iraq, Libya, Mozambique, Burma (Myanmar) and the GDR. Images of solidarity and war are presented in the exhibition, which explores themes, motifs and networks. Other sections include an investigation of mail art networks, study trips and graduate diplomas by foreign students at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Further informations and impressions of the exhibition can be found on the Albertinum website: https://albertinum.skd.museum/ausstellungen/revolutionary-romances/

Georges Adéagbo, Les étudiants Africains et le Socialisme, 2023, „Revolutionary Romances? Globale Kunstgeschichten in der DDR“, Albertinum, © SKD, Photo: Oliver Killig

The research project "Art in Networks. The GDR and its Global Relations" is also present in the "Revolutionary Romances" exhibition. Select video interviews from the research platform are shown on screens. They include, for example, an interview with Abed Abdi, a painter and graphic artist who came to the GDR as a Palestinian Israeli in the mid-1960s to study at the HfBK in Dresden, or with the artist Sigrid Noack, who talks about her trip to South Yemen in 1983.

Exhibition view, „Revolutionary Romances? Globale Kunstgeschichten in der DDR", Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, © SKD, Photo: Oliver Killig

In cooperation with the SKD, the TU Dresden’s follow-up project Affective Archives – Artists' Travels Abroad during the GDR, is also organising a symposium in May 2024 to conclude the exhibition. Under the title Reise(un)freiheit - Mobilitäten von Künstler:innen während des Kalten Krieges [(Un)Freedom to travel – artists’ mobilities during the Cold War], the focus will be on forms of travelling during the GDR era.

Both research projects are also involved in the exhibition catalogue of "Revolutionary Romances" with excerpts from interviews and an essay.

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