The exhibition “and now” traces the work of a selected group of female artists from the GDR – among which some have been discussed only sparsely in the overall German art historical field.
The exhibition shows work from the 1980s made under “socialistic conditions of production” and as well as artistic developments and positions in the new social system of the 1990s. Furthermore, the show highlights the artists’ statements and expressions in the 2000s.
At the times of state socialism in the GDR, performance art was hardly visible. Until the late 1980s, efforts to show this new type of art publicly were disrupted, and partly criminalized and suppressed by the officials. Improvisation was a necessity in the GDR and thus became an important factor in the art practice that was not supported by the state. Whereas aspects of male performance art in the GDR have been discussed in art history, the question, what role female artists like Gabriele Stötzer, Cornelia Schleime, Christine Schlegel or Erika Stürmer-Alex played, has still not been researched sufficiently. In what ways did these artists influence the development of process-oriented art forms and artistical border crossing?
Participating artists: Tina Bara, Annemirl Bauer, Else Gabriel, Angela Hampel, Verena Kyselka, Christine Schlegel, Cornelia Schleime, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Gabriele Stötzer, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Ramona Welsh, Karla Woisnitza.
Image: Tina Bara: marilyn, 2002-2006
© Tina Bara

"and now. Female artists from the GDR" Curated by Angelika Richter & Beatrice E. Stammer
Co-curated by Bettina Knaup
27th November – 20th December 2009
Opening: 26th November, 7 pm

Detailed Information and Fringe Events:
ARTPRESS: phone 030.219 618 43, artpress@uteweingarten.de

Supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

DIRCEU MAUÉS’ oeuvre constitutes a far-reaching investigation into the photographic process and the techniques and equipment involved. The current omnipresence of digitally generated images is an occasion for Dirceu Maués to reflect on more original forms of photography and to construct his own cameras using the simplest of means. Over the course of time, in this way the so-called “pinhole” technique based on the principle of the 'camera obscura' has developed into his main means of aesthetic expression.
A pinhole or hole camera does not use a lens, but is based on precisely this optical effect. The image is “fixed” by attaching film material or photo paper to the inner projection surface. Dirceu Maués uses his pinhole-cameras to recreate a hand-crafted means of image production dating from an era long before that of analogue photography, transferring this method to a present day which has long since arrived at the technical perfection of digital photography or artificial image generation, and in this way brings the intuitive, ‘human’ factor back to the fore.
Maués developed the installation "Somewhere – Alexanderplatz" during his stay in Berlin; it consists of six projected video loops showing photos of the well-known Berlin square from different vantage points. In pre-
paration for these shots, Maués used matchboxes to painstakingly construct 120 small pinhole cameras by hand, and then attached photo paper to the inside, subsequently recording photo sequences of the square
from various vantage points as well as the dominant sounds in the area. Subsequently, he assembled the photographs into a film animation: the result was a 360° panorama of the square, characterised by the marks
of chance and his own work by hand with its minor errors and faults.
Maués sees his overall artistic practice as a multilayered experiment operating in the border areas between photography, cinema and video and thus “comparing and contrasting the extended time of the pinhole camera with the absolute moment of film.” (D. Maués)

Dirceu Maués currently holds a fellowship from the Itáu Cultural Institute, São Paulo, in the context of our International Studio Programme.

Dirceu Maués – "Somewhere – Alexanderplatz"
27th November – 13th December 2009, Studio 2
Opening: Thursday, 26th November 2009, from 7 p.m.