Queer art in the GDR?

The Mitte Museum is a cooperation partner of the project QUEER ART IN THE GDR? Biographies between Underground and Propaganda. The exhibition and the comprehensive program of events are an initiative of KVOST – Kunstverein Ost e.V. and are presented in cooperation with the new Society for Fine Arts (nGbk), the Mitte Museum, and the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge.

Under what conditions did “queer” art emerge in the GDR? How did the art and the artists' lived realities become visible, and what role did censorship, state security, and cultural policy play?

The exhibition QUEER ART IN THE GDR? and the comprehensive program of events focus on a chapter of German art and contemporary history that has been insufficiently researched to date. Using the diverse biographies of nine artists and their works, the exhibition invites visitors to reinterpret art from the GDR: not as a homogeneous, state-controlled production, but as a complex field of individual experiences, ruptures, and ambivalences. It reveals how closely questions of identity, power, conformity, and artistic freedom are intertwined—and why grappling with them remains relevant today.

The artists gathered in the exhibition—Toni Ebel, Andreas Fux, Jochen Hass, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Dorothea von Philipsborn, Rita “Tommy” Thomas, Egon Wrobel, and Jürgen Wittdorf—responded very differently to the conditions of their time. The focus is on their often contradictory, sometimes cinematic, life stories as well as their artistic works: paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, ceramics, and installations. Their works and biographies tell of conformity and resistance, of visibility and concealment, of self-assertion and vulnerability.

In conjunction with a timeline of political and social developments, they enter into a dialogue with socio-historical documents. In this way, multifaceted artistic and social contexts of the GDR become visible, in which art historical and socio-historical perspectives intertwine. The work of artist Harry Hachmeister, born in Leipzig in 1979, expands the historical framework with a contemporary perspective and highlights the enduring relevance of the topic—not least against the backdrop of global attacks on the rights and lived realities of queer people.

Although the term "queer" in its current meaning did not exist in the GDR, it is deliberately used in the exhibition: as an umbrella term for people who, as lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, desired and loved people of the same sex, as well as for those who, as transgender and non-binary individuals, lived outside conventional notions of gender.

The relationship between art, politics, and queer identity in the GDR was characterized by ambivalence. Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexuality between adult men, was removed from the GDR penal code as early as 1968, but social stigmatization and discrimination persisted. At the same time, art was highly politicized: it was meant to stabilize the socialist state and ideologically support it. Artists belonging to the Association of Visual Artists (VBK) received state commissions and a comparatively secure livelihood—but they had to adapt their work, both formally and in terms of content, to the cultural policy guidelines. Furthermore, the Stasi (East German secret police) acted as an instrument of constant control. Surveillance, record-keeping, and targeted intervention deeply impacted artistic processes as well as private lives, with lasting effects on biographies, visibility, and artistic practice. At the same time, artistic expressions existed outside the state system—often in secret, in informal networks, or in private spaces.

The exhibition and accompanying program are intended as a contribution to the historical reappraisal of the artistic positions presented. Many of the artists' biographies have received little scholarly attention to date; often, the available sources are incomplete and, moreover, shaped by the perspectives of state surveillance. It is therefore all the more important to preserve and make accessible the knowledge of contemporary witnesses. At the same time, the project also aims to highlight ruptures and contradictions and provide new impetus for research and discussion.

The realization of this project is made possible by funding from the Capital Cultural Fund.

With thanks to the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship for supporting the catalog.

Exhibition venues:

• KVOST / Leipziger Straße 47, 10117 Berlin
  
• nGbK / Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11/13, 10178 Berlin
  
• Mitte Museum / Pankstraße 47, 13357 Berlin
  
• Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge / Leipziger Straße 54, 10117 Berlin
  

The exhibition is an initiative of KVOST – Kunstverein Ost e.V. and is curated by Stephan Koal.

The realization of this project is made possible by funding from the Capital Cultural Fund. With thanks to the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship for supporting the publication.

Cooperation partners:

Feminist Archive FFBIZ, Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research, Lichtenberg Museum, Schwules Museum, Sonntagsclub, Leipzig University, as well as other private collections, eyewitnesses, and experts.