Day 1
Participation is free of charge. Please register at welcome@gfzk.de with “Symposium” as the subject line. Please indicate whether you would like to attend both days or just one and which one.
On the occasion of the exhibition Maria Pinińska-Bereś, a two-day symposium with lectures and artistic contributions will be held at the GfZK. The focus will be on the work of Maria Pinińska-Bereś and feminist art in Poland in the 20th century, including aspects such as the significance of performance, the influence of political reality on artistic work in the People’s Republic of Poland and parallels with the situation of women artists in the GDR. Additionally, the symposium will provide insights into the history of reproductive rights, feminist struggles and the queer movement in Poland today and the visual culture associated with it.
5 pm
Welcome & Introduction
5:15 pm
Impulse Iwona Dorota Bigos: On the situation of women artists and feminist art in the People’s Republic of Poland
Iwona Dorota Bigos is an art historian and director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is part of the National Museum in Wrocław. The Maria Pinińska-Bereś exhibition was on display there before it came to Leipzig. In her impulse, she presents selected examples to provide insights into the situation of artists in the People’s Republic of Poland before the political change in 1989.
5:45 pm
Susanne Altmann and Gabriele Stötzer: … hab ich euch nicht blendend amüsiert? [… didn’t I amuse you brilliantly?] A conversation about feminist art and working as a female artist in the GDR
Gabriele Stötzer is one of the most important German artists in the field of feminist art. Her performances, Super 8 films and photographs – especially those created in the 1980s together with the Erfurt artists’ group in the GDR – have been shown in numerous exhibitions and contextualized in recent publications. Her artistic work was strongly influenced by her experience as a woman and as a victim of political persecution in a repressive, patriarchal system. Susanne Altmann is a researcher and curator. The focus of her research is on the artistic production of women in the former GDR within an Eastern European frame of reference. In her work, she challenges the persistent practice of viewing artistic positions from the perspective of Western art history.
Following the discussion, the Super 8 films signale (1989, 28’34’) and … hab ich euch nicht blendend amüsiert? (1989, 6`) will be shown